Opened in 1959 where Route 66 ends, at the corner of Olympic and Lincoln, Santa Monica's Penguin Coffee Shop was designed by the architectural firm of Armet Davis Newlove, renowned for defining the distinctive Googie style that characterized the modern design of coffee shops, car washes, and bowling alleys of Southern California during the 1950s. This architectural style features unique elements such as high, vaulted ceilings, long dining counters, and typically oversized signage of bold, curved and asymetrical typography. served up burgers and malts for generations before the building became a dentist’s office in 1991.

The euphoria about the future that followed World War II permeated the outlooks of architects, who, influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and with ready access to remarkable new construction material and building techniques spawned by the war technologies, faced the intriguing prospect of redesigning the post war world. Initially the futuristic designs were outrageous, and detractors labeled these structures the Googie School of Architecture after a particularly outlandish coffee shop in Los Angeles.

The Penguin Coffee Shop Logo is printed on a black mid-weight 10oz. sweatshirt, made from tubular loopwheel-knitted cotton, the brushed loopback inside makes it warmer and softer than others. Loopwheel machines, known for their slow knitting pace, produce only a meter of fabric per hour, resulting in a unique, hand-woven-like texture. This technique gives the fabric a distinctive slubby hand feel and a washed look reminiscent of vintage American sweatshirts. The loopwheel fabric is knitted in Wakayama, Japan, using rare machines called Tsuriami-ki, requiring exceptional skill and technique, exclusively for The Real McCoy’s.

Unlike mass-produced sweatshirts, The Real McCoy’s sweat fabric is composed of three layers of yarn, with the balance of yarn counts and knitting tightness perfected through years of trial and error. The sewn-in gusset details add reinforcement, prevent neck stretching, and function like a sweatband.