The Pup Cafe

A dog-shaped restaurant that stood on West Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles from approximately 1929 to 1934, when it was moved to West Washington Boulevard in Culver City. By the late 1960s, it had become a music store, Ugly Dog Records. By 1971, it was gone.

• Address: 5406 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles. Later moved to 12718 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City.
• Year built: 1929
• Original owner: Joseph Andrew Maddox
• Other owners: William Perkins, Dorothy Bishonden, Virginia Jacobson, Esther Chase, Esther Collings

An Important Source: “Joseph Andrew Maddox in LEMW’s Words”

The most important source I’ve found that really ties together all the facts about the Pup Cafe and its sibling restaurant, the Bulldog Inn, is a transcribed recollection from a woman named Lorna Elizabeth Maddox Williams, posted on Ancestry in 2012 by one of her distant relatives. Lorna Williams lived from 1915 to 2001¹ and was the granddaughter of Joseph Andrew Maddox and niece of Everett Floyd Maddox, both of whom are mentioned in the passage.

The text reads, in full:

He was a carpenter and a building contractor. At one time he owned a second-hand store in Kansas and was a part-time² sheriff’s deputy.

With his three sons, he built his house at 5354 Westhaven St. in Los Angeles and lived there from 1924 until 1949 when he died there.

At one time he owned a small lunch stand built in the shape of a large bulldog, built by Joseph and his sons in the 1930s on W. Washington Blvd. in Los Angeles. Later on, his son Everett built one like it in San Gabriel.³ After the parents’ death, Irene and Edwin lived in the same house until their deaths, when the property was sold.

Note the one glaring error in Mrs. Williams’s recollection: the statement the Pup was originally built on West Washington Boulevard. As we’ll see through photographic evidence, it first existed on West Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles, and after a few years was moved to West Washington Boulevard (in Culver City, near Venice). Since the Pup stood on Washington much longer than on Adams, and Williams could have been as old as 86 when she provided the passage, I’ll let it slide.

1929–1934

Humble Beginnings

The Pup Cafe’s history begins with a building permit from July 1929, filed by J. A. (Joseph Andrew)⁴ Maddox of 5354 Westhaven Street, Los Angeles.

It’s a permit to move a building from some unspecified location in Los Angeles County (presumably not within LA city limits) to 5406 West Adams Boulevard. Another section specifies that the building will be moved “by Ridgeley Dr.” The permit states that the building is already being used as a restaurant and will continue to be used for that purpose after the move. It also mentions that the lot at 5406 West Adams will be shared with a garage.

So this very first historical document already presents us with a mystery. It seems that the Pup originally existed somewhere outside of Los Angeles, with its known history only beginning once it was moved to West Adams Boulevard. But was Joseph Maddox its original creator, or did he just take over the restaurant at the time of the move? Ultimately we don’t have any evidence one way or the other except for Lorna Williams’s recollection that the Pup was “built by Joseph and his sons.” One possible explanation is that Maddox purchased a nondescript kiosk, had it moved to West Adams, and then modified it into the form of a dog. (This explanation is somewhat supported by the below Photo 1.) In the absence of any other claimants to the title, I’ll continue referring to Joseph Maddox as the Pup’s creator.

Also, to put a face to the name, here’s a photo of Joseph Maddox (with his wife Elizabeth):

Photo 1 (September 1929)

The fact that this photo even exists at all is a minor miracle––it shows the Pup Cafe while it was still under construction! Going off of the interpretation of events I theorized in the above paragraph, this could be from when Joseph Maddox had the proto-Pup moved to 5406 West Adams Boulevard and was in the process of adding dog features to the building. Note that this photo must have been taken on West Adams Boulevard; we can tell from the house in the background on the right (see below for more details about this house). The Pup is unpainted, one or both of its eyes have yet to be installed, and some planks are scattered by its feet. The identity of the girl in the photo is unknown, but maybe it was Lorna Williams herself (she would have been about 14 at the time), or another Maddox relative. I also have yet to identify the meaning of the “…OHN WRIGH…” (presumably “JOHN WRIGHT”) billboard in the background.

Photo 2 (1929)

This second photo of the Pup Cafe shows its surrounding neighborhood in greater detail. Look closely and you’ll recognize the decorative Xs on the house on the left in the background from Photo 1 as well, confirming that the two photos were taken at the same place:

And most importantly, the houses in the background of Photo 2 still stand around the corner from 5406 West Adams Boulevard today, making it clear that the Pup Cafe was indeed at that location.

According to Los Angeles building records, 2614–2616 Burnside was built in 1924 and 2618–2620 was built in 1923—both early enough to have appeared in the Pup Cafe photos.

1930 U.S. Census

In 1930, Joseph Maddox was recorded in the U.S. Census as a cafe proprietor living at 5354 Westhaven Street.

