Vintage roadside

[Edward Reed]

 

[Edward Reed]

 

[BobHufford]

Street Car Cafe and Service Station, near Mansfield, Missouri. Utilizing three of the former Springfield, Missouri street cars after the Springfield Traction Company line was closed in 1937.

(It drives me nuts that the primary poster to the Springfield History Facebook page I pulled this from is posting all these images colorized)

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
You just know that the hamburgers from today's fast-food outfits scarcely resemble those sold at the Street Car Cafe 80 years or so ago. Hardly the same species at all.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's a fascinating historical study called "Fast Food:Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Era," by Keith Sculle and John Jakle. This is a meticulously researched, scholarly study of road food of the 1910s-1970s, and includes quite a bit on the rise of the hamburger as an institution. They conclude that fast food franchising actually raised the quality of the hamburger sandwich, and state that prior to the rise of White Castle in the 1920s, hamburgers sold from stands, lunchrooms, and diners were "dry, unusually-poor-tasting" lumps of badly-cooked meat, of often dubious and unsanitary pedigree. Yum!

 

[Harp]

^^^I went to Hines VA Hospital a few weeks ago for an appointment and noticed the
White Castles across the street had closed, its signage removed and an obvious deliberate attempt
made to cleanse all trace of its former function; ironic since its turrent frontage is a dead giveaway.
A nurse gave the run down: The Vid cut biz, and the chain quickly moved in to settle the score.
She was a Castle fan but apparently the chain cuts its losses quickly. A Burger King further down the
block remained open with a skeletal drive by staff where she shifted her lunch money spending.

 

[Edward Reed]

Norfolk 1941

 

[Edward Reed]

Fayetteville, NC 1942

 

[tonyb]

There's a fascinating historical study called "Fast Food:Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Era," by Keith Sculle and John Jakle. This is a meticulously researched, scholarly study of road food of the 1910s-1970s, and includes quite a bit on the rise of the hamburger as an institution. They conclude that fast food franchising actually raised the quality of the hamburger sandwich, and state that prior to the rise of White Castle in the 1920s, hamburgers sold from stands, lunchrooms, and diners were "dry, unusually-poor-tasting" lumps of badly-cooked meat, of often dubious and unsanitary pedigree. Yum!

Can’t say I’m familiar with Sculle and Jakle’s work, but in my experience, the hand-formed, cooked-to-order hamburgers at neighborhood greasy spoons (a now all but extinct species) beat the hell out of anything the Clown or the King ever served up.

What the mega-chains have going for themselves is consistency and familiarity. You know what you’re gonna get. And some of what you get is pretty darned tasty, in its way. But not in the same way as what Mom and Pop gave you.

Here’s a tip: Don’t order soft-serve “ice cream” at Burger King.

 

[BobHufford]

 

[Edward Reed]

 

[dh66]

Globe shaped tool shed on US 11 somewhere between Collinsville and Fort Payne, AL.

 

[Fading Fast]

View attachment 364092
Globe shaped tool shed on US 11 somewhere between Collinsville and Fort Payne, AL.

Reminds me of the lobby of one of my favorite NYC building, The Daily News Building on 42nd Street.

 

[BobHufford]

 

[BobHufford]

"Just south of Route 66 at Joplin, Missouri, and near Oklahoma a paranormal early night light phenomenon has been occurring since at least 1881. This Ozark's lore has been called Spook Light and other names. Here is an early postcard, pamphlet cover of the "Tri-State Spook Light," an older photo of women observing the light are posted here. No one has ever has been able to explain the light and it continues today. A quick history is below.
Bobbing and bouncing along a dirt road in northeast Oklahoma is the Hornet Spook Light, a paranormal enigma for more than a century. Described most often as an orange ball of light, the orb travels from east to west along a four-mile gravel road, long called the Devil's Promenade by area locals.
The Spook Light often referred to as the Joplin Spook Light or the Tri-State Spook Light, is actually in Oklahoma near the small town of Quapaw. However, it is most often seen from the east, which is why it has been "attached” to the tiny hamlet of Hornet, Missouri, and the larger, better-known town of Joplin.
According to the legend, the spook light was first seen by Indians along the infamous Trail of Tears in 1836; however, the first "official” report occurred in 1881 in a publication called the Ozark Spook Light.
The ball of fire, described as varying from the size of a baseball to a basketball, dances and spins down the center of the road at high speeds, rising and hovering above the treetops, before it retreats and disappears. Others have said it sways from side to side, like a lantern being carried by some invisible force. In any event, the orange fire-like ball has reportedly been appearing nightly for well over 100 years. According to locals, the best time to view the spook light is between the hours of 10:00 pm and midnight and tends to shy away from large groups and loud sounds.
Though many paranormal and scientific investigators have studied the light, including the Army Corps of Engineers, no one has been able to provide a conclusive answer as to the origin of the light.
In the Autumn of 1955, a booklet on the Tri-State Spook Light was produced in Joplin, Missouri by the retired Capt. Bob Loftin, an enthusiast on the light. http://inamidst.com/lights/spooklet "

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Sluuurp.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

And every one was an 'Enery, she wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam....

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Scrumpdillicious.

Rob

 

[BobHufford]

Route 66 near Joplin, Missouri.

 

[BobHufford]

Lake of the Ozarks.