National and State Register

Bastien’s Restaurant

Denver County

Bastien’s Restaurant is an important representative of the Googie style.  This 1958 building reflects a local interpretation by a Colorado architect of the Googie movement that originated in Southern California for coffeehouse design in response to the growing automobile culture, new materials and technologies, and space age visions of the future. 

Black and white photo of a Googie Style restuarant.

Bastien's Restaurant in Denver (5DV.10743)

Representative features of the style embodied in Bastien’s design include the freestanding building surrounded by ample parking; dramatic folded plate roof with hemispherical skylight; juxtaposition of exterior materials, including painted concrete block, concrete, and metal; expanses of plate glass windows; extruded metal screens; linkage of the interior and exterior through the use of materials, forms, and geometric shapes; neon embellished integrated and stand-alone signs; and a drive-up canopy at the rear.  The interior design of the restaurant continues the Googie theme with features such as a tongue and groove board ceiling, curved bar with sunken service area, suspended metal staircase leading to an upper dining room, and many 1950s finishes and fixtures.  The Bastien family still owns and operates the building as the same restaurant that opened in 1958.  (2009 photograph.)