Time Warp Towns

[1961MJS]

Hi

I found this while I was supposed to be working.

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-38846833

"Time-warp towns are those out-of-time discoveries that make for road-trip gold: downtowns populated with of former Woolworths-turned- antiques booth malls, neon signs for Rheingold or Schaeffer, gingerbread detailing, town squares, monuments, cobblestones, and/or apple pie! The buildings where the local history was made are still standing, and if you squint it seems like you’ve gone back in time."

The towns are Oxford Mississippi, San Angelo Texas, Galena Illinois, Truckee California, Harrisville New Hampshire, Paducah Kentucky, Salida Colorado, Lititz Pennsylvania, and New Bedford Massachusetts, I've been to Paducah Kentucky a few times and they have a pretty nice downtown.

Later

 

[Gingerella72]

We have quite a few time warp towns here in Nebraska!

 

[Mr_D.]

I have lived in towns like that for the past 13 years. I love the feel of just going down town and walking around.

 

[Shangas]

Hi

I found this while I was supposed to be working.

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-38846833

"Time-warp towns are those out-of-time discoveries that make for road-trip gold: downtowns populated with of former Woolworths-turned- antiques booth malls, neon signs for Rheingold or Schaeffer, gingerbread detailing, town squares, monuments, cobblestones, and/or apple pie! The buildings where the local history was made are still standing, and if you squint it seems like you’ve gone back in time."

The towns are Oxford Mississippi, San Angelo Texas, Galena Illinois, Truckee California, Harrisville New Hampshire, Paducah Kentucky, Salida Colorado, Lititz Pennsylvania, and New Bedford Massachusetts, I've been to Paducah Kentucky a few times and they have a pretty nice downtown.

Later

Interesting!!

What's Rheingold and Schaeffer?

 

[1961MJS]

Interesting!!

What's Rheingold and Schaeffer?

Hi

They're both East USA beers. The Western cities would have different beer signs.

Later

 

[Adcurium]

Reinghold and Schaffer are (were) brands of beer. The town where I grew up, Wilkes-Barre PA, was very much like a time warp. It changed since I left in 1995 but back when I was young... Man it was a trip. The Woolworth's lunch counter didn't close until sometime when I was in Higj school. The grocer at our corner shop had a pencil mustache and wore a white apron until he passed away in the 90's.

But New Bedford MA... It's just a few miles down the road from where I live now and I don't see it...

 

[4spurs]

I lived two towns over from Harrisville for 14 years, and it really is no different than all the surrounding towns in Cheshire, County, or for that matter most of southwestern NH, southeast VT, and western Mass; it's one geographical area. That being said, yep, I helped friends cut ice for their ice house by hand in neighboring Nelson, NH. Friends still use horses to skid logs out of the woods, folks tap the maple trees this time of year, contra dance, and if one can afford it post and beam is the preferred method of building. Many craftsmen, and artists of all sorts in the area. Hillsborough, NH had a Mack truck museum, not to be missed if it's still there; lots of chain driven trucks.

Been to San Angelo, TX too, a real interesting town, many bootmakers in that town, a beautiful old hotel that needs to be reopened, the Cactus. Its open for dining and special occasions, but really is begging to be opened for guests. There are fresh water pearls in the river that runs through San Angelo, and a great new art museum, and a restored western fort; and every school kid in that county spends a day in the school in that fort in period dress.

 

[Mr. Hallack]

Maine is filled with time warps, some in better condition than others. That's what I love about my adopted state.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

A great one here, where I grew up mostly, is Columbus, where they did some of the 'Public Enemies' filming. It is a trip back in time living there.

 

[David Conwill]

I remember several towns like that in northern Wisconsin. They're tough to find in Michigan - freeways (or even bypasses on the state highway) tend to kill them right quick, not to mention the effect of a Wal-Mart...

-Dave

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Wisconsin has a lot of time-warp towns. Pardeeville is one. Portage was one until Wal-Mart came in and the whole north end of town became developed and sub-divided. Now the historic houses are turned into flats and trash lives there.

I remember several towns like that in northern Wisconsin. They're tough to find in Michigan - freeways (or even bypasses on the state highway) tend to kill them right quick, not to mention the effect of a Wal-Mart...

-Dave

 

[Gene]

Madison, Indiana, criminally left out of that list. One of my favorite places to visit!

By the way, that movie theater still shows movies!

 

[Adcurium]

Gene: looks like a pretty cool place. Do you have more photos?

 

[John in Covina]

Here in Southern California you don't generally find the time warp factor quite as encompassing as the pictures and descriptions show elsewhere. But tucked away in some areas are small chunks of time warp or bits and pieces, little islands of time warp.

Pomona has some areas like by the Antique Row on Second Street. Those buildings are old with the small shops, the bigger stores and that former department store antiques mall. Near by are blocks of older buildings, the theater where they have concerts now, old churches. There is a neat old YMCA that has great architecture and some old school building that would make great movie locations.

There are little pockets of history here and there.

i'd love to get to visit some f those towns people have posted one day.

 

[Travis Lee Johnston]

I remember going to historical parts of Wisconsin as a kid and watching drive in movies and the down town streets would be filled with tourists. The buildings were all brick. No Wal-Marts that I can remember.

 

[Romy Overdorp]

Madison, Indiana, criminally left out of that list. One of my favorite places to visit!

By the way, that movie theater still shows movies!

Oh wow! I think I am in love! There is no such thing here in Europe according to what I know about.

 

[MissLaurieMarie]

Camrose is pretty time-warpy. There are lots of heritage homes (like mine!) and historic buildings that have been restored.
Right now the huge project on the go is the Bailey Theatre, which is being restored to what it used to look like in the 1940s (I think.) The theatre is over 100 years old and lots of money from the provincial and federal government has gone into. I can't wait for it to open! I get to go there from time to time for work and every time I go I get a little more excited. There's so much history in that building. The architect told me that when they were re-insulating the walls, they found old movie posters from the 1920s.

 

[dhermann1]

So let's dovetail this thread with the "Our Own Vintage Town" thread. Let's locate, infiltrate, inculcate, indoctrinate, AND POUNCE!

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I hate myself for loving Wal-Mart, but oh how I hate what it does to small towns!

I remember going to historical parts of Wisconsin as a kid and watching drive in movies and the down town streets would be filled with tourists. The buildings were all brick. No Wal-Marts that I can remember.

 

[Zombie_61]

Here in Southern California you don't generally find the time warp factor quite as encompassing as the pictures and descriptions show elsewhere. But tucked away in some areas are small chunks of time warp or bits and pieces, little islands of time warp.

True. My wife and I live in Whittier (about 15 miles due east of downtown Los Angeles), parts of which were used quite regularly for various movie and television productions in the 70s and early- to mid-80s. One day many years ago, during a filming break I asked one of the production staff why so many film crews used Whittier for location shooting, and he said "Whittier is one of those cities that just sort of got forgotten about by time. One block is all 60s and 70s architecture, the next is 30s and 40s, the next is right out of the 50s...all we have to do is bring in some old cars, and you're transported back in time."

Until the Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987, that is. So many homes and commercial buildings were damaged or destroyed that the city lost much of it's history. Nearly all of them were rebuilt with that bland late-80s "pre-fab" architecture and yuppie pastel colors that were popular at the time, but made one building nearly indistinguishable from the next. After a decade or so of the city council missing those "Hollywood dollars" they tried to dress the town up a bit with some faux cobblestone crosswalks and older-style streetlights, but it was all facade and artifice devoid of any real substance. That earthquake ruined the city in more ways than one.