Finding Aid for the Cliff & Lou Sawyer papers, circa 1930-circa 1979 0000174

Finding aid prepared by Chris Marino and Julia Larson (2019 revision)
The processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.
Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Arts Building Room 1434
University of California
Santa Barbara, California, 93106-7130
805-893-2724
adc@museum.ucsb.edu
10/1/2012


Title: Cliff and Lou Sawyer papers
Identifier/Call Number: 0000174
Contributing Institution: Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 13.0 Linear feet (2 record storage box and 3 flat file drawers)
Date (inclusive): circa 1930-circa 1979
Location note: Box 1-2/ADC - regular 3 Flat File Drawers/ADC - flat files
creator: Cliff and Lou Sawyer.
creator: Sawyer, Cliff, (Clifton Howard), 1896-1966
creator: Sawyer, Lou, 1905-1995

Access

Partially processed collection, open for use by qualified researchers.

Custodial History note

Gift of Henry Mazur, 1996.

Preferred Citation note

Cliff and Lou Sawyer papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

Biographical/Historical note

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.

Scope and Content note

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.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Cliff and Lou Sawyer.
Sawyer, Cliff, (Clifton Howard), 1896-1966
Sawyer, Lou, 1905-1995
Architectural drawings
Photographic prints
Presentation drawings (proposals)
Scrapbooks
Sketches

 

Personal Papers I. 1963-1995

Physical Description: 1.0 Linear feet
creator: Cliff and Lou Sawyer.
creator: Sawyer, Cliff, (Clifton Howard), 1896-1966
creator: Sawyer, Lou, 1905-1995

Scope and Contents note

This series contains articles and clippings on Lou Sawyer, photographs, and multiple large dis-bound scrapbooks featuring photographs, letters, and advertisements for Sawyers' work.
Box 2, Folder 1

Advertisements - Cliff & Lou Sawyer 1963-1964

Box 2, Folder 2

Articles and Clippings 1966, 1984, 1995

Box 2, Folder 3

Correspondence 1968, 1980-1981

Box 2, Folder 4

"Happenings ... in Real Estate" The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, Calif.) undated

Box 2, Folder 5

Pacific Coast Record 1968

Box 2, Folder 6

Lou Sawyer Photographics advertisement 1982

Box 2, Folder 7

Sawyer, Lou portraits circa 1967-1968

Box 2

Scrapbooks- disbound circa 1979

 

Projects II. 1936-1979

Physical Description: 12.0 Linear feet
creator: Cliff and Lou Sawyer.
creator: Sawyer, Cliff, (Clifton Howard), 1896-1966
creator: Sawyer, Lou, 1905-1995

Scope and Contents note

This series contains architectural drawings and renderings of restaurant and beverage establishment alterations and additions, with a few residential projects. The drawings are primarily original drawings (graphite on tracing paper), with few reprographic copies. It also contains photographs and clippings for some of the projects.
Drawer 279, FlatFile 14

AFL-CIO Union Culinary Workers & Bartenders Local / Alfredo Restaurant 13425 Ventura Blvd. (Los Angeles, Calif.) 1956

 

Ahn, Philip / Moongate Restaurant 8632 Van Nuys Blvd. (Panorama City, Calif.) 1963

Box 1, Folder 1

Photographs

Drawer 280, FlatFile 1

Architectural Drawings

Box 1, Folder 2

Andres Coronet / The Roundup (Hollywood, Calif.) 1947

Drawer 280, FlatFile 2

Asbell, William / The Reef Cocktail Lounge (Casper, Wyo.) 1961

Drawer 279, FlatFile 15

Bellon, John house 1641 Woods Dr. (Los Angeles, Calif.) 1956

Drawer 280, FlatFile 3

Bennett, Lew & Doris / Lew's Tahiti Restaurant 4119 E. Indian School Rd. (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 1962

Drawer 280, FlatFile 4

Brooks, Bob / Seven Seas Restaurant 6904 Hollywood Blvd. (Hollywood, Calif.) 1936, 1956

Drawer 280, FlatFile 5

Captain's Table restaurant alteration 301 S. La Cienega (Los Angeles, Calif.) 1955

Drawer 280, FlatFile 6

Cartier, Michel / Cafe de Paris 7038 Sunset Blvd. (Los Angeles, Calif.) 1964

Box 1, Folder 4

Chi Chi bar (Palm Springs, Calif.) undated

Drawer 280, FlatFile 7

Don the Beachcomber Restaurant-Cafe Via Lola (Palm Springs, Calif.) 1962

Drawer 280, FlatFile 8

Escobar, John / Casa Escobar Tropical Restaurant 13321 Moorpark Blvd. (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) undated

Drawer 280, FlatFile 9

Fairchild, Peter supper club /Fairchild Golf Course S. El Cielo (Palm Springs, Calif.) 1979

Drawer 280, FlatFile 10

Firestone, Stanley house alterations 910 N. Whittier (Beverly Hills, Calif.) undated

 

