SOCIETY for
COMMERCIAL
ARCHEOLOGY
Advocates for America’s
Roadside Heritage
SOCIETY for
COMMERCIAL
ARCHEOLOGY
Advocates for America’s
Roadside Heritage
SOCIETY for
COMMERCIAL
ARCHEOLOGY
Advocates for
America’s
Roadside Heritage
On the Road Since 1977
Join us as we explore the 20th-century landscape of drive-ins, diners, neon signs and roadside attractions.
An SCA membership buys a world of adventure. A full calendar of tours, conferences and online presentations. Subscriptions to our celebrated semi-annual journal and quarterly newsletter. Free access to our website and vast digital library … and so much more.
Gift Memberships
The perfect gift for lovers of the American roadside. $55 buys a full year!
Gift Memberships
The perfect gift for lovers of the American roadside. $55 buys a full year!
On the Road Since 1977
Join us as we explore the 20th-century landscape of drive-ins, diners, neon signs and roadside attractions.
An SCA membership buys a world of adventure.
Join Now Annual Appeal
Gift Memberships
The perfect gift for lovers of the American roadside. $55 buys a full year!
SCA EVENTS
ZOOM EVENT: Patrick Quinn – California’s Forgotten Bars and Restaurants
ZOOM EVENT: Wednesday, January 17, 2024 at 8:00pm EST - Join us for a fun and fabulous tour of cocktail culture in the Golden State. Whether you’re the type to visit roadside diners, chic hotels, hidden dives, fancy restaurants, tiki bars, or, ahem, the neighborhood exotic dancer’s nightclub, napkin collector Patrick Quinn, author of Bar Keeps, probably beat you there and found a vintage cocktail napkin as a souvenir. More Info | Register
ZOOM RECORDING: Marisa Scheinfeld – Greetings from The Borscht Belt
ZOOM RECORDING: Join Marisa Scheinfeld, author of The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland for an illustrated lecture with photographs of abandoned sites where resorts, hotels and bungalow colonies once boomed in the Catskill Mountain region of upstate New York. Recorded November 29, 2023.
RECAP: SCA’s 46th Annual Conference and Tour – Amused in the Alleghenies
Whether you were on the bus or not, join tour guide extraordinaire, Kevin Patrick, as he retraces our whacky and wonderful journey along historic U.S. Route 6.
EVENT RECORDINGS
ROADSIDE NEWS
NEW! THE JIM SEELEN MOTEL IMAGES COLLECTION
14,000 MOTELS
SCA member Jim “Motel King” Seelen’s motel images collection is now part of our library. This database contains more than 23,000 images with details on more than 14,000 motels that once operated in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
NEW! THE JIM SEELEN MOTEL IMAGES COLLECTION
14,000 MOTELS
SCA member Jim “Motel King” Seelen’s motel images collection is part of our library. This database contains more than 23,000 images with details on more than 14,000 motels that once operated in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
SCA ARTICLES
Manning’s: The First Coffee Empire to Emerge from Seattle
FULL ARTICLE by Tracey Pemberton and Mike Elmore – In 1908, an elaborate advertisement rose above the others at Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Protruding outward from the top of the stall and looming over the heads of shoppers, the Manning brothers promised “Coffee Served Hot,” with small cups of coffee that cost just 2¢ and large cups priced at 4¢. An empire was born.
Literary Pilgrimage – How Anne of Green Gables Transformed an Island Community
Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908 and achieved instant acclaim. Much of the appeal was the creation of Anne Shirley — a spunky, independent, and intelligent heroine with a fertile imagination. No fictional character has ever contributed so dominantly to a province’s tourism as red-haired, pig-tailed Anne.
Next Exit: Live Bait – Hayward, Wisconsin
Large fish advertise a fishing tackle shop in Hayward, Wisconsin.
Neon Comes Out: San Francisco’s Neon Gay Bar Signs of the 1960s and 1970s
FULL ARTICLE by Jim Van Buskirk and Al Barna – Gay bars were usually hidden, unmarked enclaves for only those in the know. Marginalized, they were frequently found in underdeveloped or industrial sections of a town or well off the beaten path. Often veiled behind tinted glass, the bars tended to hide the goings-on within from the general public—and the police.
Phoenix’s Mid-Century, Medieval Dining Experience: Green Gables
By Douglas Towne – Once upon a time, an extraordinary restaurant magically transported a generation of Phoenicians back through time and space to King Arthur’s court in medieval England. Beckoned by flaming torches along stone walls, motorists entered the compound through a gate and were led to the castle door by a knight in shining armor atop a white horse.
FIVE FAVES – U.S. ROUTE 40
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.
DOWNLOAD/BUY
SCA Journal Back Issues | SCA Road Notes Back Issues
Dr. Patrick’s Postcard Roadside
DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: The Blue and White Restaurant
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.
DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: New York City’s West Side Piers
A circa-1960 postcard shows New York City’s Transatlantic Steamship Terminal in the Hudson River between 44th and 54th streets ...
DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Cedar Tourist Court
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.
No ads. Which is kind of ironic, given what we’re into.
The Society for Commercial Archeology is an all-volunteer road-tripping organization fueled entirely by your support.
Standard and donation-level memberships available