DR. PATRICK'S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: National Park Gateway Towns

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: National Park Gateway Towns

For every Yellowstone there is a West Yellowstone, a “Gateway Town” of tourist services and diversions that is the commercial opposite of the natural splendor preserved within the boundaries of an adjacent national park.
DR. PATRICK'S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Toffenetti’s

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Toffenetti’s

This 1940s postcard suggests Toffenetti’s 1,000-seat “Cathedral of All Restaurants” was synonymous with New York and New York with Toffenetti’s, which was largely true to Times Square visitors of the Postwar era.
Main Street

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Main Street

It was a challenge to affix Main Street signage to pre-Modern buildings because the architecture got in the way.
Ceder Hedges Cabins

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Cedar Hedges Cabins

Cedar Hedges Cabins outside Searsport, Maine, was one of many cabin courts operating along US 1 in the 1930s.
The National Road

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: The National Road

The automobile rediscovered long-distance roads forgotten since the rise of the railroads, and then reshaped them to suit their purpose.
DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Southern Belles

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Southern Belles

Southern Belles and Bathing Beauties dress up a giant map of Florida made from grapefruits and oranges for tourists on the electric boat tour at Cypress Gardens.
Horn & Hardart

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Horn & Hardart

Hot food from a coin-operated slot in the wall? Cheap. Automatic. Modern. And so 1902.
Brial Veil Falls

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Bridal Veil Falls

After crossing the Eastern Continental Divide in Highlands, North Carolina, US 64 drops down the west slope of the Blue Ridge via Cullasaja Gorge passing a series of waterfalls including Bridal Veil Falls.
DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: The Georgian Revival Hotel Block

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: The Georgian Revival Hotel Block

The Georgian Revival hotel block was a symbol that a small, mid-American city growing since becoming a railroad junction in the 1880s or 1890s had by the 1920s achieved the status of someplace among the galaxy of other towns on the prairie.
DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Patmars

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Patmars

Howard Patrick and Norman Marsh combined their names and opened El Segundo, California’s Patmars Drive-in at Imperial Highway & Sepulveda Boulevard in 1939.
DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Downtowners

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Downtowners

Downtowners, Rowntowners and five stories of breeze block in Danville, Virginia!
DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Husted Cabins

DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Husted Cabins

This circa 1930 postcard of Husted Cabins on US 40 between Marshall and Clark Center, Illinois, captures a time during the early auto age when farmers lucky enough to be on a major trunk route reaped a windfall of auto-oriented commerce.
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