1977
- SCA incorporated in Vermont
- The first official meeting is held on March 27 in Harrisville, New Hampshire
- Watch interview with SCA founders Arthur Krim and Kathy Hatch
1978
- NewsJournal first published in September
- Second annual meeting held at Columbia University’s School of Architecture in November
1979
- “Commercial Archeology: Architecture, Advertising, and the Automobile,” first such university course, taught by Chester Liebs at Boston University’s American Vernacular Summer Institute
- Annual fall conference in Washington, D.C., includes tour of Route 1 between the nation’s capital and Baltimore
1980
- All Night All-Night Diner Tour in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in April. Download Guide
- Annual fall conference in Philadelphia
- SCA administrative archives is established
1981
- Society of Architectural Historians affinity group session, “The Future of the Recent Past,” held in conjunction with the National Trust for Historic Preservation annual meeting in New York
- Annual fall meeting and tour scheduled for Miami’s Art Deco District
1982
- June meeting at Boston Architectural Center, followed by a field trip to Nantasket Beach amusement park in Hull, MA
- Annual fall gathering in Washington, D.C., includes a neon theme and “Diner Days” weekend
- SCA has 120 members
1983
- First Wildwood, New Jersey, meeting in June results in a “Wildwood Workbook”
1984
- Annual meeting in Washington, D.C., concludes with a visit to Glen Echo Amusement Park
- SCA sponsors Baltimore Walking Tour. Download Guide
1985
- Art Deco Commercial Architecture, 1920-1950, a symposium held in Washington, D.C.
- First membership directory published
1986
- Tour of Route 1 from Boston to Maine, postponed from late 1985 due to Hurricane Gloria, is conducted
1987
- Happy 10th birthday party held at Museum of Transportation, Boston
1988
- “Americans and the Automobile” fall conference at the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI. Download Guide
1989
- “Its Only Yesterday: The Automobile-Related Environment of New York State” co-sponsored by SCA, Historic Preservation Planning Alumni of Cornell University, and Historic Albany Foundation in June. Download Guide
- See 30th Anniversary Pop-Up Tour
1990
- Papers from the 1988 conference published as Roadside America: The Automobile in Design and Culture, edited by Jan Jennings
- Fall “Highways to History” conference held in Pittsburgh to commemorate 50th anniversary of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Download Guide
- SCA has 600 members
1991
- Big “D” SCA conference Dallas, TX, Iowa State University’s College of Design holds “Lincoln Highway Corridor: Design to Construction of the Roadside Landscape” conference, co-sponsored by SCA. Download Guide
1992
- SCA board attends a tour of the Dixie Highway in Kentucky. Highlights included a visit to Harland Sanders’ Cafe and Museum and an overnight stop at Wigwam
- A conference is planned for Los Angeles but canceled due to the riots in the city
1993
- Newly re-established Lincoln Highway Association awards SCA its first annual Meritorious Achievement Award at the former’s charter conference in Bedford, PA; “Delaware Valley Diner Tour” held in June
- Visited verdant Delaware Valley from June 17-19, 1993 to learn about (and enjoy the fruits of) the quintessential American diner experience. Download Guide
1994
- “Granite Faces and Concrete Critters: Automobile Tourism in the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota” SCA conference, in the fall. Download Guide
1995
- More than 800 attendees at multi-track, SCA co-sponsored “Preserving the Recent Past” international conference held in Chicago
- Second edition of SCA bibliography, Mike Jackson compiler, published in conjunction with conference
- Premiere issue of quarterly SCA News (SCA’s Newsjournal is split into two publications – SCA Journal and SCA News)
1996
- “Life in the Past Lane” SCA conference, Los Angeles, CA.
