Old Dog, New Life: How Bobby Green Saved The Bulldog Cafe Display

Ever heard of the term “programmatic architecture”? Also referred to as “mimetic” or “novelty” architecture, the term is used to apply to any structure that dons an unusual shape for the purpose of attracting visitors.

Born out of the road-traveling adventures that emerged in the 1930s, such structures were placed along the highways and byways of America to attract drivers to curious restaurants, gas stations, cafés, and other hotspots that would otherwise go unnoticed. Dinousaurs, giants, thermometers, balls of yarn and other larger-than-life objects became landmarks stretching from Hollywood to Phoenix to St. Louis and on, eventually taking on the mythical aura of Americana that is so adored today.

One such example was the Bulldog Cafe piece, a recreation of the classic structure that sat on West Washington Boulevard from 1928 to 1966. Up until recently, the stucco canine had made its home inside the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, but then came a change.

The institution is currently undergoing massive renovations to modernize and attract more visitors, and as such has had to say goodbye to the bulldog and its pipe-smoking charms. Thankfully, the plans to have the display destroyed have been discarded, and we owe it all to the work of Bobby Green.

Green, an entrepreneur and patron of the arts in Southern California, took it upon himself to dismantle piece-by-piece the huge hound and repurpose it for a new interpretation of the vintage Idle Hour Cafe, which will lay its foundation in its original spot on Vineland Avenue in the near future.

The deconstruction was done quickly in three days’ time, resulting in eight distinct pieces that are as of this moment sitting in the backlot of the forthcoming Idle Hour Cafe. The hope is to have the restaurant fully functional before 2015 closes out, complete with an oversized keg, full bar and seating area, and, of course, a working pipe that puffs all day long.