I love this. We need more whimsy. Unfortunately, refinement culture is taking over. Even the new McDonald's design is "private equity" refined.
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ofalkaed
The Octopus Carwash is one of my early memories from trips to the twin cities, probably the first time I have seen it or thought about it in 40 years. Kind of weird to stumble on that after all these years, I opened the link curious if there would be anything from my Minnesota childhood but did not expect that.
js2
The LOC has a nice presentation of the complete collection two clicks away from the submitted link:
To anyone who loves these, add this to your playlist:
Otis Gibbs - Great American Roadside
FireBeyond
One of the ideas put forward in Neil Gaiman's American Gods is that roadside attractions, "Biggest X", collections of whimsy happened where they happened because they were ancient places of power, and people felt inexplicably drawn to them and to set up somewhere people would explore and worship, if not literally, with their attention and energy. Gods could recharge there.
Haha I knew Bob's Java Jive was going to be on there. Wasn't expecting the buffalo from Jamestown, ND.
Here's a good one from my hometown https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tommy-the-turtle
And then drive about 20 miles east and you hit this guy https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/w-eel-turtle
And then drive 30 miles north and you hit the original https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tommy-the-turtle-boissev...
I love this. We need more whimsy. Unfortunately, refinement culture is taking over. Even the new McDonald's design is "private equity" refined.
The Octopus Carwash is one of my early memories from trips to the twin cities, probably the first time I have seen it or thought about it in 40 years. Kind of weird to stumble on that after all these years, I opened the link curious if there would be anything from my Minnesota childhood but did not expect that.
The LOC has a nice presentation of the complete collection two clicks away from the submitted link:
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e31fca375f7a471a9a2e2cd...
via https://guides.loc.gov/roadside-america-photographs?loclr=fl...
via submitted link.
I was certain the collection had to have Lucy the Elephant and indeed it does:
https://www.loc.gov/item/2017712086/
https://lucytheelephant.org/
To anyone who loves these, add this to your playlist:
Otis Gibbs - Great American Roadside
One of the ideas put forward in Neil Gaiman's American Gods is that roadside attractions, "Biggest X", collections of whimsy happened where they happened because they were ancient places of power, and people felt inexplicably drawn to them and to set up somewhere people would explore and worship, if not literally, with their attention and energy. Gods could recharge there.