Art & Inspiration A cool roadside attraction!

Hey Ron,
You guys grew up with a blue Corvette, so now, your wife wants a new 100k sports car? I guess once you start driving one, the memories last a long time. Cruising in the parking lot, the place must be a huge Chevy dealer. Nice...red, daily driver.

Jnaki

 

Jnaki, Here's the {STORY} no I wasn't shopping for a new Corvette. My blue 68, is the only Vette that I have ever owned . It was my first car,{ that wasn't just a Hot Rod project.}Lol I was only 17 years old. I drove it to high school, and my two daughters drove it to their high schools also. My youngest daughter will get it some day. That Chevrolet dealership wasn't really all that big. They just had about 80% all Corvettes. The sales person came out to see if I was interested in trading my delivery on a new Vette. I Had to tell him the STORY, about my old Vette and also about my delivery too. It got dark on us, and I bet he was really glad to see me leave! lol Ron...

 

HaHa! All us Ronnie lovers know your STORIES can go on a bit. lol

 

When I was a kid, like 4 or so, that plane was on the ground and you could climb on it. It was just a plaything for the neighborhood kids. Parents got worried about someone falling off and it was raised and later made a memorial.

 

YEAH Timmy and it's hard to tell them with out using my hands too. Lol Here's some Big Texas sized Cowboy Boots! 35 feet tall. Their at San Antonio TX.

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I've bounced in and out of this thread since early in it'[s creation and thoroughly enjoyed it, as I like viewing unusual stuff roadside all over this great land of ours.
But there's one place shown on here that I've visited, once and swore never to return, although I pass it at least twice a year. Early on in the thread it is shown as on US1 IIRC, but it seems that I-95 also managed to find it, unfortunately.
I'm speaking of Pedro's " South of the Border" at exit #1 in SC on I95. Have passed it many times, going from GA to VA and back for family visits, and viewed their signs up and down the road for many a mile, but never stopped there till year before last when a call from Mother Nature coincided with the need to get gas before I left SC and entered NC which has much higher gas taxes and prices.
Never have I seen such a tacky complex of buildings and out buildings in my life. I was so dismayed and pissed off that I attended to Mother Nature's call despite the huge signs saying their restrooms were only for their customers, got back in the car and got back on I 95 and on into NC and higher gas prices without buying a damn thing. DON"T STOP THERE!!!!!!!!!!

 

I think they put all their money in the bill boards. But it worked, kids made the parents stop and buy some cheesy fireworks and crappy food. Lol. This large cowboy hat ,I think at one time was with the Big Boots. It was a roadside gas station, years ago???

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Yes, the hat and boots in the top photo was a gas station in days of yore. It’s now a small public park.


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This is a vintage roadside attraction. (RedlandMaggie) posted it on the vintage photo thread. I think some of the best attractions are long gone. This place was so COOL! Thanks Ron...

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A big duck built in 1931. The 30 foot duck is on route 24 at Flanders NY.

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Skinny House (Long Beach)
Hello,

The “Skinniest House in America” resides in Long Beach, CA. (Guinness World Records Book) We used to cruise by it several times in the early 60s, as it was about 2 miles away from our old high school. Car loads of teenagers always liked this house, mainly because it was so small, cute, and narrow. (860 sq. ft.)

We also saw it years after high school, because our tax prep guy had his office just across the busy 7th street. It is always an “in-awe” moment when anyone sees this house. There are no home tours as it is a residential house. 2 bedrooms 1 bath valued at $370k.

The lot, 10 ft wide, with normal 5 inch interior walls, it is then, 110 inches. The wheel base of a 59 Chevy 4 door wagon is almost 118 inches. One of those huge wide Chevy wagons of the 90's was 80 inches wide. Sit inside of one of those wagons and then walk around the wagon, the feeling of the interior of the lower floor of the small house, should be about the same

Another reason it is also famous, is the inability to get a clear photo of the house. Today, it is obscured by that huge spreading tree in the front. In 1962, it was not covered up like it is, today. But, who walked around carrying a camera for neighborhood house shots back then? (We were not those phone/ camera crazy people of today. If there is any event, a phone camera is stuck in your face…media crazy.) Even in the 70s, the tree was there, but not as big as it is, today.

Jnaki

“The aptly nicknamed Skinny House in the Rose Park neighborhood of Long Beach, CA is a narrow three-story house that has been cited by both the Guinness Book of World Records and Ripley's Believe It or Not as the nation's skinniest house.

The yellow-stuccoed house was built on a lot measuring 10 feet by 50 feet in 1932 by Newton P. Rummonds, who received the land as a repayment for a $100 loan one year earlier. He built the 860-square-foot house after someone bet him that he could not build a habitable house on such a small lot.

In 1959, it was discovered that the house had leaned 4 inches to the north and was straightened. The Skinny House is a registered city landmark of Long Beach, California, as of 1983.”

 

jnaki, did you know the skinny house has always been a rental and it was built on a bet? The developer had this lot left over after building some other structures and his buddy bet him he couldn't do anything with it. He did, but no one can stand to live in it very long, a 6 foot person can reach out and touch both walls in any room.

