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Vintage roadside

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
I would've put the great Margaret Hamilton with a catchy phrase...
ww.jpg

“Eat up my pretty.....I’m melting’' :p
 

KY Gentleman

One Too Many
Messages
1,881
Location
Kentucky
3d81f734d5c344fea3ebaa90df8477cd.jpg

Roadside General Stores selling trinkets and cheap souvenirs.
1338eb46ec55b8dbf0d1774af66515fd.jpg

Old West Towns in the mountains featuring gunfights in the streets and public hangings...
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82827bedbbaf2f98371b88c64c9544cc.jpg

c7b6a6c62f83f2dfa27155fa1854047c.jpg

21232b3c7a6e9bb07ded976aeb5bef76.jpg

Dinosaurs!
0a3a11ab4c4aac331f371240f1b6e5f0.jpg

dad2f3af9eca4ad759449c4f9b6a8568.jpg

Historically themed attractions
670c403457c11906123e161a3d9e3fca.jpg

Natural Wonders
4324c5a9a8436a005f58a3cd1b542269.jpg

382c33d76ea5977cade7d1415fdb0a66.jpg

SEE SEVEN STATES!
Things you just can’t do anywhere else!

My family has stopped at all of these wonderfully unique spots at least once, they are often the most memorable parts of any road trip.
 
Messages
13,669
Location
down south
3d81f734d5c344fea3ebaa90df8477cd.jpg

Roadside General Stores selling trinkets and cheap souvenirs.
1338eb46ec55b8dbf0d1774af66515fd.jpg

Old West Towns in the mountains featuring gunfights in the streets and public hangings...
466be777dc836e8bca93d3463735cdcc.jpg

82827bedbbaf2f98371b88c64c9544cc.jpg

c7b6a6c62f83f2dfa27155fa1854047c.jpg

21232b3c7a6e9bb07ded976aeb5bef76.jpg

Dinosaurs!
0a3a11ab4c4aac331f371240f1b6e5f0.jpg

dad2f3af9eca4ad759449c4f9b6a8568.jpg

Historically themed attractions
670c403457c11906123e161a3d9e3fca.jpg

Natural Wonders
4324c5a9a8436a005f58a3cd1b542269.jpg

382c33d76ea5977cade7d1415fdb0a66.jpg

SEE SEVEN STATES!
Things you just can’t do anywhere else!

My family has stopped at all of these wonderfully unique spots at least once, they are often the most memorable parts of any road trip.
Been to most of those myself. The dinosaur world in Cave City is a particular favorite of my kids. Of mine, too.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
Messages
12,009
Location
East of Los Angeles
Several years ago on a return trip from Tombstone, Arizona, my wife and I saw a few billboard signs like this on the side of the highway:

bDVM1A6.jpg


We had some time to kill and knew what we were in for, but decided to check it out anyway and followed the signs until we encountered this:

lU5lA8I.jpg


Ooooookay, we're here. Let's go see The Thing. In the back of this souvenir/gift shop one of the first Things we saw was this:

JU3znUh.jpg


Two bucks later we were allowed to pass through this doorway and instructed to follow the big yellow footprints painted onto the sidewalk, which led to the first of three corrugated tin sheds that contained a number of "exhibits" such as wood carvings, painted driftwood that kinda' resembled animals if you squinted hard enough, saddles, rifles, a covered wagon, and several vintage automobiles like this one:

IUau7FO.jpg


The sign says, "1937 - Rolls-Royce. This antique car was believed to have been used by Adolph Hitler. The Thing is, it CAN'T be PROVED." :rolleyes: Yep. Many of the "exhibits" had signs such as this, with the overall "The Thing" theme worked into the wording somehow. Hey, what do you expect for a buck? As we neared the end of the third shed, we saw this...

7JZT8pn.jpg


...except when we were there, that banner wasn't--just the brick display case with the glass top and no signs whatsoever. In fact, we arrived at the end of the exhibits and came to the conclusion that the gag was that "The Thing" was whichever item you wanted it to be. The only thing missing were signs that said, "This way to the Egress!" :p

Oh, that brick display case? It held this:

vkPxUTd.jpg


A mommy mummy and her mummy child. And yes, they're as fake as they look. The "mummies" were created by Homer Tate, famous for producing sideshow gaffes (items manufactured to be passed off as genuine) such as "Feegee Mermaids" and "shrunken heads" in the late-1930s and 40s.
 
