Great Googie!

Char-Grill in Raleigh is an old, old burger stand started in 1959 that still manages to do things right- fresh beef grilled to perfection with the aroma wafting for blocks. There are a few of them now but they all must bow to the 1950s original downtown.

Hard to miss from the street, Char-Grill was built in the architectural style is known as 'googie.' Googie predates 'Google' by over 40 years and signifies that familiar Mid-Century roadside style dominated by rocket ship and satellite motifs that guys my age knew when we were kids.

Although the style had existed on the West Coast since the Thirties, it really went nationwide in the 1950s when the automobile left an indelible imprint on the suburban landscape. Hotels, restaurants and gas stations competed with one another to capture the attention and imagination of the car-traveling American family. Sweeping cantilevered arches, gleaming steel and flashing neon helped to lure families off of the new interstates and commercial thoroughfares. Not accepted by the purer faith of Modernist design or by the public after the 1960s, much of this architecture was demolished. But, luckily, the Char-Grill building still stands and reminds customers today of the hopeful aesthetic of yesteryear's car culture.

Also from that era, this is the gas station next door to Char-Grill.

P.S. - Just last week, the service station next door removed the front overhead lights from the 1960s and replaced it with a big shelter of the pumps like you see at most gas stations now. Just goes to show that these old treasures are are quickly going away so get out and look for them!