LOS ANGELES — Johnie’s Coffee Shop Restaurant, the famous vacant, slant-roof, Googie-style former diner on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue here, is in the middle of a temporary makeover as a Bernie Sanders-themed media installation.

“We view this as an art piece,” said Howard Gold, who was busy on Wednesday afternoon painting and fixing at the former diner. It closed in 2000, but it is still available for film shoots.

The idea, said Mr. Gold, whose family owns the property, is to deck the place in Sanders murals, posters and diner-style logos — the Bernie Sanders chicken bucket faces Wilshire — then open on Thursday for a reception that is expected to draw artists, movie stars and Sanders supporters.

Mr. Gold and his associate, Jay Ponti, said they expected the actresses Shailene Woodley and Frances Fisher to be among the guests. They also expect Jeff Dowd, a film producer and political activist who is perhaps best known as being the real-life inspiration for The Dude, played by Jeff Bridges in “The Big Lebowski.”