1997
- 20th anniversary of SCA celebrated at “Fins Family Fun & the Fabulous ’50s” SCA conference in Wildwood, NJ
1998
- “Driving the Dixie: Automobile Tourism in the South” SCA conference, Chattanooga, TN
1999
- “Made in Ohio: Enameled Eateries, Durable Domiciles and Fast Food” SCA conference, Columbus, OH
2000
- “Cool Colorado: Automobile Culture in the Rocky Mountain West” SCA conference, Manitou Springs, CO
2001
- “Cars and Crossroads: Touring America’s Heartland” SCA conference, Indianapolis, IN
- Establishment of SCA home office at the Department of Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
2002
- “Reno or Bust: Sin and the American Roadside” held in Reno, Nevada, September
2004
- “See You in Seattle: Roadside Culture in the Space Age” held in Seattle, Washington
- The newsletter’s name is changed to Road Notes
2008
- “Southwest Detours” SCA conference held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, September
2010
- “Odessey in the Ozarks” SCA conference held in Fayetteville, Arkansas, October
2011
- “South Jersey Diner Tour and More” began in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, September
2012
- 35th anniversary of SCA celebrated at “Wildwood Daze” conference in Wildwood, New Jersey, September
2014
- “Fun in the Sunshine City” SCA conference held in St. Petersburg, Florida, April
2015
- “North Jersey Diner Tour and More” held in the NYC Jersey suburbs with a side trip into New York. Download Guide
- SCA holds affinity session at the National Preservation Conference in Washington, DC
2017
- We celebrated our 40th anniversary with a conference and roadside tour in Cincinnati
2018
- SCA members and guests traveled to the Philadelphia area for a terrifyingly terrific 2018 tour! We joined the crowd at Blobfest, an annual festival commemorating the original 1958 camp classic, THE BLOB. We then headed west along the historic Lincoln Highway through Amish Country to the quirky Haines Shoe House. Our weekend wrapped up with a special SCA-exclusive tour of Philly’s best commercial architecture
- 2018 also gave us a hard hat tour of the new TWA Hotel at NYC’s JFK airport
2019
- SCA began the year by hosting a session at the “Preserving the Recent Past 3” conference in Los Angeles
- We also started hosting smaller pop-up tours, beginning with Albany, NY, Philadelphia’s Broad St., and NYC’s Upper East Side. Watch Recording
- Our 42nd annual conference, “Wacky Wisconsin,” was hosted in the Wisconsin Dells, with visits to Milwaukee and the surrounding countryside, including a host of Frank Lloyd Wright sites. See full Field Trip Guide
2020
- The COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to in-person events, but SCA transitioned smoothly to monthly virtual presentations from board members and roadside lovers nationwide. This year’s presentations included:
- There’s Art in Them Thar Revetments (Bill Swislow)
- Upper East Side Tour (Michael Hirsch & Thomas Rinaldi)
- Tim O’Brien’s Roadside Pics & Picks
- Casa Grande Neon Sign Park (Marge Jantz)
- Neon Museum of Philadelphia (Len Davidson)
- Blue Highways: Where Cars and Trucks are Passengers (Christine Henry)
- From Mesmerizing Mermaids to Water-Skiing Elephants (Rick Kilby)
- Holiday on the Roadside (Mary Ann Michna, Michael Hirsch, Nichole Christine Edwards)
2021
- We were back in person this year for a pop up event: Seeing Ghosts in Philadelphia
- Our fabulous Zoom presentations carried us through another year of social distancing as well. This year’s talks included:
- US Route 1: America’s Main Street – Atlantic Highway (Aaron Marcavitch)
- The Negro Motorist Green Book in Arkansas (Ralph Wilcox)
- Interstate 69: The Unfinished History of the Last Great American Highway (Matt Dellinger)
- Where’s the Beef? Savoring Relics of America’s Fast-Food Chains (Rolando Pujol)
- A Sight to Dwell Upon and Never Forget: Illuminating Strategies for Saving Neon Signs (Jeremy Ebersole)
- Seeing Through Walls: Ghost Signs as a Window Into History (Ron Ladouceur)
- Roadside Revival (Stephanie Stuckey), Documenting the Decline of Malls (Jessica Anshutz)
- The Rhetoric of Ruins (Andrew F. Wood)
- America’s Longest Highway: US Route 20 (Bryan Farr)
- Apron Art (Brian Gallaugher)
- Weirdness by the Road: Ordinary Places, Oddball Names (Bill Swislow)
2022
- We were so excited to be back in person for a full tour this year when our postponed NYC: The Golden Age of Air Travel tour at the TWA Hotel finally got off the ground.
- We also took part in Docomomo-US’ Tour Day with our Revisit the Whitehall Mall: A Shopping Gem of the Golden Era tour in NE Pennsylvania
- Our Zoom presentations have now become a regular staple, many in partnership with like-minded organizations. This year’s included:
- How Neon Signs Create Community (Dydia DeLyser and Paul Greenstein)
- Klondike Bars, Roadside Giants, and Other SCA Fun (Brian Butko)
- Fillin’ Up Your Tank: Roadside Architecture in Kansas (Jamee Fiore)
- On the Road Again – Reconstructing Jack Kerouac’s Travels (Frank Brusca)
- From Lunch Carts to Mega-Restaurants: The Evolution of the American Diner (Larry Cultrera)
- Biggest Smallest Biggest (Erika Nelson)
- Fellow Travelers: The SCA and Texas Roadside Architecture (Gregory Smith)
- Collecting the Roadside: Personal Collections and Archives (Irene Lule)
- Back to the Future (Mark Lamster)
- One-of-a-Kind: How John Margolies Preserved a Fading America (Ellen Warren and Margaret Engel)
- Havana’s Mid-Century Remains (Josh Silber),
- Googie Modern: Architectural Drawings of Armet Davis Newlove (Alan Hess).
2023
- Zoom presentations continue to take us on a monthly journey. This year we brought you:
- Roadside Art Environments (Bill Swislow)
- Greetings from the Lincoln Highway (Brian Butko)
- The Fall and Rise of the American Giant (Joel Baker)
- Straight Outta Worcester: The Story of Candlepin Bowling (Susan Bregman)
- …