The Leisure Architecture Of Wayne Mcallister

"[McAllister] elevated commercial structures like the drive-in restaurant and the theme resort to art form." - New York Times
"Think of how many people have lived in, or even visited, a Frank Lloyd Wright and then compare it to the number who have visited his [Wayne McAllister's] Las Vegas hotels. Millions more people have been influenced and affected by their quality."
- Alan Hess, architectural critic
American twentieth-century culture is not best explained through the architectural legacy of individual monuments but by the patterns and forms of its places. The spaces that are created and the way people use space dictate a lifestyle. The commercial architecture created by Wayne McAllister created much of the character of Southern California. His Fred and Ginger nightclubs and glinting steel and blazing neon circular drive-ins brought Busby Berkeley's Hollywood to life. His Sands Hotel in Las Vegas became the home of the Rat Pack; the mythology of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. owes a great deal to the swank glamour of the Copa Room and the Sands Hotel, McAllister's finest Nevada hotel.
Wayne McAllister was an iconoclast, a designer with no formal architectural training who changed the fabric of cities, a quiet conservative who created some of the most outlandish and sometimes garish spaces in North America. His works are defined by the monumental roadside sign at the edge of the highway, the rambling, relaxing scale of everything-a leisurely freedom of space spread over vast acreage, with rolling lawns, open patios, winding paths and miles and miles of neon beckoning to the automobile.
From the famous Sands, Fremont and Desert Inn hotels in LasVegas to neon-laden drive-ins such as Bob's Big Boy, McDonnell's and Simon's to extravagant dinner houses like Lawry's the Prime Rib, Richlor's and Melody Lane, The Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister explores the history of this architect's best-known projects.
A native Angeleno, Chris Nichols has worked in the historic preservation community for fifteen years. His work has been profiled in Smithsonian Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly and New Times L.A. He is the outreach chair of the Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee and an editor for Los Angeles Magazine. Nichols has created tours, publications and exhibitions while also working with property owners and serving as an advocate for endangered buildings at the local and state levels.


The Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister Chris Nichols
Wayne McAllister was an iconoclast, a designer with no formal architectural training who changed the fabric of cities, a quiet conservative who created some of the most outlandish and sometimes garish spaces in North America. His works are defined by the monumental roadside sign at the edge of the highway, the rambling, relaxing scale of everything-a leisurely freedom of space spread over vast acreage, with rolling lawns, open patios, winding paths and miles and miles of neon beckoning to the automobile.
From the famous Sands, Fremont and Desert Inn hotels in Las Vegas to neon-laden drive-ins such as Bob's Big Boy, McDonnell's and Simon's to extravagant dinner houses like Lawry's the Prime Rib, Richlor's and Melody Lane, The Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister explores the history of this architect's best-known projects.
Projects include Hotels and Nightspots:
1934 Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles El Rancho Vegas Hotel, Las Vegas
1952 Sands Hotel, Las Vegas
Fremont Hotel, Las Vegas
Drive-Ins:
1935-42 Simon's Drive-in's, Los Angeles
Herbert's Drive-Ins, 7800 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles
McDonnell's Drive-Ins, Los Angeles
1955 Bob's Big Boy, Van Nuys
Dinner Houses:
1945 Richlor's, Beverly Hills
1947 Stear's for Steaks, Beverly Hills
Lawry's the Prime Rib, Beverly Hills
1955 Smoke House restaurant, Burbank
Melody Lane