Under a giant penguin sign, this is the diner that marks the end of Route 66 - BERITAJA

Famous signs on the about 2,500 miles of Route 66 see the 66-foot soda vessel astatine Pops successful Oklahoma, the wagging neon tail of Albuquerque’s Dog House and the hand-painted slogans for Snow Cap Drive-In successful Arizona. But successful L.A., nary is truthful iconic arsenic the elephantine looming penguin that signifies milkshakes, burgers, oldies playlists and sheer Americana astatine the extremity of the road.

Stories, photos and recreation recommendations from America’s Mother Road

Technically, the Mother Road that stretches from Chicago to the West Coast ends astatine the Santa Monica Pier, but Mel’s Drive-In declares the “ROUTE ENDS HERE,” inlaid successful terrazzo beneath that jumbo tuxedoed penguin. It’s been a beacon for decades, and though the beloved edifice abstraction precocious was listed for waste for $26 million, Mel’s owners dream it remains a diner and destination for generations.

For overmuch of its history, the diner astatine the extremity of Route 66 was the 1959-founded Penguin Coffee Shop, a Googie-architecture marvel of angular windows, stone walls and small cartoons of penguins hanging supra swivel stools and an unfastened kitchen.

The original penguin motion from the erstwhile Penguin Coffee Shop still stands astatine Mel’s Drive-In successful Santa Monica.

As a very young kid I retrieve sliding into the booths pinch my father, whose agency was adjacent connected Wilshire. Back then, the gangly angled ceilings seemed to soar and the meal combos looked mountainous.

“It was a Googie benignant of edifice — you know, we don’t person that galore of them about anymore,” my dada recalls. “It had an aura of roadside diner about it. … Everybody would spot the elephantine penguin retired there. I don’t deliberation Burgess Meredith ever ate there, though.” The joke takes maine a hit earlier landing; my type of Batman’s Penguin will ever beryllium Danny DeVito.

“It was a Googie benignant of edifice — you know, we don’t person that galore of them about anymore,” the writer’s dada recalls.

We’d sojourn each period aliases two, until the Penguin closed its doors successful 1991 and transformed into a Western Dental office, which kept the penguin motion but dropped those precocious ceilings and removed the room on pinch different hallmarks of its roadside charm. Thankfully, its travel didn’t extremity there.

The Weiss family, which founded Mel’s Drive-In diner successful 1947, had been eyeing the spot for years and signed a lease successful 2016. Then location was the nexus to their ain history: The prolific Armet & Davis architecture firm designed the Penguin arsenic good arsenic the existent location of Mel’s Sherman Oaks.

“When the dentist agency went retired of business,” said co-owner Colton Weiss, “it seemed for illustration a no-brainer to make it Mel’s and bring it backmost to the glory days of being a diner.”

What followed were 2 years of “very expensive” renovations, according to the third-generation Mel’s owner.

Beyond the iconic penguin motion — which obtained “historically aliases architecturally significant” nickname successful 2000 — Mel’s pays homage pinch the ample sculptural, custom-made solid globe lights, which replicate the original’s. The Weisses hired plot specialists to reappraisal decades-old photos of the Penguin Coffee Shop to find which varieties of flowers dressed up the beforehand of the restaurant, past they replanted them.

Since the building’s reopening successful 2018, thousands of guests person ended the travel on Route 66 pinch a repast successful the diner.

While sledgehammering drywall, they uncovered the diner’s original stone wall. Along a hallway adjacent the bathrooms, a mini assemblage of Penguin Coffee Shop photos offers different glimpse of the predecessor. This location besides features a marshmallow-and-chocolate-sauce Penguin Shake successful grant of the tuxedoed mascot of the original.

It wasn’t until they were adjacent to signing a woody that they realized it sat on Route 66.

“We’re for illustration Route 66 authorities now,” said Weiss, whose father, Steven Weiss, was mostly responsible for the restoration.

Since the building’s reopening successful 2018, owners opportunity thousands of guests person ended their travels pinch a repast successful the diner. They bustle done the doors aft the agelong journey, sometimes bedecked successful Route 66 merchandise, and sometimes buying Mel’s ain marque of Route 66 merch while there.

Atmosphere and specifications of Mel’s Drive-in Diner.

“We had a feline do it successful a ’67 Chevy, that was connected his bucket list: Older feline who did it pinch his wife, and it was a convertible,” said Weiss. “He did it successful summertime, truthful by the clip he showed up he was covered successful particulate and dirt. He couldn’t beryllium happier to make it to Mel’s and get a burger.”

Another, he said, did the full way connected a bicycle.

The diner offers certificates of completion for those who decorativeness the trek, and devised a burger named for the route. A food vessel astatine the entranceway features a Route 66 theme, arsenic does a mural connected a mini wall of the parking lot. Two charismatic signs, placed by the city, denote the location’s significance.

“The metropolis knew there’d beryllium renewed liking successful a diner being the existent ending of Route 66,” Weiss said. “Before, I don’t cognize anybody who’d want to extremity their travel astatine a dentist’s office. Maybe personification who collapsed their teeth connected the way.”

But the trail’s extremity could someday spot its ain end. The spot was listed for waste successful 2025. Representatives for the building’s guidance institution didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“We’re trying to support it location arsenic agelong arsenic possible,” Weiss said. “People really bask this location, and it seems for illustration 1 of the past diners successful Santa Monica.” Weiss declined to remark further.

Mel’s adjunct head Yazmin Minguelasays she sees much travelers now because it’s the centennial of Route 66. “But moreover earlier that, we still had a batch of visitors.”

She’s worked for Mel’s 22 years, six of which person been spent successful the Santa Monica restaurant. Her shifts are afloat of Westside regulars, celebrities and guests finishing their travel on Route 66.

“Ending connected a diner — moreover though that’s not really the extremity of Route 66 — is nostalgia,” my dada mused. “Having a spot for illustration Mel’s, which is simply a substitute for the benignant of flea-bitten ptomaine joints that you mightiness get on Route 66, brings backmost memories to very aged people. And very caller group inquire questions like, ‘Who’s Burgess Meredith?’”

Mel’s Drive-In is unfastened astatine 1670 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, Sunday to Thursday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to midnight.