Anniversary Post #5: My Favorites from 2014

From Dave Brigham:

Welcome to the fifth installment in a series celebrating the 7th anniversary of the blog (for links to the prior four installments, see the bottom of this post). This post covers 2014.

I need to mention that Joe Viger has contributed some amazing photos and fantastic write-ups over the years, but I'll be linking to very few of them in this series. Why? Because Joe -- an amazing photographer who has served as a mentor of sorts to me in that regard, and a great friend I've known for nearly 30 years -- has changed the security settings on his Flickr account so that many of his photos that have run on this blog show up as broken links now. I will instead direct you to his wonderful online portfolio.

The year started out well, on January 3, 2014, with the blog's first -- and, to date, only -- photo from Hawaii. Lostlosangeles shared a great shot of an abandoned high school in "Maui Wowee."

Just eight days later, on January 11, 2014, I posted about a drive-in theater in Connecticut where as a teenager I'd seen wholesome films such as "Eager Beavers." "Fade to Black" found me astonished at how much of the old outdoor movie place was still intact.

(The East Hartford Drive-In, South Windsor, Connecticut.)

The good streak kept on rolling at the end of the month. On January 25, 2014, I published "Last Building Standing," about the lone architectural solider left standing after Boston's West End was demolished in the late 1950's.

February 17, 2014, brought us another great collection of Pete Zarria's photos. In "Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign," he shared lots of neat photos of old signs in Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Iowa and Missouri.

On April 14, 2014, I published a post about a trip a friend and I took to Springfield, Massachusetts. "Coincidence?" features two black-and-white photos, one of which is of the YMCA where my father spent countless hours as a kid. I"d heard a lot about the Y as a kid, but had never seen the building until that. day just a few weeks before my father passed away.

(YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts.)

Mick Melvin's "Holy Resurrection!" from June 24, 2014, brought me back to childhood road trips to my cousins' house in Westchester County, New York. As we drove along I-84 approaching Waterbury, Connecticut, I'd look up on the hill next to the highway where Holy Land USA stood. There, I'd see the giant cross and wonder what the park was like. Mick didn't get inside, but he took some nice photos of the cross and the gates to the long-abandoned Christian-themed park.

(Holy Land USA, Waterbury, Connecticut.)

We finished up the year on December 26, 2014, with an ode to a closed restaurant. "What's Sadder Than a Closed BBQ Joint?" was specifically about Jake's Dixie Roadhouse in Waltham, Massachusetts, but illustrates the general problem of keeping a family-owned eatery in business when health issues arise.

(A sad sight: the bar at the former Jake's Dixie Roadhouse in Waltham, Massachusetts.)

Here are links to the previous three installments of this series:

"Anniversary Post #4: My Favorites from 2013"

"Anniversary Post #3: My Favorites from 2012"

"Anniversary Post #2: My Favorites from 2011"

"Anniversary Post #1: My Favorites from 2010"

Coming up next, my favorites from 2015, including an abandoned mansion in Maryland; the redevelopment of a former gas company site in Waltham, Mass.; some gorgeous shots of an old paper mill in Vermont; and a 200-year-old former law office along a very busy road in Weston, Mass.

Sign, Sign, Everwhere a Sign

From Pete Zarria:

(Superior, Wisconsin)

(Yukon, Oklahoma)

(La Crosse, Wisconsin)

(Lebanon, Tennessee)

(Davenport, Iowa)

(Mercer, Wisconsin)

(Gallatin, Tennessee)

(Lebanon, Missouri)

Light It Up!

From Pete Zarria:

(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)

(El Dorado, Kansas)

(Joplin, Missouri)

(Carthage, Missouri)

Fill 'er Up, Part III

From Pete Zarria:

The Backside's man in the Midwest, Pete Zarria, has taken some great shots of gas stations over the years. Here's the latest batch.

(German Valley, Illinois)

(Illinois)

(Wisconsin)

(Platteville, Wisconsin)

(Spencer, Missouri)

(Macon, Missouri)

(Commerce, Oklahoma)

For more of Pete's gas station shots, see June 6, 2012, "Fill 'er Up" and July 2, 2012, "Fill 'er Up, Part II."

Backside Business

From Pete Zarria:

Here's a great collection of shots Pete Zarria took of hotels, restaurants, stores and markets around the country -- DB.

(Superior, Wisconsin)

(St. George, South Carolina)

(Preston, Iowa)

(Elsberry, Missouri)

(Lebanon, Missouri)

(Rhinelander, Wisconsin)

More Signs That Say "Boo"

From Pete Zarria:

Some cool ghost signs:

(Racine, Wisconsin.)

Back in 1844, Jacob Best founded the Best Brewing Co, in Milwaukee. In the 1880's, his daughter was rescued from drowning in the Mississippi River by steam boat pilot, Frederick Pabst. They fell in love and Capt. Pabst went to work for his father-in-law, Jake Best. Eventually, Pabst got the brewery on the death of the founder and changed the name. He left the "B" as homage to his father in law.

(Pecatonica, Illinois: Bull Durham sign)

(Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin)

(Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin)

(Superior, Wisconsin: Hamm's Beer)

(Hannibal, Missouri)

No Mod Cons

From Pete Zarria:

John's Modern Cabins, Newburg, Missouri. Bypassed by Route 66, the place is returning to the earth slowly.

Trail of Tears

From Pete Zarria:

(Near Route 66, somewhere in Missouri)

For information about the Trail of Tears, see these sources:

Wikipedia

National Park Service

The History Channel

Trail of Tears Association

Route 66 Remnants

From Pete Zarria:

Route 66 still maintains quite a bit of its roadside charm on the Backside of America. It has to be searched out, but with minimal effort.

The reward is a trip back in time to an America of far more freedom. The roads followed their own course instead of being plowed through with dynamite. Every attraction and amenity was provided by an entrepreneur, their places made unique by locations and personalities.

(Gray Summit, Missouri)

(Webb City, Missouri -- Dr. Ray Vaughn Pierce was a patent medicine huckster with a laboratory in Buffalo, NY. He produced millions of dollars worth of patent remedies. As well as the Pleasant Pellets, there were Dr. Pierce’s Anuric Tablets, Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription, Dr. Pierce’s Vaginal Tablets, Dr. Pierce’s Extract of Smart-Weed and Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery – a licorice-flavoured tonic that reportedly contained quinine, opium and alcohol and was advertised as giving men “an appetite like a cow-boy’s and the digestion of an ostrich.” Dr. Pierce's products were available into the 1970s.)

It's a pity we now suffer the depressing view of sameness to everything we encounter on any drive. There is nothing like the individuality of a bright neon sign in the night.

(Mitchell, Illinois)