Messages
17,196
Location
New York City
Several years ago on a return trip from Tombstone, Arizona, my wife and I saw a few billboard signs like this on the side of the highway:

bDVM1A6.jpg


We had some time to kill and knew what we were in for, but decided to check it out anyway and followed the signs until we encountered this:

lU5lA8I.jpg


Ooooookay, we're here. Let's go see The Thing. In the back of this souvenir/gift shop one of the first Things we saw was this:

JU3znUh.jpg


Two bucks later we were allowed to pass through this doorway and instructed to follow the big yellow footprints painted onto the sidewalk, which led to the first of three corrugated tin sheds that contained a number of "exhibits" such as wood carvings, painted driftwood that kinda' resembled animals if you squinted hard enough, saddles, rifles, a covered wagon, and several vintage automobiles like this one:

IUau7FO.jpg


The sign says, "1937 - Rolls-Royce. This antique car was believed to have been used by Adolph Hitler. The Thing is, it CAN'T be PROVED." :rolleyes: Yep. Many of the "exhibits" had signs such as this, with the overall "The Thing" theme worked into the wording somehow. Hey, what do you expect for a buck? As we neared the end of the third shed, we saw this...

7JZT8pn.jpg


...except when we were there, that banner wasn't--just the brick display case with the glass top and no signs whatsoever. In fact, we arrived at the end of the exhibits and came to the conclusion that the gag was that "The Thing" was whichever item you wanted it to be. The only thing missing were signs that said, "This way to the Egress!" :p

Oh, that brick display case? It held this:

vkPxUTd.jpg


A mommy mummy and her mummy child. And yes, they're as fake as they look. The "mummies" were created by Homer Tate, famous for producing sideshow gaffes (items manufactured to be passed off as genuine) such as "Feegee Mermaids" and "shrunken heads" in the late-1930s and 40s.

This is so incredibly vintage roadside - hucksterism, cheesiness and you know it's scammy, but it gets you to pull over anyway. Perfect vintage roadside.

Having the story to tell is worth way more than the $2 you paid.

Great story.
 
Messages
19,413
Location
Funkytown, USA
3d81f734d5c344fea3ebaa90df8477cd.jpg

Roadside General Stores selling trinkets and cheap souvenirs.
1338eb46ec55b8dbf0d1774af66515fd.jpg

Old West Towns in the mountains featuring gunfights in the streets and public hangings...
466be777dc836e8bca93d3463735cdcc.jpg

82827bedbbaf2f98371b88c64c9544cc.jpg

c7b6a6c62f83f2dfa27155fa1854047c.jpg

21232b3c7a6e9bb07ded976aeb5bef76.jpg

Dinosaurs!
0a3a11ab4c4aac331f371240f1b6e5f0.jpg

dad2f3af9eca4ad759449c4f9b6a8568.jpg

Historically themed attractions
670c403457c11906123e161a3d9e3fca.jpg

Natural Wonders
4324c5a9a8436a005f58a3cd1b542269.jpg

382c33d76ea5977cade7d1415fdb0a66.jpg

SEE SEVEN STATES!
Things you just can’t do anywhere else!

My family has stopped at all of these wonderfully unique spots at least once, they are often the most memorable parts of any road trip.

When I was a young 'un, and we'd go on vacation, that meant loading up the Impala and heading out. Dad up early, every day for a few days traveling the highways and byways to some destination - Yellowstone, the Wisconsin Dells, Denver, Kalispell, Montana (where Dad planted trees with the CCC in the Depression), some place like that. We'd stop at all of these places ("See the Giant Prairie Dog!"). Dinosaur World, Wall Drug, nothing escaped our attention.

Mrs. Fruno and me have traveled a bit by car, but we still haven't gone on The Great American Vacation, yet, like the ones we did on the 60s. Hell, I have two Impalas, I really need to load one up and get out of Dodge. Mystery Spot, here we come!
 

3fingers

One Too Many
Messages
1,797
Location
Illinois
About 1985 or so a buddy and I went on what was for us at the time an epic road trip. It seemed like we saw billboards for this place for 200 miles or more. It was pretty neat to find in Minden, Nebraska since Minden is not exactly a major metropolitan area.
a160.jpg
 
Messages
12,009
Location
East of Los Angeles
This is so incredibly vintage roadside - hucksterism, cheesiness and you know it's scammy, but it gets you to pull over anyway. Perfect vintage roadside.

Having the story to tell is worth way more than the $2 you paid.

Great story.
That was the fun thing about it. If we'd gone to Arizona just to see this it would have been a serious letdown, but because it was a spur-of-the-moment side trip (that took us about 20 miles out of our way) we went in knowing it would be hucksterism at it's finest, and it didn't disappoint. I mean, look at that first sign; the only way it could have been cheesier was if it had been made from real cheese, but it did it's job and drew us in. The fact that it only cost a dollar to see this random collection of stuff was the icing on the cake.

And, yeah, that's the great thing about road trips--even if things don't go as planned you almost always have a great story to tell later.
 
Messages
12,009
Location
East of Los Angeles
Have you ever noticed how many times old trucks become decorating accessories?
On the one hand, it makes me a little sad to see these wonderful *vehicles relegated to nothing more than someone's idea of lawn/community art. On the other hand, their beauty is on display for all to see, which I suppose is better than being crushed and sold for whatever the materials are worth.


*For as long as I can remember I've had a "thing" for old pickup trucks. Can you tell? :cool:
 

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