The strange story of India’s wild water tank sculptures
Photo: Rajesh Vora/courtesy Figure 1 Publishing
From Fast Company: Rajesh Vora, an India-based photographer who has shot architecture for more than 20 years, has seen all kinds of building designs. But while on assignment about a decade ago in Doaba, a rural region of Punjab, he noticed something that took him by surprise: rooftop water tanks taking on shockingly weird shapes. Like really weird. We’re talking airplane propped on top of checkered cube weird. Soccer ball levitating on a polka dotted golf tee or spiral stair topped with a giant beach umbrella weird. Giant golden kangaroo with boxing gloves weird. You get the idea.
‘A national treasure’: Miss Bellows Falls Diner rebirth outlined
Miss Bellows Falls Diner Reformer file photo
From the Brattleboro Reformer: BELLOWS FALLS — More than 50 people turned out on a hot muggy night Thursday to hear about plans to save the beloved Miss Bellows Falls Diner.
The historic 1941 Worcester Lunch Car, No. 771, which has been closed since before the pandemic, was recently purchased by a local non-profit group, Rockingham For Progress, with plans to restore the car and reopen it to the public by 2025. The Worcester diner car has been in Bellows Falls since 1942.
Charlie Hunter, one of the leaders of the effort, said the cost of restoring the diner would likely hit $500,000 and could climb as high as $1 million. He said the group paid $65,000 for the diner and it recently received a $100,000 Paul Bruhn Preservation Grant from the Preservation Trust of Vermont.
Tucumcari works to repair hail-damaged neon signs
From KRQE: TUCUMCARI, N.M. – Businesses in Tucumcari are working to repair historic neon signs that were damaged in a May hail storm. The “golf ball-sized” hail hit the city and impacted signs along Route 66, causing over $1,000,000 in damage.
The New Mexico Route 66 Association identified over 60 pieces of broken neon tubing among the broken signs. As the signs are a major tourism draw for Tucumcari, residents and business owners are pushing to get the hail damage repaired.
13 New Jersey Vintage Roadside Stops to Visit
From The Hoboken Girl: New Jersey is home to lots of things like the Jersey Shore, boardwalks, beaches, restaurants, and shops, to name a few. It also happens to be home to some vintage roadside stops around the state. Places from diners to ice cream shops to music stores have a special old-school and vintage look to them across different parts of New Jersey — making great photo ops.
8 Eerie Abandoned Amusement Parks Around the United States
PHOTO: CARLY CARAMANNA
From Travel & Leisure: There’s just something about the eerie draw of an abandoned amusement park that captivates us. These once-cherished locations, formerly filled with laughter and cheery music, have become long-gone places of yesteryear that sit in decay, slowly succumbing to nature. While some are demolished to make way for new developments, others sit in ruin, intriguing theme park enthusiasts who want to know what these parks were like at their peaks — and why they closed.
From the hurricane-ravaged Six Flags New Orleans to the whimsical Land of Oz, here are some of the most fascinating abandoned amusement parks in the United States. Note that many of these theme parks are now closed to the public and visiting them may be considered trespassing.