A Compendium of Vintage Pool Parties

Some things just look like a lot more fun in vintage grainy photos. I found a ton of nostalgic of motel pool postcards on Flickr and couldn’t help but put together another little compendium of some fabulously kitsch “pool parties”. When I went road tripping in California last summer, I tried to stay in as many motels…

Stop Everything, Check out these Miniature Mediocre Motels

Among my favourite things are mid-century American kitsch and teeny tiny stuff. Put the two together and you basically send me into overload. I’m not exactly sure why run-down vintage motels fascinate me so; perhaps that seedy glamour of America is much more appealing to a European road-tripper like me who hasn’t stayed in enough of them yet to have encountered bed bugs. But those pastel…

The American Theme Park Town that started as a Beer Stand in the Prohibition Aftermath

It’s highway Americana at its best and it all started in 1949 with a shocking-pink beer stand just south of the state border for the thirsty patrons of North Carolina where it was illegal to sell alcohol in its counties. Over the years, its grown from a lone beer stand into a fabulously kitsch 300…

No Fun Intended: The Space Age Playground Motel that Time Forgot

Earlier today on MessyNessyChic, we pulled over on the internet highway at one of the kitschiest roadside attractions on America’s East Coast, “South of the Border“. But just a little further down, on the other side of the interstate, there’s something equally surreal to make a stop for. While scouting for roadside oddities, I also stumbled across…

Cruising for Roadside Relics on Route 66

We were greeted at our first stop on Route 66 by the roar of a French biker gang rolling through the forgotten town… Roy’s Motel and Café first opened in Amboy, California in 1938 as a gas and service station along the legendary main street of America, U.S. Highway 66. In the 1940s, Roy Crowl expanded the business to include a café,…

My New York City Beach Motel

Native New Yorkers are zoning in on a budding little beach community that’s re-awakening over at Rockaway Beach, gateway to Queens and home to the legendary old amusement park, Playland, which closed in the 1980s following the neighbourhood’s downturn during the 1960s. Since the beginning of the new millennium however, surfers have been bringing life back to Rockaway,…

A Compendium of Vintage Pool Parties

Stop Everything, Check out these Miniature Mediocre Motels

The American Theme Park Town that started as a Beer Stand in the Prohibition Aftermath

No Fun Intended: The Space Age Playground Motel that Time Forgot

Cruising for Roadside Relics on Route 66

My New York City Beach Motel

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