Eldon Davis, the father of...

...Googie architecture, died at age 94. (And his obit wasn't even in the New York Times. Shame on you, Gray Lady!)

Don't know what Googie architecture is? You've seen it many times:

When America was in love with aerodynamic design, Davis devised a concept for Norms restaurant (above) that made it appear poised for liftoff.

Built on La Cienega Boulevard in 1957, Norms had many features that came to typify the whimsical style of architecture known as Googie — a vaulted roof that resembles a flying wing, a room-length dining counter and an attention-grabbing vertical neon sign with roots in Las Vegas kitsch.
 
With architect Louis Armet, Davis opened a local firm in 1947 and developed a reputation for being willing to try almost anything to catch the attention of motorists who sped by.
 
The architects were chief proponents of Googie, named for a now-defunct cafe in West Hollywood, and derided by critics in the 1950s and 1960s "who didn't think a lot of our work but we didn't care," said Victor Newlove, a partner in the firm who started as an intern in the 1960s.
 
With their soaring and exaggerated roof lines, their buildings appeared to defy gravity, a structural innovation for which Davis was largely responsible.
 

Neon signs became a trademark, and they devised an animated sign for Pann's (above), a coffee shop in Westchester. Run by the same family since it opened in 1958, the restaurant is probably the best preserved example of Davis' work, Newlove said.