NY Thruway approves $450 million contract to renovate all 27 rest stops
Teri Weaver | tweaver@syracuse.com
From Syracuse.com: The New York State Thruway Authority’s board of directors today approved a contract worth at least $450 million that takes the first major step toward rebuilding or renovating every rest area along the 570-mile highway.
Neither the Thruway — nor the drivers that pay tolls — are paying for the renovations. Rather, the contract winner, Empire State Thruway Partners, is making the total investment. That includes $300 million in construction costs and another $103 million for maintenance over time, according to the Thruway.
‘Gravity Falls’ Fans Helped Save A California Roadside Attraction The Show’s Mystery Shack Was Based On
ALEX HIRSCH ON TWITTER
From UPROXX: With much of life on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to practice good social distancing, one of the questions looming over all of this waiting is what will be left of the world we once had before everything changed? Restaurants and businesses of all kinds are particularly vulnerable, and many have made donations to various causes or made sure to order takeout from their favorite places to keep the lights on during a particularly vulnerable time.
One thing that may be overlooked are more obscure businesses, which is why Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch stepped up to save an important part of his creation’s own real-life history. Hirsch may have other projects brewing but he hasn’t forgotten the Disney show that’s still beloved by a legion of fans. And when a California roadside attraction the show was based on was in danger, he asked for help to keep an extremely weird landmark safe for future generations to enjoy.
When All This Is Over, Take This Essential Car Museum Road Trip
AUTOWEEK
From Autoweek: America is dotted with car museums, and while extravagant temples to gasoline culture like the Petersen in Los Angeles get a lot of attention and press—for good reason—even the most humble, out-of-the-way collections have at least a handful of really special machines in them. Enough to justify the price of admission, anyway … if you happen to be passing by with some time to kill.
Thing is, I’m not really a car museum guy; I tend to favor events like the Woodward Dream Cruise or the Goodwood Revival, where you can see cars in motion or even participate in the fun. I rarely seek out your typical museum’s static displays. But being under lockdown has given me ample time to reflect, and I’ve realized that, as a Detroit-area native, I’ve been more than a little spoiled by the wonderful automotive history attractions I’ve been surrounded by my entire life.
9 images of vintage Milwaukee motels
The Safari Motel buiding survives today, albeit in a less colorful way.
From OnMilwaukee: With Mid-century Modern all the rage since “Mad Men” and now that we all love “Schitt’s Creek,” too, is the motel fashionable again?
Revamped vintage places like these would seem to say there’s plenty of life left in the motor hotel, the popularity of which boomed with the explosion of car culture in the 1950s and ’60s in America.
But I’ll leave those lodging trends for savvier minds to ponder. In the meantime, here are some fun postcard porn of Milwaukee-area motels – Mid-century Modern and otherwise – to help you conjure days of family road trips gone by.
Symphony installs recreation of original Warner blade sign
The Milwaukee Symphony hung a recreation of the original Warner Theater blade sign on its new home on Saturday morning. PHOTO: MSO/Jonathan Kirn
From OnMilwaukee: While the installation on Saturday of a sign wasn’t a major logistical advance in the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s massive undertaking to renovate the 1930 Warner Theater into its new Bradley Symphony Center, it was definitely a high-profile one.
The new sign is an exact replica of the original sign installed on the grand Wisconsin Avenue cinema, 212 W. Wisconsin Ave. It was created and installed by Milwaukee’s Poblocki Sign Company.