How souvenir penny presses could survive after the end of the one-cent coin
Ali Furmall of Spokane, Washington, displays the four pennies she got from the press machines in the Independence Visitor Center. Tom Gralish
From The Philadelphia Inquirer: A wheel cranks on the machine at the Independence Visitor Center, slowing with every turn until: CLINK! A reward drops out the bottom waiting to be collected.
It’s a familiar, elongated penny. In its new form, Honest Abe’s head is swapped for an illustration of Rocky — naturally.
Philadelphia — along with other cities with tourist draws nationwide — is peppered with old-school penny press machines, allowing visitors to mark a noteworthy trip with an inexpensive souvenir. It’s a tried-and-true practice that could be in peril now that the U.S. Treasury has ended penny production.
South Side church seeks to reawaken Stony Island’s architectural slice of ancient Persia
The Rev. John L. Conner Fellowship Hall. Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
From the Chicago Sun-Times: The busy intersection of 79th Street, Stony Island and South Chicago avenues — where the Chicago Skyway ramps lash overhead and the suited-and-booted Nation of Islam brothers sell the Final Call newspaper — holds one of Chicago’s most unusual architectural finds.
It’s the Rev. John L. Conner Fellowship Hall, a Moorish Revival dream rendered in polychromatic brick and terra cotta at 7901 S. Stony Island Ave. There is even an honest-to-goodness ornamental minaret poking above the building’s Spanish tile roof.
Built in 1928 as a high-toned restaurant called Raphael’s, the building — owned by nearby Haven of Rest Missionary Baptist Church, 7925 S. South Chicago Ave., since 1964 — has been a traffic stopper and curiosity at the intersection for nearly a century.
Famous Brooklyn diner featured in movies will be moved to Steiner Studios
From CBS New York: The iconic Wythe Diner will be physically moved from its location in Williamsburg to Steiner Studios in Brooklyn’s Navy Yard. CBS News New York’s Naomi Ruchim reports.
America’s motels have had an upgrade — these are the ones to book
Johnny Cash stayed at The Dive in the 1960s BEN FITCHETT
From The Times of London: Motels aren’t what they used to be — they’re better. Since the world’s first opened in 1925 in San Luis Obispo, California, America’s ubiquitous roadside lodges designed for drivers have been on a bumpy ride. In their 1960s heyday more than 60,000 dotted the country’s roads, but by the 1970s and 1980s most were either abandoned, demolished, or were the seedy setting for crime. The words “best” and “motel” rarely appeared in the same sentence.
Today the wheels of a renaissance are in motion as motels all around the US are being snapped up at a furious rate with many preserved as stylish boutique hotels, such as the pastel-coloured Hotel Lucine in Galveston, Texas, and the playful mid-century-modern Starlight Motor Inn in South Carolina. It’s a trend that began more than 20 years ago and has gathered pace in the past decade, with no signs of slowing. Many retain original features that tell the story of their past while others have been reimagined with contemporary interiors and great restaurants.
Here are 15 iconic neon signs in Sacramento: Vote on the best
Sacramento’s landmark Jim-Denny serves final customers on July 2. IRENE ADELINE MILANEZ The Sacramento Bee
From The Sacramento Bee: The Sacramento region has some notable neon signs, with the word already being out on some of them. The large marquee for Gunther’s Ice Cream on Franklin Boulevard got a showy shot in the film “Sacramento,” which had a character working at the shop. When the exterior of Tower Theatre, in all its neon glory, popped up in “Lady Bird” it drew excited reactions from people watching the film at that very theater.
The question now is if Sacramento’s best neon sign, past or present, is one like what is at Gunther’s or Tower — namely, a sign that people already celebrate — or if it’s something more obscure. We are asking readers to help us decide.
Sherman Oaks Landmark Restaurant Building Reopens
Stanley Burke’s shortly after opening in 1958 Credit: Photo courtesy Armet Davis Newlove
From Los Angeles Magazine: Six years after it closed following a long run as Corky’s, a landmark googie style coffee shop building in Sherman Oaks reopens on Thursday as L.A.’s newest Chick-fil-A. After more than 60 years of wear and tear, the high style restaurant was almost completely rebuilt from the original plans with much help from architect Alan Hess and designer Miranda Lee, who oversaw the reconstruction.
Los Angeles got a preview of the mostly new building on Wednesday and this reporter was amazed to see something that had mainly existed in old photos and drawings come back to life. The zigzag booths, the Eames Eiffel chairs, the Nelson Bubble lamps in the new build were all hallmarks of midcentury coffee shops like Norms, Bob’s Big Boy and Denny’s. The building was declared a City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #1215 in 2020.