EZ's
Restaurant (formerly Kip's Big Boy) Demolished
2005
This is EZ's, formerly located on Northwest Highway just west of Hillcrest, in
Dallas Texas. This building was formerly a Kip's Big Boy restaurant. I don't know
what the build date of this building is. This is a standard design used by the
Big Boy restaurant chain. The California based Architect firm Armet & Davis
designed this building. Armet & Davis was probably the source of more "Googie"
architecture than any other firm. You can see a picture of the Kip's sign below.
The picture of the sign was taken around 1989. Unfortunately, I didn't take any
picture of the restaurant before it was redecorated. EZ's did a good job when
they remodeled the place. It's obvious that there was an appreciation of the design
of the building when they did the job. Click on any photo to see a larger
version.
This
is the Kip's sign as it appeared in 1989. The white wraparound argon tubes around
the circular part of the sign is classic signwork! In the western U.S. the "Big
Boy" restaurants were "Bob's Big Boy." I remember seeing only Kip's
around the Dallas area.
The front of the
building as viewed form the southeast.
This is the east
side of the building. The west end of the building had the gold colored sun shades
but the circular-octagon fillers that make up the insides of them have fallen
out. The east side sunshades have remained intact. Most likely due to the west
side sunshades being cooked by the hot Texas sunsets. I guess the adhesive didn't
hold up as well on the west side. Just look at the curve in the roof! The huge
glass windows seem to disappear into the structure at the top. I don't believe
that the cone-shaped light fixture visible through the window is original. I think
the original fixtures were replaced with the cone-shaped fixtures when the building
was remodeled by EZ's.
Here is the main
dining area as viewed from the front door. The entrance is to the immediate right
in the picture. The Kip's did have a counter like this but I'm not sure if this
is the original. I don't think it is. I only ate here one time when it was Kip's.
I can't remember the layout of the place while it was Kip's. The ceiling is painted
blue but still has the original ceiling tiles. The huge round air conditioning
outlets were replaced with square outlets. The roof just seems to float in mid
air. Serious gravity defying architecture here, a standard of the Googie style!
This picture was
taken looking out the west side windows from the entrance. You can see the sunshade
frames out of the windows. The sunshade blocks fell out of the frames. The EZ's
folks have maintained the trees outside these windows to shade that wicked Texas
sun. You can just make out in the picture that the stone pillar is about 2 feet
inside from the corner of the windows. The huge glass sheets come together
edge to edge in the corner. The standard thing to do would have been to put the
pillar in the corner but the architect had the idea to move the thing in a few
feet to bring out the effect of the huge windows by joining the bare sheets of
glass in the corner. The corner is the same at the other end of the building.
Excellent!
This picture was
taken looking up from the counter. The yellow overhang is original Kip's as are
the triangular light fixtures. The triangular fixtures are underneath the whole
length of the front part of the overhang. This overhand wraps around into the
rear dining room. See photo below.
Here
is the rear dining room. Here you can see the yellow overhang wrapping around
the corner. There is recessed lighting above the overhang. The ceiling in this
room isn't part of the big curved front roof. The architect carried the edge of
the curved roof into this dining room. You can see the edge of it where the blue
ceiling comes down at the top left of the picture. It looks much better when you
are actually inside the building. It's kind of difficult to tell from this picture.
This
photo was taken looking out the rear east dining room window.
Here
is the west side of the building. The 2 rear sunshades were still intact when
this was taken. I think the blocks have since fallen out of them. Notice the square
block masonry with alternating blocks protruding giving the wall a checkerboard
look.
Back to Googie Main
This
is the Kip's sign as it appeared in 1989. The white wraparound argon tubes around
the circular part of the sign is classic signwork! In the western U.S. the "Big
Boy" restaurants were "Bob's Big Boy." I remember seeing only Kip's
around the Dallas area.
The front of the
building as viewed form the southeast. 
This is the east
side of the building. The west end of the building had the gold colored sun shades
but the circular-octagon fillers that make up the insides of them have fallen
out. The east side sunshades have remained intact. Most likely due to the west
side sunshades being cooked by the hot Texas sunsets. I guess the adhesive didn't
hold up as well on the west side. Just look at the curve in the roof! The huge
glass windows seem to disappear into the structure at the top. I don't believe
that the cone-shaped light fixture visible through the window is original. I think
the original fixtures were replaced with the cone-shaped fixtures when the building
was remodeled by EZ's.
Here is the main
dining area as viewed from the front door. The entrance is to the immediate right
in the picture. The Kip's did have a counter like this but I'm not sure if this
is the original. I don't think it is. I only ate here one time when it was Kip's.
I can't remember the layout of the place while it was Kip's. The ceiling is painted
blue but still has the original ceiling tiles. The huge round air conditioning
outlets were replaced with square outlets. The roof just seems to float in mid
air. Serious gravity defying architecture here, a standard of the Googie style!
This picture was
taken looking out the west side windows from the entrance. You can see the sunshade
frames out of the windows. The sunshade blocks fell out of the frames. The EZ's
folks have maintained the trees outside these windows to shade that wicked Texas
sun. You can just make out in the picture that the stone pillar is about 2 feet
inside from the corner of the windows. The huge glass sheets come together
edge to edge in the corner. The standard thing to do would have been to put the
pillar in the corner but the architect had the idea to move the thing in a few
feet to bring out the effect of the huge windows by joining the bare sheets of
glass in the corner. The corner is the same at the other end of the building.
Excellent! 
This picture was
taken looking up from the counter. The yellow overhang is original Kip's as are
the triangular light fixtures. The triangular fixtures are underneath the whole
length of the front part of the overhang. This overhand wraps around into the
rear dining room. See photo below.
Here
is the rear dining room. Here you can see the yellow overhang wrapping around
the corner. There is recessed lighting above the overhang. The ceiling in this
room isn't part of the big curved front roof. The architect carried the edge of
the curved roof into this dining room. You can see the edge of it where the blue
ceiling comes down at the top left of the picture. It looks much better when you
are actually inside the building. It's kind of difficult to tell from this picture.
This
photo was taken looking out the rear east dining room window. 
Here
is the west side of the building. The 2 rear sunshades were still intact when
this was taken. I think the blocks have since fallen out of them. Notice the square
block masonry with alternating blocks protruding giving the wall a checkerboard
look.