#retrologist

[rolandopujol]

Happy Sunday! It’s always a thrill when my photos inspire art. So I was so happy to see these two works created by @homefront_design. First up is White Manna Hamburgers in Hackensack, New Jersey, followed by the beloved Pizza Land in North Arlington, New Jersey, featured in the opening of “The Sopranos,” which I’m binging yet again. In other news today, my latest newsletter is out! You can read it at the link in the bio, or visit my story for the link. I’ve got a lot of news on diners — some on the market, others in new hands; an update on the former Nabisco cookie factory that’s about to crumble; news from the L.L. Bean factory store in Freeport, Maine (you’ve got to see the big Bean Boot!); and much more. If you enjoy my Instagram, I think you’ll love my newsletter. Thanks as always for your support! #retrologist https://www.instagram.com/p/CoSyV75vMYB/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[plantahmane]

The world you live in. Credit: retrologist

[aiiaiiiyo]

Beach in Scotland [OC] [4032x3024] Check this blog!

[rolandopujol]

“Hamburg Pickle On Top! Makes Your Heart Go Flippity Flop!" That classic slogan for Kewpee Hamburgers applies not only to the food but to the charming architecture at The Kewpee here in Lima, Ohio. On Tuesday, I made my second visit to this roadside treasure, and unlike my first in 2019, the restaurant was open and hopping at lunchtime. I found a corner booth and snapped pictures between taking bites of their iconic square burgers, theorized to be an inspiration for Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas. The very first Kewpee hamburger joint opened in Flint, Michigan, in 1923, called the Kewpee Hotel, making it one of the earliest fast-food chains, and the second oldest hamburger chain after White Castle. In 1928, husband-and-wife team Hoyt and Julia Wilson opened the Lima store, and their shop was so popular that in 1939, they constructed this stunning Art Moderne building clad in porcelain enamel here on 11 N. Elizabeth St. Kewpees once totaled over 400, but today, there are five locations left – one in Lansing, Michigan, another in Racine, Wisconsin, and three here in Lima (pronounced Lie-Ma). The ones in Lima, separate from the first two, are run by the Shutt family. The two other Kewpee restaurants in Lima are yellow mansard-roofed buildings. But the one you see here is the very picture of cuteness overload. Greeting us is cherubic Kewpee, inspired by the Kewpie dolls (note the different spelling) that were all the rage in the early 20th century and are still cherished by collectors. Kewpee has two siblings inside watching over things. Getting a clean shot of the facade was difficult, as the lunchtime drive-thru crowd meant an endless queue of cars on Elizabeth Street, but I stood there until I had my opening. Once upon a time, they offered curbside and drive-in service here. There was even a turntable for cars to exit the lot, which provided kids of all ages with a thrilling end to a tasty meal. These days, the turntable is gone, but very little else has changed, thank goodness. There's an old expression, “to win a Kewpie doll," meaning to win a trinket at, say, the state fair. But there's nothing cheap or insignificant about this Kewpee. ❤️ #retrologist #retrologist (at Kewpee Hamburgers) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfurq6PLTat/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[rolandopujol]

This post will perk you up! The Coffee Pot in Bedford, Pennsylvania, is one of my favorite roadside attractions, a cherished piece of programmatic architecture on one of my favorite roads, the Lincoln Highway. Yesterday evening, I made what is only my second visit here, a return stop I’d been hoping to make for years. My enthusiasm was so evident that a woman who was working as a greeter at the Bedford County Fairgrounds’ Silver Lining Drive-in next door offered to take my picture with the massive Pot of Joe. I politely begged off, explaining the coffee pot was the star of the show. This remains a requisite stop on America’s first coast-to-coast highway. The Coffee Pot opened in 1927, serving initially as a service-station luncheonette, designed to compel you to pull over and fuel up your car, your body, and maybe even your soul. In the era when the road trip was a novelty and shops wanted those tourist dollars before they rolled by, architecture needed to be novel as well. And soon we had big ducks, big shoes — you name it. The Coffee Pot eventually served its last cup – at one point it also served booze – and preservationists saved it from demolition and moved it across the street to its present location. The pot has been closed on both my visits, but the AC window unit was on, so clearly it’s used from time to time. I did snap a pic through the window. I’m on a road trip right now that will take me again into Ohio and perhaps Michigan. Long days lie ahead. I could use a big Coffee Pot like this to keep me going! #retrologist (at The Coffee Pot (Bedford, Pennsylvania)) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfj0Ek6rPxG/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[rolandopujol]

