Category Archives: Book Reviews

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside
History of the Mall
By Alexandra Lange
New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022
Hardcover, 310, $28.00

Reviewed by Harold Aurand, Jr.

Before World War II, most Americans shopped downtown or along the commercial strips that had grown up along the major access roads into cities. When places like Levittown started to appear, further out than the traditional suburbs, few thought this would change. Instead, the suburbs gave birth to shopping centers and malls. These were islands of retail development, surrounded by parking lots and cut off from residential and industrial areas. For years, they dominated the commercial landscape. Now, they seem to be going away. In 2017, Credit Suisse predicted that a quarter of American malls would close in the next five years, and that was before COVID-19.

Hollywood Signs: The Golden Age of Glittering Graphics and Glowing Neon

Hollywood Signs: The Golden Age of Glittering Graphics
and Glowing Neon
By Kathy Kikkert
Santa Monica: Angel City Press, 2023
Hardcover, 176, $40

Reviewed by Paul Sherman

Movie stars aren’t the only names up in lights in Hollywood. Kathy Kikkert’s delightful Hollywood Signs: The Golden Age of Glittering Graphics and Glowing Neon stylishly salutes the ballyhoo afforded to such customer-craving attractions as greasy spoons, cocktail lounges, coffee shops, motels, bowling alleys, and, yes, movie palaces.

The structure is simple. After an overview of sign making and neon as both industry and art—specifically in southern California—Kikkert focuses on a succession of signs/businesses at a particular location (think Hollywood & Vine) or a specific business type. Each sign gets a portion of a page or a whole page with a photo and a paragraph about the sign and the business. Neither solely historical nor merely a current accounting, Hollywood Signs mingles the long gone with the still active.

The Maine Roadshow: A Roadside Tour of the State’s History, Culture, Food, Funk, and Oddities

The Maine Roadshow: A Roadside Tour of the State’s History, Culture, Food, Funk, and Oddities
By Tim O’Brien
Nashville: Casa Flamingo Literary Arts, 2023
Softcover, 120, $29.99

Reviewed by Joel Floyd

This new book should inspire anyone to make a first-time road trip to the beautifully attractive state of Maine or depart on a revisit to seek out a wealth of previously missed roadside attractions. The book divides the state into eight geographical regions, making navigation easy to find over 400 intriguing roadside places, each with a creative photograph and description, along with addresses, websites, and phone numbers.