New SJ High-Rise Preserves Old Diner’s Mid-Century ‘Googie’ Architectural Style
From KPIX: SAN JOSE (KPIX) — A new high-rise housing complex in San Jose is breaking the mold for how developments can forge the future and still preserve the past.
“This is how historic architecture can sit side by side with new. It’s not an either-or proposition,” said Ben Leech of the San Jose Preservation Action Council.
The development will take over the site of a mid-century roadside diner at 2nd and San Salvador Streets. The building was first a Sambo’s pancake house, then a Chinese restaurant called Bo Town. Its iconic zigzag roofline and starlight lighting fixtures are a couple of hints of a unique architectural style.
Black History Of Route 66
From WILL: Located just one block away from Abraham Lincoln’s home in Springfield is a revamped former Texaco gas station filled with the stories of the lived experiences of Black people in Springfield during the Jim Crow era. As Black travelers embarked on the newly built highways in the U.S., including Route 66, they also had to strategically navigate to safely make it through a segregated and unsafe society.
To know which hotels, restaurants, and other establishments they could visit, Black travelers relied on the Green Book. The 21st spoke to three guests about the Black history of Route 66 during the Jim Crow Era and preserving the stories of the Green Book sites in Illinois.
After decades at 50th and France, historic Edina Cinema closes for good
The Edina Theater on August 10, 1967.
From the Star Tribune: The Edina Cinema survived nearly 87 years — including 1981, when a tornado tore its iconic sign right off — but the movie theater could not outlast COVID-19.
A lifetime after the theater first welcomed moviegoers at 50th and France, the cinema will not reopen after closing early last year because of the pandemic. It’s the latest casualty — but likely not the last — as the lights come up after more than a year of unprecedented hardship for the entertainment industry.
10 Delicious, Classic Diners to Discover around Boston
Deluxe Town Diner. Photograph by Jim Brueckner
From Boston Magazine: From a 24-hour downtown landmark to a vintage train car just outside Boston, it’s chow time—and the eggs are over-easy.
Forget about bar crawls. This summer, take yourself on a morning-through-night diner crawl throughout Boston, stuffing your face with hash browns by morning and patty melt burgers by night. With this list of breakfast-oriented greasy spoons and late-night haunts alike, you’ll know exactly where to go—and find bottomless cups of coffee to power you through it all.
Here’s How New Jersey Became The Diner Capital Of The World
From Patch: NEW JERSEY — How did New Jersey become the world’s diner capital? There’s a much more interesting answer than “because New Jersey has a lot of them” — more than 500, or approximately 1 per 16,918 people or 1 per 16 square miles.
There are several narratives for how diners came about — some would credit New Jersey as the concept’s creator while others grant different states the claim. But either way, it’s impossible to tell the story of “lunch cars,” stainless-steal exteriors and late-night fries without giving the Garden State the glory it deserves.
Gas station project earns historic preservation award
The White Post Village Association refurbished this empty, 1930s-era gas station the intersection of White Post and Berrys Ferry roads, across from the historic white post. The association won an award from the Clarke County Historic Preservation Commission for the project. MICKEY POWELL/THE WINCHESTER STAR
From the Winchester Star: WHITE POST — Drivers approaching the narrow intersection of White Post and Berrys Ferry roads may sense they’re in a time warp.
A gas station, one appearing to have been built in the early days of motoring, is just ahead. But if they stop to fill ‘er up, they quickly realize they’re out of luck.
“Sight glasses” on the old-style fuel pumps show no gas is inside them. Signs on the jelly jar-sized containers, attached to the hose connections, say they must be full of fuel in order for the pumps to work properly.
A large, round sign suspended from a tall metal pole near the crossroads reads “Sinclair.”