More than a half-century ago, I discovered George Stewart’s 1953 book, U.S. 40. That landmark publication about pre-Interstate road travel and a slice of American life contained 115 brilliant photographs and about 100 essays about everyday life along what is perhaps the greatest highway in the nation.
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From the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library Blog: Airlines began serving special holiday meals in the late 1930s. Since a meal would be served inflight anyway, why not add a bit of fun and festiveness to the service, especially on days when people would prefer not to fly?
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Last summer, Bob Behounek, a retired sign painter, discovered three ghost signs on wood-siding boards about eight inches in height. Advertisements on this material are rare, usually limited to fences and water tanks atop buildings. The signs were in remarkably fresh condition and exposed when a newer siding was removed as a step in the tear-down of a house built in the 1880s.
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By Heather M. David – Are you a blockhead? From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, concrete block was mass-produced in the U.S. and very popular. It can be seen in many residences, office buildings, schools, churches, motels, and shopping centers from this period.
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By Edward Engel – Images of roadside cabin courts and teepee-shaped motel rooms shot by honeymooners or vacationing families in the heyday of American tourist travel are among the thousands of “found photos” I own. I hope you enjoyed this sampling of images of motels and the folks that stay in them.
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FULL ARTICLE by Lyell Henry – The tourist camps that had at first been hailed as delightful expressions of American character and genius now were as likely to be viewed as hotbeds of sordidness and immorality, even as “Camps of Crime,” said J. Edgar Hoover.
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Constantine Spiridon and his two brothers opened the Blue and White Restaurant at 211 Liberty Street in downtown Warren, PA, in 1925. It was one and a half blocks north of US 6, certainly the coast-to-coast reference on this postcard showing its 1937 Art Moderne remodel.
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A circa-1960 postcard shows New York City’s Transatlantic Steamship Terminal in the Hudson River between 44th and 54th streets ...
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Westward across the plains of Kansas, US 40 originally split at Manhattan with the south branch following the Victory Highway through Salina (current US 40), and the north branch following the Midland Trail through Clay Center.
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