Can a Taco Stand Be a Historic Monument?

The owner of Henry’s Tacos, at the corner of Tujunga and Moorpark in the glorious San Fernando Valley, thinks it can:

The third-generation owner of Henry’s Tacos has filed an application with the City’s Office of Historic Resources to have the taco stand declared a Historic-Cultural Monument. Janis Hood, granddaughter of founder Henry Comstock, hopes to preserve the building “if any development issues come up in the future,” her representative, Charles Fischer, told LandUseLA.com.

 

Fischer says the architectural style of Henry’s Tacos is in the “Googie Vernacular,” with its upswept roof and integral signage. He acknowledges that the taco stand is “definitely on the lower, simpler end of the scale” but says that’s part of the reason to preserve Henry’s Taco stand since it “may have been a prototype for similar structures that dotted the Los Angeles area during the 1960s and 1970s” of which only a handful remain.

 

“Henry’s Tacos … is an intact example of the type of roadside fast food stand that punctuated the American landscape during the mid-20^th Century,” wrote Fischer in the HCM application. Fischer specializes in obtaining historical designations for sites and lists more than 100 Historical-Cultural Monuments that he has written and/or researched and advocated for since 1988 on his website.

And no sniggering from the Bay Area contingent.  You guys think that the horrific Transamerica Tower is beautiful architecture, so you are blocked from complaining on the grounds of lack of standing.  And you destroyed Hetch Hetchy.  So there.

built environment, Googie Vernacular, historic preservation, Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, tacos