I had been hoping to be in Southern California this month, but life intervened, and sadly so, because I will be missing the Googie World Expo. The event, described as a “celebration of exuberant and futuristic mid-century modern architecture and design,” happens over two days, Sunday, Nov. 13 and again Sunday, Nov. 20, and the program sounds amazing. What a wonderful idea for a festival! But even if you can’t make it, you can celebrate Googie every day with these amazing places in Southern California. Learn more about their history, where they are and much more in my newsletter, up at the link in my bio. Plus, I have much more roadside Americana news, including the sad end of a former A&W in Vermont that I just visited this summer. #retrologist (at Southern California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck4j-yRrTvc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[rolandopujol]

I’ll begin by explaining what this is not – a vintage photo of Spencer Gifts from the 1980s or 1990s. Nope, I visited this store just the other day, where it stands frozen in time at the Livingston Mall in New Jersey. That sign was a flashback to my teenage years, when a visit to what is now just called Spencer’s was an adventure, one that got more risque the farther back you walked down the Lava lamp-lined aisles. This storefront is a true survivor when you consider that Spencer’s began to move away from this look around 1998. A decade or so later, with sales flagging, Spencer’s embraced its now ubiquitous urban design: the graffiti lettering, a metal rolling gate and faux brickwork, all within the confines of a suburban mall. However, when I think of the Spencer Gifts of my lost adolescence, it’s the “neon” look you see here that comes to mind. It screams ’80s! Indeed, when a 2017 episode of “The Goldbergs” had a storyline involving Spencer Gifts, it’s this look they re-created. There are over 600 Spencer’s around the country, and I can’t tell you how many survive with this vintage look. I know of one other, in Ocoee, Florida, but perhaps there are a few more. (Kudos to @iheartpayphones and @rayoutthere for posting about these!) Max Spencer Adler launched the business in 1947 as a mail-order catalog, and opened his first brick-and-mortar store in 1963, at the Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey. Teeming with novelty and gag gifts, pop-culture collectibles, posters, T-shirts, lasers, and adult paraphernalia, a visit to the store has been a right of passage for probably most people reading this post. In the mid-1970s, Spencer Gifts was a dependable place to get the iconic Farrah Fawcett poster that was as much a part of disco-era American home decor as cheap wood paneling and wood-grain TV consoles showing, well, “Charlie’s Angels.” These days, the brand is thriving. Visiting Spencer’s is still sensory overload, an experience you can’t replicate any other way. And if you’ve ever shopped at Spirit Halloween – which knows a thing or two about haunting dead malls – you’ve contributed to Spencer’s bottomline, as the company owns the spooky pop-up! #retrologist (at Livingston Mall) https://www.instagram.com/p/CigbDxXLYwN/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[rolandopujol]

Wonder Bread, as the old jingle went, was “just a little slice of America.” In my decidedly carb-friendly childhood, a loaf of Wonder Bread was always in the pantry. As a youngster, I didn’t know sliced bread came in any other color but white! We were so devoted to Wonder Bread that we used slices of it instead of buns for hamburgers. The ketchup always bled through. Yes, Wonder Bread was the biggest deal since, well, sliced bread, the selling of which Wonder Bread helped pioneer. Times change, and the nutrient-enriched bread that once claimed to build strong bodies in eight (and later 12) ways was no longer seen as a wonder. Sales slipped, and the introduction of Wonder Light – billed as “diet” bread – on Sept. 30, 1986, was not enough to reverse the trend. As the parent company struggled, Wonder Bread factories closed. By 2009, the ovens were turned off for the last time here, at the Wonder Bread factory in the Italian Village neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. By the end, they weren’t even baking loaves here anymore – just hamburger and hot dog buns. Parent company Interstate Bakeries, which had just emerged from bankruptcy, said the facility, baking Wonder Bread since 1934, could not handle the production of its all-natural bread. Workers who had made wage concessions to stave off this outcome felt betrayed. The days of bread-making were over. But the 70,000-square-foot building wasn’t going anywhere, and an idea emerged to name it Wonderland and turn it into a cultural complex. That idea had a run-in with reality, and by 2013, the building had found its next and current calling, becoming the Wonder Bread Lofts. There are 66 apartments here of various shapes and sizes, and the complex has been a hit – only three rentals are listed as available now, and one has an application pending. The developer, Kevin Lykens, preserved important historical touches on the inside and outside, most notably the old signage – a towering neon sign and the wonderful plastic sign featuring the Wonder Bread logo. No, the aroma of fresh-baked bread will never waft through Italian Village again, but that old factory can still inspire wonder. #retrologist (at Wonder Bread Lofts) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiMBB4IruP8/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=