{"id":628124,"date":"2026-05-07T03:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T03:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/628124\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T03:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T03:49:15","slug":"this-artist-doodled-on-40-famous-la-restaurant-menus-see-them-at-johnies-coffee-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/628124\/","title":{"rendered":"This artist doodled on 40 famous LA restaurant menus. See them at Johnie’s Coffee Shop"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new art exhibition is breathing life into the mid-century, Googie architecture of Johnie\u2019s Coffee Shop at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue.<\/p>\n

Artist Gary Baseman is known for<\/a> his iconic cat illustrations and whimsical characters that have shown up in the New York Times, Disney animation and plenty of toys.<\/p>\n

His L.A. food institution roots go deep: he grew up in the Fairfax district and his mom worked in the bakery at the legendary Canter\u2019s Deli for 35 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cOff the Menu: Dining and Drawing in LA\u201d features work drawn directly on menus from 40 different local staples, including Musso and Frank\u2019s and Genghis Cohen, and of course, Canter’s.<\/p>\n

Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n

If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Gary Baseman’s drawing on a Canter’s Deli menu.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Courtesy Gary Baseman Studio<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a sense of community and comfort by being in these places,\u201d Baseman told LAist. \u201cThis show is all about my love and celebration of L.A. dining culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baseman said the idea for the exhibition can be traced back to his time traveling around the world. At many of his dining stops around the globe, he would… borrow… menus and begin sketching scenes in his cartoon-like style.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just say I wouldn\u2019t give them back to the waiter and I would actually start drawing on the menu itself… It was a way of giving them immortality through the body of work,\u201d Baseman said.<\/p>\n

Baseman said he loved the idea of opening Johnie\u2019s up again for people to see. He called the location the perfect place for a show like this, which takes visitors on what he calls a \u201cdream reality\u201d tour of L.A.\u2019s food institutions through sketches and drawings.<\/p>\n

Designed by the firm Armet and Davis, Johnie\u2019s Coffee Shop occupied the building from 1966 to 2000, when it closed down, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy<\/a>. Johnie\u2019s has also been used for filming locations and shows up in The Big Lebowski, Reservoir Dogs and more.<\/p>\n

Johnie\u2019s hasn\u2019t been completely dormant over the past decade though<\/a>. Under the guidance of the Community Solidarity Project, a mutual aid nonprofit with a longstanding footprint in Mid-Wilshire, the building served as a campaign center for Bernie Sanders, a mutual aid distribution hub, a filming location with student filmmakers and more.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Gary Baseman’s menu drawing of Musso and Frank’s.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Courtesy Gary Baseman Studio<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019ll house Baseman\u2019s first solo show in L.A. since 2013\u2019s \u201cThe Door is Always Open\u201d at the Skirball Center. The launch of \u201cOff the Menu\u201d was purposefully timed to coincide with the opening of the first phase of the Metro D Line<\/a> extension, which includes a Wilshire\/Fairfax stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cOff the Menu\u201d kicks off at Johnie\u2019s on Friday, May 8, with a Metro D Line celebration from 3 to 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

A public opening reception will take place: 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday, May 9<\/p>\n

Then, the exhibition will be open noon to 7 p.m., Wednesday to Sunday, until June 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new art exhibition is breathing life into the mid-century, Googie architecture of Johnie\u2019s Coffee Shop at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,91823,271740,271744,271742,271743,271741],"class_list":["post-628124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-fairfax-district","tag-gary-baseman","tag-johnies-coffee-sop","tag-los-angeles-art","tag-metro-d-line","tag-tobi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}