SCA Articles

As part of our commitment to exploration of the scholarly history of the American roadside as it relates to issues of race, class and gender, we proudly present this Q&A with Alison Isenberg, author of Downtown America.

From the Q&A:
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The SCA is building a list of academic works focused on the intersection of American culture and the American roadside. To kick things off, we invited Victoria W. Wolcott, Professor of History at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, to answer
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FULL ARTICLE By Ronald Ladouceur – The development and promotion of one product more than any other illustrates the power of modern banding both to manipulate and exploit cultural and racial anxieties and promote purchase by otherizing non-buyers.
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By Brian Butko – Part archive, part personal recollection, in this article from 2015, the author traces White Castle's celebration of the hamburger and the chain's response to commercial demands from the 20s on.
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FULL ARTICLE by Peter Kennedy – In the 1940s, mid-town Manhattan had nine bus terminals. To centralize bus service, the New York Port Authority built a terminal on 8th Avenue between 40th and 41st streets.
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FULL ARTICLE by Joanna Dowling – Reduced now to nothing more than a place to pee, rest stops, officially “safety rest ares,” remind us not only of the early history that they seek to depict, but of our twentieth century
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Cliff Leppke, author of the SCA Journal article, Vanishing Points: Phillips’ Postwar “New Look” Service Stations, also produced this video as part of his conference paper presentation.
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By Cliff Leppke – Phillips’ postwar stations were examples of the “New Look,” an abstract art influenced design aesthetic that became the zeitgeist of the 1950s.
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By Stefonie Klavens – During the Great Depression, opulent movie palaces allowed one to escape and dream a while for the price of a ticket.
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