#retro art

[rexslastblogridesagain]

Never forget where you came from.

[mila-turnera]

[thatlenguy]

Sometimes you gotta get right out of your mind

[pulp-retro-pin-ups]

George Petty (American, 1894-1975) Esquire Magazine - 1930s

[julia-glowup]

[rexslastblogridesagain]

Mearle’s Drive-In

Visalia, California

Long before Mooney Boulevard became the busy commercial corridor it is today, there was a little piece of classic California car culture sitting at 604 South Mooney Boulevard.

The building dates to 1940 and originally operated as Tad’s Drive-In, complete with carhops and the familiar ordering boxes that defined the American drive-in. After passing through several incarnations, the restaurant was purchased by Mearle Heitzman in 1960. He renamed it Mearle’s College Drive-In, and it would become a Visalia institution.

Mearle had already spent years managing drive-ins throughout the San Joaquin Valley, but this one became his own. He operated it for 47 years, building the kind of loyal following that turns a restaurant into something much bigger than a restaurant. Generations of Visalians remember the food, the enormous portions of fries, the carhops, the neon, and simply cruising Mooney Boulevard.

Mearle’s finally closed in 2006, ending an extraordinary chapter in Visalia history. The building itself was saved from demolition and later became a Habit Burger Grill, preserving much of the historic footprint and honoring the site's legacy.

Today, Mearle’s is remembered not simply as an old restaurant, but as a symbol of a particular California that has largely disappeared: a time when the automobile, the roadside diner, neon signs, and a big plate of fries were all part of the adventure.

This painting is a little love letter to that era, and to the people who still remember pulling into Mearle’s. They had the absolute best milkshakes.

[rexslastblogridesagain]

Smith’s Bakery

Union Avenue

Bakersfield, California ·

For generations of Bakersfield families, Smith’s Bakeries has been more than a place to buy bread, pastries, and something sweet. It has been part of the rhythm of everyday life.

Founded in 1945, Smith’s began as a small local bakery and grew into one of Bakersfield’s enduring institutions. The Union Avenue location became a familiar landmark as well as a place where generations stopped for donuts, cakes, pastries, and the bakery’s beloved smiley-face cookies.

This painting depicts that original Union Avenue location as a celebration of old Bakersfield: the brick façade, the striped awnings, the American flag, the broad Central Valley sky, and a well-loved Ford parked out front. These are the ordinary details that become extraordinary with time.

Smith’s is still here. The building still stands. The ovens still run.

And for those of us who grew up in Bakersfield, places like this carry something a little harder to put into words: the taste, warmth, and feeling of home. I could definitely go for some smiley faces, the pink champagne cake or my favorite a big box of Alliogs.

This is Bakersfield as I remember it—and as I hope we never forget it.