{"id":692,"date":"2012-01-29T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/?p=692"},"modified":"2012-01-29T19:06:26","modified_gmt":"2012-01-30T03:06:26","slug":"040-lomo-featured-project-henry%e2%80%99s-tacos-studio-city-endangered-lomo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/?p=692","title":{"rendered":"040. Lomo Featured Project: Henry\u2019s Tacos, Studio City. Endangered Lomo."},"content":{"rendered":"

Standing at the corner of Tujunga Avenue and Moorpark Street in Studio City\/North Hollywood since 1961, Henry\u2019s Tacos is a taco stand in the literal sense of the term \u2013 you conduct your transaction standing at a window. The tacos are \u201cgringo\u201d style. The crunchy taco shells are fried prior to filling, like the ones you might make at home on taco night, and contain seasoned ground beef, shredded cheddar, lettuce and tomato. The quality of ingredients compares favorably to Taco Bell, but they also cost a lot more at $2.75 each.<\/p>\n

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This modest taco stand comprises a tiny 280 square feet according to city records. Its diagram is pure and imageable \u2013 a flat roof, half of which has walls under it enclosing a kitchen, and the other half of which is held up only by posts to shelter a few outdoor tables.<\/p>\n

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Its position on the site is unorthodox and surprisingly urbane, boldly exposed to the street corner as if it believed in the possibility of pedestrian life. Its bright primary colors and jaunty, Googie graphics give it the festive feel of Mid-Century amusement architectures.<\/p>\n

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Henry\u2019s has been in the news<\/a> lately, owing to its endangered status. The owner of Henry\u2019s has supported its application to be named a city Historic-Cultural Monument, and improbably enough, the Cultural Heritage Commission just issued a unanimous recommendation to the City Council that it be approved. The owner of the parcel on which Henry\u2019s is built, however, opposed the Monument status, presumably because it would make the land less marketable for other uses by inhibiting redevelopment.<\/p>\n

Henry\u2019s stands on a 6000-square-foot parcel, which includes the parking lot as well as the adjacent Starlight Room. This is still a small parcel, but is zoned for commercial development, and there could be something built here that would earn more rent than this little taco stand. This feud has been the public backdrop for sour negotiations about extending Henry\u2019s Tacos\u2019 lease on the property \u2013 its long-term lease expired, Henry\u2019s is threatened with the prospect of eviction at any time; and Historic-Cultural Monument status is no guarantee against demolition, either. We anxiously await news of Henry\u2019s status.<\/p>\n

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I have not seen the Historic-Cultural Monument application, but I presume it asserts the value of Henry\u2019s Googie-style architecture, as well as its importance as a rare surviving example of an early taco stand. The former point is debatable \u2013 its strongest Googie feature is its signage, but the signage is awesome. The \u201cHenry\u2019s<\/em>\u201d in script over a four-pointed starburst over a stylized cactus contrasts with \u201cTACOS\u201d in red and blue on individual yellow lightbox rectangles \u2013 it is astounding that this archetypal look is authentic, and not retro or self-referential.<\/p>\n

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If Henry\u2019s achieves Monument status, it would be a remarkable precedent. I would start sending in HCM applications all the time for any old thing \u2013 there are so many fine specimens of Endangered Lomo out there that it is already a struggle to prevent The Lower Modernisms from devolving into a full-time preservationist organ.<\/p>\n

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So we say, Go, Henry\u2019s! Show your support of the continued existence of this worthy stalwart by eating tacos. And sign the petition<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Standing at the corner of Tujunga Avenue and Moorpark Street in Studio City\/North Hollywood since 1961, Henry\u2019s Tacos is a taco stand in the literal sense of the term \u2013 you conduct your transaction standing at a window. The tacos are \u201cgringo\u201d style. The crunchy taco shells are fried prior to filling, like the ones […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[6,19,15,5,11,14,8,12,21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=692"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":703,"href":"https:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692\/revisions\/703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lomo.architectureburger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}