Photo 3 (1930)

This may be the best-known photo of the Pup Cafe. It’s appeared in print as far back as 1933’s Los Angeles by Morrow Mayo. Note the spotlight on the ground to the right of the Pup, presumably for lighting it up after dark.

In 2018, Photo 3 was printed at its highest-ever resolution in California Crazy: American Pop Architecture by Jim Heimann. Although this version edited out the power and telephone lines crisscrossing behind the Pup, it made the “5406” address over the Pup’s front doors visible. It also revealed more details of the house on the right, making it even clearer that today’s 2614–2616 South Burnside Avenue is the same building.

Photo 4 (c. 1930)

This photo is very similar to Photo 3, although it gives a better view of 2618–2620 South Burnside.

Photos 5, 6, and 7 (c. 1930)

Around the same time, these three photos of the Pup Cafe were taken, showing some boys perhaps enjoying hot dogs they purchased from the Pup. They reveal the existence of a square “tail” behind the Pup and show some glimpses of other businesses on West Adams Boulevard.⁵ Another spotlight is also visible on the Pup’s left side.

1931 City Directory

The 1931 Los Angeles city directory⁶ listed Joseph Maddox as the owner of a restaurant at 5406 West Adams Boulevard for the first time. (Previously he’d been listed as a building contractor or carpenter.)⁷

Robberies (1931)

In January 1931, the Pup Cafe was robbed of $15.

In February of that year, bandits once again attempted to rob the Pup Cafe. However, perhaps emboldened after his previous experience, Joseph Maddox fought back:

1932 City Directory

Here’s Joseph Maddox’s entry in the 1932 Los Angeles city directory, still showing him as the owner of the Pup Cafe.

Video 1 (c. 1932)

Around this time, the only known video footage of the Pup was filmed. I found this footage among other unrelated clips in a YouTube video titled “Driving Through Hollywood (1932) Raw Footage.” While I can’t confirm that the 1932 date is accurate, 2614–2616 South Burnside Avenue does appear in the background, proving that the video was taken before the Pup’s 1934 move to Culver City. Here I’ve presented the video clip of the Pup along with the other clips of eye-catching buildings that were placed around it in the video compilation.

1933 City Directory

The 1933 Los Angeles city directory still listed Joseph Maddox as a restaurant owner, although this time it didn’t include the address of the Pup Cafe.

Morrow Mayo’s Los Angeles (1933)

In 1933, the Pup made what may have been its first appearance in a book when Photo 3 was included in Los Angeles by Morrow Mayo, as part of a collage of numerous programmatic⁸ restaurants.

For Sale (1933)

In April 1933, an advertisement listing the Pup for sale appeared in the Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News.

Sharper-eyed readers might notice that the Pup is referred to as the “Bull Dog Cafe.” Yes, it’s true that here, the first time the Pup was ever given a name in print, it wasn’t called the Pup. However, to avoid confusion with the Bulldog Inn, I’ll only ever refer to this restaurant as the Pup. (Later on, we’ll see it called the Pup Cafe officially.)

1934 City Directory

Joseph Maddox evidently sold the Pup to one William R. Perkins, who appeared in the 1934 Los Angeles city directory as the restaurant’s new owner. (Note that the ditto marks in the below image mean “Perkins.”)

Photo 8 (1934)

This photo shows the Pup on West Adams Boulevard with a “For Sale” sign on its left. It seems that William Perkins only managed the Pup for a short while before putting it up for sale again (assuming the photo’s date is accurate). The next owner of the Pup would probably be the one to move it to Culver City.

Some other items of note in this picture are: 2618–2620 South Burnside Avenue in the background on the left, the “5406” address plaque visible over the Pup’s doors, and Ben’s Garage in the background on the right. “Ben” was Benjamin B. Brough, whose garage shared the 5406 West Adams address with the Pup Cafe.⁹

Photo 9 (c. 1934)

The above photo appeared in Modern Mechanix magazine in April 1934. It shows the Pup at its original West Adams location, although the restaurant may have already been moved to Culver City by this point.

1934–1969

1934 Aerial Photo

This photo, taken in June 1934, clearly shows the Pup at its new home. The Pup’s new address would be 12718 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City.¹¹ It stood at the crossroads of West Washington Boulevard, Washington Place, and Zanja Street.

Although the Pup was technically within Culver City limits, it was about as close to Venice, Los Angeles as a building could get while still being in Culver City. Many accounts (and even contemporary city directories) refer to the Pup as being in Venice, and reports about it mainly appeared in Venice newspapers.

1934 Newspaper Ad

In November 1934, the Pup Cafe’s new location was advertised in the Venice Evening Vanguard.

In addition to confirming the Pup’s new address, this ad revealed that for a time the restaurant was known as “Mac’s Pup Cafe.” In fact, this is the earliest source I’ve found that uses the name “Pup Cafe” at all.

