{"id":783067,"date":"2026-05-09T00:17:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T00:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/783067\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T00:17:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T00:17:23","slug":"artist-gary-baseman-has-revived-one-of-l-a-s-most-iconic-coffee-shops-as-a-whimsical-gallery-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/783067\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Gary Baseman has revived one of L.A.\u2019s most iconic coffee shops as a whimsical gallery show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unless you were there on a\u00a0commercial shoot or to campaign for Bernie Sanders, you haven\u2019t really been able to\u00a0linger in Johnie\u2019s Coffee Shop<\/a> since the\u00a0Space Age restaurant shuttered in 2000. But now\u2014just in time for the\u00a0debut of a new Metro<\/a> D Line stop across the street\u2014this\u00a0iconic Googie<\/a> structure along Wilshire Boulevard is open to the public again thanks to one of L.A.\u2019s most recognizable artists.<\/p>\n

Gary Baseman has filled the\u00a0historic\u00a0Fairfax Avenue\u00a0space\u00a0with his mischievous illustrated characters<\/a>, in plush form filling booths and, most uniquely, as drawings on top of local restaurant menus. Dubbed \u201cOff the Menu,\u201d the show\u2014which officially opened Friday afternoon\u2014is just bursting with love for both Fairfax and L.A.\u2019s restaurant scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m able to bring all these different dining establishments together [through these drawings],\u201d Baseman tells us. \u201cFrom Musso & Frank<\/a> to Nancy Silverton\u2019s Mozza<\/a> to Tommy Brockert\u2019s LaSorted\u2019s<\/a> in Downtown (the best pizza in L.A.) to Jurassic Magic (who makes great coffee) to Canter\u2019s<\/a> (which my mom was the head bakery sales lady for 35 years) to Genghis Cohen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gary
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out <\/p>\n

\"Gary
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out <\/p>\n

Walk inside of the\u00a0Armet & Davis\u2013designed\u00a0coffeehouse and you\u2019ll spy some of Baseman\u2019s three-dimensional creations\u00a0sidled up to the bar or occupying seats in the corner.\u00a0And in between them, placed on tabletops and lining the counter, dozens of menus from L.A. restaurants<\/a>\u00a0have\u00a0been doodled over with those same whimsical characters.<\/p>\n

Expect them to\u00a0potentially work their way into food, too: Though nothing\u2019s being served at the show quite yet, Baseman says he\u2019s working with Sad Girl Creamery on some pops inspired by the feline-ish Toby, as well as a treat from\u00a0Kettle Glazed Doughnuts based on Bosko, Baseman\u2019s late black cat who \u201cloved Kettle Glazed Doughnuts more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gary
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out <\/p>\n

\"Gary
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out <\/p>\n

\"Gary
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out <\/p>\n

Baseman set out to create a show that celebrated the playfulness of L.A.\u2019s dining culture, and his longtime home turf in the Fairfax District felt like the perfect place (\u201ceven though every place seems to be open for lease in the city, which is breaking my heart\u201d). So he reached out to his high school classmate Howard Gold, heir of the now-defunct 99 Cents Only Stores<\/a> and owner of the Johnie\u2019s building, and\u2014with the opening of the Wilshire\/Fairfax subway stop<\/a> across the street as well as LACMA\u2019s David Geffen Galleries<\/a> down the block\u2014couldn\u2019t have found better timing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to find a way to bring life and have people come here and get them excited about dining culture\u2014and about art, of course\u2014and celebrate Fairfax,\u201d Baseman says.<\/p>\n

\"Gary
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutGary Baseman <\/p>\n

So from now into June, you can\u00a0see\u00a0art-emblazoned menus from some of L.A.\u2019s most\u00a0beloved culinary institutions inside of one of its most iconic coffeehouses (though\u00a0Baseman points out that, ironically, \u201cJohnie\u2019s actually was never remembered as having good food\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u201cOff the Menu\u201d is open on Friday, May 8 from 3 to 7pm; on Saturday, May 9 from noon to 6pm, with an evening reception from 6 to 9pm; and Sunday, May 10 from noon to 7pm. After that, the free show runs Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 7pm through June 14. Find it at\u00a06101 Wilshire Boulevard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unless you were there on a\u00a0commercial shoot or to campaign for Bernie Sanders, you haven\u2019t really been able…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":783068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1037,1582,276,29645,2961,224,5337,29646],"class_list":{"0":"post-783067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-categories-art","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-losangeles","15":"tag-news-art"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116541748939861850","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}