The most iconic non-operational restaurant in Los Angeles played host to a very quirky campaign event for Bernie Sanders last night. At around 7 PM, the familiar Googie facade of Johnie's Coffee Shop was transformed by the strategic placement of a painted sign so that it became "Bernie's" to the crowd of people gathered on Wilshire. Among them, as it turned out, was Jeff Dowd, who spoke to all those assembled using a megaphone. The activist and film producer was also the inspiration for "The Dude" in The Big Lebowski—one of the most prominent films to make use of Johnie's as a filming location.
A number of artists created (mostly) food-themed works tributing Sanders, and in some cases, trashing his rival for the Democratic nomination. In a piece by well-known graphic designer Kii Arens, Bernie, rather than Colonel, Sanders appears on a KFC-style fried chicken bucket. Another work, printed on t-shirts and sold at the event, depicts Sanders as Speedee—the mascot who still greets customers at the oldest surviving McDonalds in Downey.
What is the point of all this? Well, Howard Gold, whose family owns Johnie's tells the New York Times that the project is not a fundraiser, but simply an art piece meant to bring attention to Sanders and his message. The Vermont Senator has been campaigning throughout California recently in anticipation of the June primary, and found time to stop by another coffee shop—Habitat Coffee in Glassell Park—earlier in the week.
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