When it opened in 1964, the building's design was different enough to be considered exotic around these parts: The Taj Mahal of Ballard, some called it.
The architect, the late Clarence Mayhew of San Francisco, was a well-known practitioner of the Googie style, named for Googie's Coffee Shop that stood at Sunset and Crescent Heights boulevards.
Los Angeles was the epicenter of Googie, which is marked by "swooping roof forms, large areas of glass, bold colors and futuristic signage," said Alan R. Michelson, head of the architecture and urban planning library at the University of Washington.
When Denny's took over the building in the mid-1980s, the company considered razing it, but enough residents protested and the plan was scrapped. The building remained a Denny's until September.
By that time, Ballard had undergone a dramatic change.
Once a quaint, if quirky, neighborhood of nondescript houses and small businesses, it stands at the cusp of becoming one of the city's trendiest districts. Big-box stores, designer homes and towering condos continue to take over swaths of land.
Many longtime and former residents lament the disappearance of the old, low-key Ballard. And it's that sentiment that drives many of the building's supporters.
"Denny's is a reminder of what Ballard used to be," said Don Potter, 59, a former longtime resident who lives in Everett but still works at a furniture store a block from the former restaurant.
"Everywhere you look, there are condos going up. There's nowhere to park. Neighbors don't know each other anymore," Potter said. He recalled a time in the 1970s and '80s when all his neighbors in Ballard were retired Norwegians (the neighborhood was long a Scandinavian enclave) or old hippies.
The neighborhood was affordable back then, he said. And the Manning's/Denny's restaurant was a place to meet friends for a nice meal for a few dollars.
"The restaurants now, it's like $30 a plate," Potter said. "Denny's was for regular people."
From the sidewalk, the building's curving roofline is clearly visible, as are the condominiums rising all around it. The old restaurant is dwarfed and, in its present state, almost pathetic.
But history isn't always elegant, Potter said, echoing the sentiments of many.
Sometimes it's ordinary, and, on occasion, even tacky.
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tomas.alex.tizon@latimes.com
