Remember Johnie’s Broiler–the landmark Downey drive-in, pillar of 1950s modern architecture and key cruising spot that was illegally demolished in January 2007?

Downey City Council passed a one-year moratorium on any development out at the site, immediately after a bulldozer allegedly hired by a lessee knocked down most of the 1958 drive-in.

But now, Wave newspapers reporter Arnold Adler writes that Johnie’s owner Christos Smyrniotis is in negotiations to sell the choice property to the Big Boy restaurant chain.

Adler writes that the Big Boy chain–which is national–is “interested in rebuilding the partially demolished Johnie’s building the way it was in the 1960s, keeping the boy and the scripted roof-top sign, even drive-in slots for car hop service, and operating it as a diner.”

At least, that’s what Adler says Downey’s Deputy City Manager for Community Development told the Downey City Council at its Feb. 12 meeting.

It makes you wonder if this scenario could work. Is the Big Boy big enough to rebuild an architectural landmark from what’s now largely rubble? And would something like this be a financial success?

The answers are probably not; and probably yes. But let’s address the second question first. There is financial precedent for this sort of thing, as in the Mimi’s Cafe vs. The Kettle case of 19 … well, it’s not actually a case.

But the Mimi’s Cafe chain people did purchase the storied Kettle coffee shop, at Highland Avenue and Manhattan Beach Boulevard in Manhattan Beach–and they made it work. How? By adding a Mimi’s menu, and leaving almost everything else alone, architecturally.

Also? The Mel’s Drive-In people successfully took on both the Googie-esque Ben Frank’s in Hollywood and the Parasol in Seal Beach, and turned both into retro-leaning coffee shop-type restaurants.

The numbers could totally work. Johnie’s is a prime location–and the Big Boy people are already saying the Johnie’s lot is too big, and that if they do buy it, they might let a Nissan dealership have part of it. Leasing or reselling part of the lot could make them some money up front.

Now, what about the rest of it–the architecture? Well, start setting your faces to “stunned” … now. You can almost bet that if Big Boy redoes Johnie’s, it won’t be Johnie’s any more–meaning that they won’t rebuild it exactly to 1958 standards.

This sort of thing just isn’t done–an exception being the world’s oldest surviving McDonald’s restaurant also in Downey, at Florence Avenue and Lakewood Boulevard.

(When Johnie’s was first demolished, the Downey City Council wanted it rebuilt to 1958 specs–but the Council doesn’t seem to want that any more. Why not? Good question.)

A new Johnie’s would have good things like wheelchair access–but what about those cool angled awnings? The flagstone? The Naugahyde interior? Would the Big Boy duplicate all just that the way it was? Doubt it.

Nowhere in the region–except at the Downey McDonald’s and perhaps at The Kettle–have new owners managed to leave well-enough alone. Ben Frank’s isn’t Ben Frank’s any more. Neither is The Parasol.

Architectural archaelogy is just too time-consuming, too expensive, too exacting where commercial buildings are concerned.

And this is exactly why people criticize the historic preservation movement: because, so often, it works better on houses.

Tags: Arnold Adler, Ben Frank's, Big Boy, California, car culture, Christos Smyrniotis, downey, Downey City Council, Harvey Ortner, Harvey's Broiler, historic preservation, hollywood, Johnie's Broiler, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Minnie Ortner, seal beach, Southern California, The District Weekly, The Kettle, The Parasol, Theo Douglas, Wave newspapers