NOTE: Book reviews featured here are “reprints” from the SCA Journal, both recently published and from our archives. Not all titles may still be in print, or if in print, offered at the price or in the format listed.

Two Up and a Bag of Chips! George’s Coney Island

Two Up and a Bag of Chips! George’s Coney Island: Serving the Worcester Community for Over 100 Years
By Kathryn Tsandikos with Holly Robinson
Cambridge, Mass.: TidePool Press, 2021
Softcover, 144 pages, $30

Reviewed by Harold Aurand Jr.

I’ve never been to Worcester, Massachusetts, and so, of course, I’ve never eaten at George’s Coney Island either. As soon as I saw this book, though, I knew I needed to have it in my collection. I have other books on restaurants, but usually, they’re about certain types, like diners, steakhouses, or chains. Books on just one restaurant are rarer, or maybe they’re published and marketed locally and harder to find.

The American Roadside in Émigré Literature, Film, and Photography 1955-1985

The American Roadside in Émigré Literature, Film, and Photography 1955-1985
By Elsa Court
Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020
193 pp., hardcover, $84.99

Reviewed by Paul Sherman

Ever since Alexis de Tocqueville roamed the fledgling United States and wrote Democracy in America, the idea that the fresh eyes and ears of a foreign intellectual can provide insights that natives might miss has become something of a trope.

Highway 101: The History of El Camino Real

Highway 101: The History of El Camino Real
By Stephen H. Provost
Fresno, Calif.: Craven Street Books, 2020
170 B & W and 33 Color images
248 pp., paperback, $20.95

Reviewed by Barbara Gossett

Stephen Provost has once again documented the course of a wonderful road trip while providing detailed and entertaining commentary about the history, geography, and (of course) commercial archeology of U.S. Highway 101.

Road Sides: An Illustrated Companion to Dining and Driving in the American South

Road Sides: An Illustrated Companion to Dining and Driving in the American South
By Emily Wallace
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019
Hardcover, 188 pages. $24.95

Reviewed by Ralph S. Wilcox

Emily Wallace’s book, Road Sides: An Illustrated Companion to Dining and Driving in the American South, is a delightful exploration of a wide variety of Southern institutions and phenomena related to the roadside. Liberally illustrated with Wallace’s own sketches, the book is an easy read, but chock full of interesting stories about many things Southern.

Described as “an illustrated glovebox essential,” Wallace notes that “There are hot dogs and hot sauces herein. But this is not a guide to singular Southern foods or where to find them at their very best. Rather, this is a handbook that examines some of the ways we’ve gotten where we’re going: the signs that bait, the burgers that sate, the maps that guide, and the mixtapes that score the ride. As they do on the road, chains appear in these pages … but there are also detours to spots out yonder and beelines to specific destinations—oftentimes a road trip’s reason for being.”

Pennsylvania in Public Memory: Reclaiming the Industrial Past

Pennsylvania in Public Memory: Reclaiming the Industrial Past
By Carolyn Kitch
University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012
260 pages, $23.99, Paperback

Reviewed by Harold Aurand Jr.

Our Statement of Purpose appears inside the front cover of every issue of the SCA Journal: “The purpose of the society is to recognize the unique historical significance of the twentieth-century commercial built environment and cultural landscapes of North America.” That means we focus on stores, hotels, restaurants, gas stations, tourist attractions, and their advertisements and ephemera.

American Autopia: An Intellectual History of the American Roadside at Midcentury

American Autopia: An Intellectual History of the American Roadside at Midcentury
By Gabrielle Esperdy
Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019
384 pages, Cloth, $49.50

Reviewed by Ralph S. Wilcox

The introduction of the automobile into American life in the early 20th century brought a myriad of changes to the landscape. American auto travelers required new types of facilities that weren’t needed with wagon and railroad travel. Gas stations, service garages, motels, and tourist courts sprouted up along the highways of the U.S. like plantings in flower beds along a sidewalk. The book American Autopia: An Intellectual History of the American Roadside at Midcentury examines how the development of the automobile changed the American landscape, and how the changes appeared to contemporary sources.

Traces of J.B. Jackson

Traces of J.B. Jackson: The Man Who Taught Us to See Everyday America
By Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz
University of Virginia Press, 2020
Hardcover, 328 pages, 51 color and b&w illus., $39.50

Reviewed by Philip Langdon

If commercial archeology had a patron saint, it would doubtless be John Brinckerhoff Jackson. A writer of originality and eloquence, Jackson focused on commonplace buildings and settings for much of his life, including gas stations, roads, signs, and other elements of an automobile-propelled nation.

Includes EXTRA INSIGHTS By Daniel Scully

Reading List: Race, Architecture and Travel

This fascinating reading list, a mixture of academic journals, books, and newspaper articles curated by SCA board members Kimberly Ellis and Irene Lule, introduces us to a range of work on the related topics of race, architecture, and travel.