Q&A: Victoria Wolcott on Race, Riots, and Rollercoasters

Q&A: Victoria Wolcott on Race, Riots, and Rollercoasters

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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The Rise of White Flour

The Rise of White Flour

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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White Tower Takes on Pittsburgh

White Tower Takes on Pittsburgh

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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New Spin on the Big Apple: Bus Turntables

New Spin on the Big Apple: Bus Turntables

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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Safety on the Interstate: The Architecture of Rest Areas

Safety on the Interstate: The Architecture of Rest Areas

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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Vanishing Points: The Video

Vanishing Points: The Video

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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Vanishing Points: Phillips’ Postwar “New Look” Service Stations

Vanishing Points: Phillips’ Postwar “New Look” Service Stations

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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The Art of the Movie Theater: A Disappearing American Tradition

The Art of the Movie Theater: A Disappearing American Tradition

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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Bringing Back Broad

Bringing Back Broad

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE by Emily Taggart Schricker – In March 2019, SCA members were treated to a tour of three historic buildings situated north of Philadelphia’s City Hall – the Studebaker Building, the Divine Lorraine Hotel and the spectacular Philadelphia Metropolitan
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