‘Another inspiration was the film MAX (2002), written and directed by one of Emigre magazine’s founders, Menno Meyjes  . . .  I decided Jeanne would be a fictional typeface that was released in 1918, the timeframe from the movie.’

Ascender is running a little sale on some of my fonts. 25% off until March 5, 2011. Offer only available thru Ascender’s website. For details, go here.

(and watch the trailer for MAX here)

Not to be confused with my fonts of the same name, this is the real thing. Including the iconic Joe’s of Westlake cocktail napkin.

Once upon a time in Northern California, there were a bunch of restaurants that went under the moniker of Joe’s  . . .

Not Mel’s, but Joe’s.

The food: Italian, the atmosphere dark, the portions large. The waiters in suits and ties.

eat at joe’s
I used to eat at them with my father. They weren’t all owned by the same people, just adapted the Joe’s name and served variations of Italian food. Old school California Italian food. Joe’s history is legendary and Joe’s Special is still a staple on menus throughout the region:

Joe’s Special, from Charlotte Walker’s A Little San Francisco Cookbook

 

Martini at Joe’s fonts by mehallo

fonts and vanishing food
My Martini at Joe’s fonts were named after the restaurants – of which, many of these high class counter joints are gone. Only a handful of the earliest Joe’s are still open. Here’s a list  . . .

Antioch Joe’s, Antioch [closed]
Chico Joe’s, Chico [closed]
Joe’s Fish Grotto, Daly City [closed]
Joe’s of Westlake, Daly City [open]
Little Joe’s, San Francisco [open]
Marin Joe’s, Corte Madera [open]
New Joe’s, San Francisco [closed]
Original Joe’s, San Francisco [open]
Original Joe’s, San Jose [open]
Palo Alto Joe’s, Palo Alto [closed]
Sacramento Joe’s, Sacramento [closed]
San Carlos Joe’s, San Carlos [closed]
San Rafael Joe’s, San Rafael [open]
Stockton Joe’s, Stockton [open]
Strawberry Joe’s, Mill Valley [kinda reopened]
Vaca Joe’s, Vacaville [closed]
West Portal Joe’s, San Francisco [closed]
Woodlake Joe’s, Burlingame [closed]

San Rafael Joe’s, San Rafael [open]

Original Joe’s, San Francisco [reopened]

Unfortunately, in 2007, a kitchen fire at Original Joe’s in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco (above) – shut the doors indefinitely. I spent some time chatting with the owner a few years back, talked her into selling simple black tees with their logo and iconic clip art chef on it.

joe’s variants
Today, there are a few knockoffs using the Joe’s name – and, of course other variations (cool logo!) in other parts of the state – as well as this nifty update in Half Moon Bay, a North Beach-located Joe Dimaggio’s Italian Chophouse, and North Sacramento’s Lil Joe’s (seen below) – all working to keep some form of the tradition alive.

Lil Joe’s, image found via Tom Spaulding’s photostream on Flickr

comfort food a la joe’s
But when restaurant hunting today, it’s hard to find anything that compares to a real Joe’s charcoal-broiled beefsteak cooked medium with side of ravioli, boiled veggies, cup of pastina and fresh San Francisco sourdough. Gotta be real SF sourdough, any other bread  . . .  just doesn’t cut it.

Vintage menu for Original Joe’s [still open]

Vintage menu for Joe’s of Westlake [still open]

And  . . .

Posted recently, here’s my Martini playlist, with Original Joe’s ashtray.

Typography on the web is about to change dramatically. Several entities are involved. I have a bunch of my fonts about to launch with Typekit.

And here’s a really good rundown by Elliot Jay Stocks, posted on the i love typography blog.

I grew up around Googie Architecture. It was just there. Space age-looking buildings, funky decor and rocks in the walls. Lots of rocks. Flintstones-like, but where the Jetson’s were running the quarry.

The 24 hour Lyon’s in San Bruno (see above) was the high school hangout. Long weird nights. In college, those weird nights spread to the other Lyon’s in San Mateo, San Carlos and Daly City. Denny’s was the alternative.

The style’s roots can be traced back to Frank Lloyd Wright and Tallesin West. Architect John Lautner designed the first Googie structure in 1949 and it was panned by critics. The firm of Armet and Davis designed most of the rest.

Most Googie Architecture has been torn down, demolished; replaced by new prefabricated structures. Walmarts, Officemax, Honda dealers. In the past few years, a Sacramento-based Lyon’s and Eppie’s bit the dust. Another googie Eppie’s is over off Business 80, awaiting its fate.

some googie linx
[1] Here’s a link to a site featuring many of A&D’s presentation renderings (used to illustrate this post).

[2] And here’s a link to THE book on Googie, written by Alan Hess.

[3] This is Chris Jepsen’s long running Googie Architecture site.

[4] And here’s another link to my googie fonts, Martini at Joe’s.

Martini at Joe’s was one of my favorite projects; I drank a lot of Martinis as part of the research and hung out with many Tiki people too.

The Martini at Joe’s fonts – which show up in very odd places – is the little bit I could do to preserve what is a dying California style.

Snapped these while in Reno a few weeks back. Love 1950s vernacular typography, I’ve built an entire font family around this.

Drove the guy at the motel front desk crazy with my flash.

A really nice drug dealer tried to sell me his wares.

I’m not being sarcastic, he was really, really nice.

Took me a long moment before I realized what he was up to.