The Cliff and Lou Sawyer papers span 13 linear feet and date from circa 1930 to circa 1979. The collection is primarily composed of architectural drawings and reprographic copies of restaurants designed by the Sawyers as well as project notes, ephemera, newspaper clippings, small sketches of restaurant exteriors, and disbound scrapbook pages which document the many restaurants designed by the husband and wife team.

Cliff and Lou Sawyer were a husband and wife design team whose work consisted primarily of designing and decorating food and beverage establishments in southern California. Lou Sawyer was born in the Basque country in the Pyrenees between France and Spain in 1905. Cliff Sawyer was born in Boston in 1896. Lou met her husband Cliff Sawyer in Paris, where he was studying art and design. The two left France for California in the early 1930s. Once in California, the two began an interior design business together. In 1966, Cliff Sawyer died and Lou Sawyer carried on the business, completing her 368th job by 1968. Lou Sawyer died in 1995. Over the course of their careers some of their more notable projects include: the original Luau in Beverly Hills, Don the Beachcomber in Palm Springs, Pago Pago in Long Beach and Tucson, Arizona, and the Reef in Casper, Wyoming.

13.0 Linear feet (2 record storage box and 3 flat file drawers)

Partially processed collection, open for use by qualified researchers.