The remains of Johnie’s Broiler–one of Southern California’s last large-scale drive-in restaurants, where custom cars were king and even the food was fast–needs your help.

It’s been nearly a year since a man driving a bulldozer managed to flatten most of the 1958 Downey landmark. What’s left of the Googie-style restaurant–replete with flagstone, exuberant script and a hamburger-loving lad on the sign–could be saved. Whether it is depends partly on you.

After the unauthorized demolition–which some say was done with the owner’s knowledge–the Downey City Council voted to put a one-year moratorium on any development at the site, at 7447 Firestone Blvd., where it curves around to meet Old River School Road.

At tomorrow night’s Council meeting, council members will consider extending that moratorium for another year, while members of The Coalition to Save Harvey’s Broiler–the restaurant’s original name from roughly 1958 to 1965–work to preserve and possibly purchase and restore the remains.

Coalition members are asking folks to show their support at the 7:30 p.m. meeting–or in writing, at the City of Downey’s website.

“Your presence and support at the meeting is critical. If you cannot attend, please send a e-mail to the council members,” the Coalition’s Analisa Ridenour wrote in a recent e-mail of her own.

“Right now, one of the things we’re doing is, we’re working with the Los Angeles Conservancy to have a design charrette–consisting of an architect, a historian, people from the community–and what we hope to do is have a one-day symposium discussing what can be done with the property,” says Ridenour, who went so far a few years ago as to hire Downey’s famed roots-rock pioneers The Blasters to headline a Broiler benefit at the city’s Rio Hondo Country Club.

That will probably happen in March, and will most likely be preceded in February by a Coalition fundraiser with a slideshow by popular historian Charles Phoenix, Ridenour says.

But why all the fuss about an old, albeit historically significant drive-in restaurant where, in its last years, the food wasn’t very good anyway? Because despite its name, the Broiler was never just about the food.

From the very moment Harvey and Minnie Ortner opened it in 1958, the Broiler became one of the Southland’s premier cruise spots for its cavernous parking lot and prime location–in car-crazy Downey, a nexus of kustom kulture. (Their son even worked on the assembly line for a while, at General Motors’ South Gate plant.)

Fiberglass fakir Ed Roth was a coupla towns over in Maywood; kustomizer Bill Hines was either headquartered in Paramount, or would be shortly. Metalflake master Larry Watson–the man with the huevos to lower and panel-paint a ‘59 Coupe de Ville–was just down the street.

Located on the former home of a poultry farm–and designed by architect Paul S. Clayton–Harvey’s Broiler was the right place at the right time.

It was situated at the precise point on Firestone Boulevard where it curved south–meaning that if you were driving west on the Boulevard, the drive-in jumped off the curb at you like a giant neon car circus.

Things were great for a long time. In about 1965, the Ortners sold the Broiler to its present owner, Downey resident Christos Smyrniotis. Smyrniotis, whose middle name is John, changed the Broiler’s name to match his own–to Johnie’s Broiler.

And while Model T Ford club members stopped there regularly as recently as 10 years ago, the cruising eventually stopped. During the late ’90s, when I covered Downey for the Press-Telegram, it was frequently closed for filming–but it survived intact until a few years ago, when Smyrniotis leased the restaurant to a used car seller.

It became, unbelievably, a used car lot–and the kitchen was gutted.

Then–in a move Smyrniotis told The District earlier this year rocked him to the core–a man on a bulldozer allegedly hired by agents of the car dealer managed to flatten most of the Broiler.

That was Jan. 7, 2007. Tomorrow night is your chance to show your support.

Tags: Analisa Ridenour, Bill Hines, California, Christos Smyrniotis, downey, Ed Roth, General Motors, Harvey Ortner, Harvey's Broiler, Johnie's Broiler, kustom kulture, Larry Watson, Long Beach, Maywood, Minnie Ortner, Paramount, Paul S. Clayton, press telegram, South Gate, Southern California, The Blasters, The Coalition to Save Harvey's Broiler, The District, Theo Douglas