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)

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)

Down On the Farm

From Pete Zarria:

(Iowa)

(Indiana)

(Iowa)

(Wisconsin)

Simple Beauty

From Pete Zarria:

Blairstown, Benton County, Iowa - Pop. 685. Many people simply do not realize all the beauty that is spread across the world. Even across just a flat old farm state known for corn and hogs. This scene is just a simple grain elevator in small Iowa town backed by nature's best light.

Nice Hat

From Pete Zarria:

Actually, I was looking for a place to park to get a shot at the Veteran's Hall neon sign. I found this. Waterloo, Iowa.

Bowling Beauty

From Pete Zarria:

We were out for a walk and I often head for this bowling alley that's nearby. This night the clouds were perfect, but I had no camera. A quick stride home and by the time we got back, the clouds and light were naff.

Pinhole 0, Pinhead 1.

This sign was neglected and mostly non-working for years. They finally rehabbed it to its former glory and it's much better now. Bowlmor Lanes, Davenport, Iowa.

Fill 'er Up

From Pete Zarria:

This is the first of two parts involving old gas stations, some restored, others ignored. This batch is from Iowa -- DB.

I was leaving town not having seen much, a nice elevator maybe when this hit me in the face. It's the local garden club now, but somebody went to some work for this, it's a pristine example.

Two views of Zeller's Garage, Palo, Iowa. Pop, 889.

Down at the old Shell in Waverly, Iowa.

Brooklyn, Iowa. I was just driving along looking for things when this came up. Tried from the car, gave that up and did everything I could to get a decent shot of an operating Deco Standard Station. I think its mostly repair now, but the pumps look to be still functional.

Tokheim pump, Main Street Texaco~LaPorte City, Iowa.

West Branch, Iowa - The birthplace of Herbert Hoover. This building was first a bank in 1910 then the post office before being converted to Virgil's Sinclair.

This station once sat at the crossroads of US 63 and US 30, the Lincoln Highway. The Lincoln has since been realigned and 63 crosses on an overpass relegating the business they relied on to the speed of "modern engineering." Yet it is these places that were the spice of the American roadside, every place reflected its individual owner, not corporate "branding" strategies. It's now maintained as kind of a museum piece along with the cafe (still serving) next door and the motel just next to that.

Old gas station under an ugly sky in Mediapolis, Iowa. I suspect this is someone's home now.

I don't really know what it is with Iowans. They dis neon but really love their gas stations. I find them all over the place in the smallest towns. Hidden gems that make the road less traveled very worthwhile. This is now the town museum, a collection of the finest corn cobs this side of Probstei, Iowa.

Advertising Ghost

From Pete Zarria:

A reason to cruise the alleys. Marshalltown, Iowa, on the Lincoln Highway. Well, behind the Lincoln. This is truly the backside of America. Along the Lincoln Highway, back in the alley, a once-proud brand proclaimed by a once-proud merchant. These old paintings, "ghosts" of the advertising past, made the hard sell. In doing so, they left of a glimpse of the past and brands no longer found. A style of decoration rarely done anymore.

Rehab Reality

From Pete Zarria:

Arlington, Iowa

I wasn't leaving without a shot of this old and very green Victorian. SOOC, adjusted lighting and sky. The house and color took care of themselves.

This home is back on the market. Just $30,000 buys a bit of real, old American, small-town goodness. As I understand it, the original owner's intent was to rehab the place into a show piece. There are many stories like this when reality and the cost of just heating and cooling deflate the airiest of dream balloons. So, back on the market she goes, another couple years of deferred maintenance under her 100-year-old belt and the slow inexorable end yet to come.

Most people knowingly realize it, but dreams have a way of postponing, even vanquishing, reality. Surely it should always be so.

Faded Highway

From Pete Zarria:

With this post, the Backside Gang welcomes Pete Zarria. Pete, who I met through Flickr, lives in Iowa. While I don't expect he'll cover the entire Midwest, he'll help this blog spread out from its usual East Coast focus. Welcome Pete! -- Dave Brigham.

A long lost site on the forgotten Lincoln Highway in Chelsea, Iowa. My own family started here in the 1860's. Its just down the road from one of the oldest farms we held.

The name Lincoln Highway stems from the very early days of the automobile. In the early 1900s, highways were known by names; numbers were not used. The Lincoln eventually became US 30, the first transcontinental highway in America. Not as famous as Route 66, but she still has that American charm.

I guess having a song sung by Nat King Cole helps. Still, the old road is here for the wandering but much of that great and quirky American Roadside has disappeared with our growing "sophistication." Gone are the great drive-ins and car-hops, neon-lit motels and tourist traps like the many "Mystery Spots." It all contributes to a bland, cookie cutter style that stunts imagination and entrepreneurship. I, for one, am sorry to see it pass since I grew up on it.