1936 City Directory

The 1936 Culver City-area directory listed the Pup as “Vacant.” It must have sat empty for some amount of time before being taken over by its next owner.

1937 City Directory

The 1937 Culver City-area directory listed the Pup as being owned by Dorothy Bishonden.

1938 City Directory

The 1938 Culver City-area directory listed the Pup as being owned by Virginia Jacobson.

1938 Aerial Photo

In 1938, another aerial photo of Culver City that included the Pup was taken. This one is fuzzier than the 1934 photo, but the Pup is still recognizable when the two photos are compared.

Photos 10 and 11 (c. 1938)

In 1938 or 1939,¹² the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino stopped by the Pup during a visit to California, and took photos of each other in front of the restaurant.

If you look closely at Photo 10, you can see the “…718” of the Pup’s address number over its doors.

Photo 11 shows a spotlight on each side of the Pup, just like when it was on West Adams. The Pup also wears a necklace of Christmas lights.

Photo 12 (1939)

Another photo from around the same time, this one gives a slightly better view of the new signage added to the Pup since its move to Culver City.

Photos 13 and 14 (c. 1939)

The next two photos were taken by the famed Ansel Adams “around 1939,” according to the Los Angeles Public Library.¹⁴

1945: Another Robbery Attempt

By August 1945, the Pup Cafe was owned by Esther Chase, who carried on Joseph Maddox’s tradition of fighting off would-be robbers.

1948: The Pup Extended

In 1948, an addition to the Pup was constructed. At this point, the restaurant was being managed by one Esther Collings. Could she have been Esther Chase with a different last name?

Note that the newspaper referred to it as “Dog Restaurant.” The Pup had a new name and new owner almost every time it appeared in an article. “Pup Cafe” has survived as the standard name for the restaurant today likely due to its usage in 1980’s California Crazy: Roadside Vernacular Architecture.

Photo 15 (c. 1948)

We know this next photo was taken after 1948 because it shows the Pup’s addition, but there aren’t many other clues to its exact timeframe. The Pup’s full address number of “12718” is faintly visible above its doors if you look closely.

It’s striking to see all the signage that accumulated on and around the Pup in Photos 10 through 14 stripped away again. As part of that signage removal, the Pup has received what may have been its only complete paint-pattern change. The large, ragged patches seen on its coat as far back as Photo 2 have been replaced with smaller, sharper spots. It would continue to wear this design for the remainder of its days.

1957: The Raid

The next time the Pup appeared in the news was 1957, when it was raided by police looking for teenagers out after curfew and possibly involved in “gang activities.” The article refers to the Pup as “Dog Restaurant” this time.

September 1964: Permit Denied

In September 1964, the Culver City Council denied an appeal from the Pup’s owner to permit “entertainment with a beer bar.”

It’s not clear what the exact circumstances here were — had the Pup always had this permit and then suddenly lost it? Was its owner looking to branch out into selling liquor? Whatever the circumstances, it may have not been a coincidence that the Pup would be sold a few months later.

November 1964: Sold Again

This newspaper ad shows that the Pup was sold to a new owner in early November 1964. “MV” probably refers to Mar Vista, another Los Angeles neighborhood bordering the Pup’s Culver City location.

It’s possible that this sale marked the point when the Pup ceased to operate as a restaurant. The next (and final) time it appeared in contemporary documentation, it would be a record store.

Photo 16 (November 1969)

This 1969 photo shows the Pup in its final form: Ugly Dog Records. Forty years of history are visible in this image, from Joseph Maddox’s original Pup building to the 1948 addition all the way to the late-’60s “Ugly Dog” signage. For good measure, some Southern California palm trees are visible in the background (actually a first for all the Pup Cafe photos).

This is the only photographic evidence of Ugly Dog Records I’ve been able to find.

The End

By 1971, the Pup was gone. An aerial photo¹⁵ from that year shows a parking lot where it once stood. But 40 years was a pretty good run for Joseph Maddox’s little hot dog stand. And the Pup would live on in the memories of thousands of people who saw it during their childhoods (try searching Facebook for “pup cafe culver city”).

In fact, the Pup still lives on in physical form today as well (if you stretch things a little bit). In 1938, the Spotted Dog restaurant¹⁶ was built in Retreat, Cape Town, South Africa. It looked very similar to the Pup and was likely based on photos of that restaurant that had been published during the 1930s.

The Spotted Dog was eventually demolished, but a commemorative statue of it was built nearby. It’s at the northeast corner of Main and Honeywell Roads in Retreat, Cape Town.

So—in a way—replicas of both the Pup Cafe and its sibling restaurant the Bulldog Inn both exist today, on opposite sides of the world from each other, almost one hundred years after the original stands were first built.

Notes