Eliot Lane is a cool street to see in Long Beach too. The entire one way block was given historic status with all the homes built in 1923 by the same contractor and they're very small. All have garages but anything bigger than a Model T or a bug might not fit. We looked at one maybe 15 years ago, as cool as they are they're just too small with 3 kids.

 

So you’re saying you’re quackers


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A Big fish story. It's a four story Muskie, that's as long as an Boeing 757. It's at Hayward Wis. a

 

This diner was in Florence, Oregon.

 

That diner is too cool! A sad {STORY} Here is one with my grandson standing in front of.{ The Comet Diner}, It had a cool neon sign of a comet shooting across the sky. I went there growing up. We took this photo on one of our road trips. Since then they tore in down and put up a new Popeyes Restaurant

 

Hello,
The two times we drove up the coast in Oregon from So Cal to the Olympic National Forest on our way to Washington and Victoria, Canada, we must have driven right by this place. Now, on an internet search, it is listed as closed. What is the latest scoop?
I wanted to sit in this booth because of the coolness of the build. Flames and all. It might be a stop on our way up to the San Juan Islands this year, since we love driving all along the coast to our destinations. It must be something about the water...a fish in another life, perhaps?
Jnaki

google map photos are dated 2012

 

The last time I drove down the coast was about three years ago and this diner was a Mexican restaurant. I'd like to know what happened to all the exterior decorations. The inside was full of cool man cave stuff too.

 

Took a picture yesterday of this advertisement in Florala, Alabama. Southern one stop shopping.

 

Ron...
I could add a picture of the Triangle Diner (across the street from Hanley HS)... But I'm still waiting for it to "re-open"

LOL!!!!

 

Take a picture of how it looks it now and when it opens, we'll meet for coffee and take some pictures with the Hot Rods. This is a photo of a meet for coffee, with a friend and HAMBer {1low52}. It's at the Denny's battlefield restaurant at New Market VA. Ron...

 

That could be a very long time.... They been under restoration for over 10 years


Little history

The Triangle Diner is the older of only two stainless steel O’Mahony diners in Virginia. Of the more than 2,000 O'Mahony diners once built, only a few dozen still remain nationwide.

Country music legend Patsy Cline worked at the diner for three years after dropping out of high school to help support her mother and siblings.

 

I was sent to a Military Academy (twice) on Signal Hill, which is a town within Long Beach, Ca. They tore down the school a few decades ago but when the subject comes up about the place the first thing someone remembers are the cannons that were on static display out front. I had to do a search to find a pic of one of the cannons.

 

Entering Chowchilla (Ca.) until the new freeway pushed them out

The Mamouth Orange featuring Alaska size burgers and fresh squeezed OJ

 

THANKS ( 61cad ) for some local history on Patsy Cline, and the Triangle Diner. We stopped by this little Honky tonk with the grandkids for lunch.It was on route 340 in W.Va. It's called ( Rainbow Road). Not only did Patsy Cline sing there. They made a movie of her life in 1985. They filmed a cool scene there also. The movie is called ( Sweet Dreams). The place looks a lot cooler at night. I noticed they changed the direction of the rainbow sign after the movie was made. There's some YouTube's of this place, if you wanna look. Here's a couple pictures from the kids photo album. RON....

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Bet the grandkids tell their little friends they have the COOLEST grandpop around.

 

Hey FT,

We used to frequent that Signal Hill environment a lot. The views from the two parks on Skyline Drive and Temple had views of the surrounding areas. They have some of the best 270 degree views of the coastline, ocean, city views, etc. It was a favorite for the late night stop overs. (back then, it was dark...) Why drive to San Pedro and Palos Verdes for the hilltop views, this place was within a mile or two of our local cruising grounds. Actually, that military school and the two parks were at the continuing end of the famous local, Cherry Ave. Drags that started back in East Bixby Knolls, by the cemeteries.

Later on after high school, one of our friends got an apartment near the parks, with a view from his balcony of the whole Long Beach coastline and ocean. We visited him quite often. He was the only one of us that could afford an apartment. He was a local oilfield worker, but went to school at night.

Jnaki

We always checked out those cannons from the time we were little guys in the early 50’s. The school? We only knew one guy from our neighborhood street that was enrolled there. He finished his schooling there, while his sister finished at our local high school.(in the 60s)

 

Yeah, I was there in the 60s too.
And don't forget where Cherry met PCH, just down the street from the Military school, was the world famous Foothill club, a great Country and Western club which dated back to the 40s.
Signal Hill as a whole was an awesome place for kids to explore, seemed like there were miles of trails and dirt roads to ride our stingray bikes. This was a long time ago and the only development was on the South side of the hill, the rest was oil fields. Who'd a thunk it that the place would be covered today with million dollar homes, costco and the like?

 

We stopped here on our US route 211 Road trip. It's at the Luray Va. zoo. They have over 250 exotic animals, including snakes and alligators. That's my grandson standing in the gators mouth. They had to add a post, to keep it's top jaw from breaking off. Lol Ron...


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