Label
Holiday Bowl
1958
Designed by Armet and Davis, AIA, Architects
Gift of The Coliseum Center, LLC & Axiom Real Estate Investments, Inc.
Founded by Japanese Americans in 1958, the Holiday Bowl was constructed to support the Crenshaw neighborhood’s Japanese community in the decades after World War II. Its bowling alley, bar and restaurant were icons of the blended cultures of an integrated Los Angeles as the Holiday Bowl served Caucasian, African American and Japanese American clientele. Recognizing its multi-racial customer base, the coffee shop famously featured hamburgers, udon, chow mein and grits.
Due to its cultural and architectural significance, the Bowl’s Googie-style coffee shop was granted landmark status by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission and still exists today as a Starbucks coffee house. After a long preservation battle, the bowling alley itself was demolished in 2003 and replaced by a small shopping mall, the Coliseum Center. A portion of the 1958 Armet and Davis-designed signs were donated to the Museum of Neon Art by the property’s developers, Axiom Real Estate Investments, Inc.