Fremont, William / Matador Restaurant 10948 W. Pico Blvd. (Los Angeles, Calif.) 1960

Box 1, Folder 12

Photographs

Drawer 280, FlatFile 11

Architectural Drawings

Drawer 280, FlatFile 12

Gordon Holding Company restaurants / Naughty Dolphin / Naughty Ninties / Naughty Wahine Ventura Blvd. (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) 1960-1961

Drawer 280, FlatFile 13

Hugg, Fred / Swiss Cafe alterations 450 N. Rodeo Dr. (Beverly Hills, Calif.) 1958

 

International Resort Hotel / California Innkeepers 1800 E. Palm Canyon (Palm Springs, Calif.) 1979

Box 1, Folder 5

Photographs

Drawer 279, FlatFile 16

Architectural Drawings

Drawer 278, FlatFile 25

Jay's Broiler cocktail lounge 1962

Drawer 279, FlatFile 17

Jenkins, B / Sans Gene restaurant Hwy 99 (Indio, Calif.) 1960

Box 1, Folder 6

Jordan & Leipertz / Everglades (San Clemente, Calif.) undated

Box 1, Folder 8

Lea Lea / Mission Inn (Riverside, Calif.) undated

Box 1, Folder 9

Ley, Isillings? / Baroque Salon (Hollywood, Calif.) undated

Box 1, Folder 10

Lipsett, Dr. chinese restaurant undated

Drawer 279, FlatFile 18

Luau restaurant (Beverly Hills, Calif.) undated

Box 1, Folder 11

Photographs

Drawer 279, FlatFile 18

Architectural Drawings

Drawer 279, FlatFile 19

Luau restaurant (Las Vegas, Nev.) 1956

Drawer 279, FlatFile 20

Luau Macao restaurant / Hotel Presidente (Acapulco, Mexico) 1957

Box 1, Folder 13

Morris / M&M Restaurant (Oceanside, Calif.) 1946

Drawer 279, FlatFile 21

Murfee, Emerson / El Picador restaurant 2550 El Camino Real (Redwood City, Calif.) 1962

Drawer 279, FlatFile 22

Murfee, Emerson & Coffman / The Flame restaurant El Camino Real (San Mateo, Calif.) 1956

 

Murfee, Emerson / Lanai Cocktail Lounge 4070 El Camino Real (San Mateo, Calif.) 1956

Box 1, Folder 7

Photographs

Drawer 279, FlatFile 23

Architectural Drawings

Box 1, Folder 14

Pago Pago restaurant (Portland, Ore.) undated

Box 1, Folder 15

Pago Pago restaurant (Tucson, Ariz.) undated

Drawer 278, FlatFile 26

Port O 7 Seas restaurant undated

Drawer 278, FlatFile 27

Ramada carport and cabana 1960

 

Reynolds, K. / Broken Drum Restaurant 720 Wilshire Blvd. (Santa Monica, Calif.) 1955

Box 1, Folder 3

Photographs

Drawer 278, FlatFile 28

Architectural Drawings

Box 1, Folder 16

Sarong restaurant and dance hall undated

Drawer 278, FlatFile 29

Ship's Cafe and Spec O' Spice Seafood Restaurant 1957

 

Smith, Martin / Tradewinds Restaurant (Oxnard, Calif.) 1963

Box 1, Folder 19

Photographs

Drawer 278, FlatFile 30

Architectural Drawings

Box 1, Folder 17

South Seas restaurant (Anchorage, Alka.) undated

Box 1, Folder 18

Stable Gallery (Scottsdale, Ariz.) undated

Drawer 279, FlatFile 24

Steakeaters Inn (Yucaipa, Calif.) 1964

Drawer 278, FlatFile 31

Tahi Tahi restaurant (Palm Desert, Calif.?) undated

Box 1, Folder 18

Teague, Woodrow house (Palm Springs, Calif.) 1978

Box 1, Folder 20

Trails restaurant (Los Angeles, Calif.) undated

Drawer 278, FlatFile 32

Unidentified house (Androsetti?) undated

Drawer 278, FlatFile 33

Undentified ranch home (Palm Springs, Calif.?) 1962

Box 1, Folder 21

Unidentified residences undated

Drawer 278, FlatFile 34

Unidentified restaurant interior sketch undated

Box 1, Folder 22

Unidentified Restaurants undated

Box 1, Folder 23

Vagabond House restaurant Wilshire Blvd. (Los Angeles, Calif.) undated

Drawer 278, FlatFile 35

Warner Products Inc. 9320 Santa Monica Blvd. (Beverly Hills, Calif.) undated

Drawer 278, FlatFile 36

Willden, Robert / Polynesian restaurant, coffee shop, cocktail lounge, motel (Fresno, Calif.) 1959

Drawer 278, FlatFile 37

Young, J. & H. Boyd / Chesnut Room Coffee Shop 14th & Santa Monica Blvd. (Santa Monica, Calif.) 1960

Box 1, Folder 24

Zamboanga restaurant (Los Angeles, Calif.) undated

creator: Loomis and Fisher.