Before the advent of corporate communications and architectural uniformity, America's built environment was a free-form landscape of individual expression. Signs, artifacts, and even buildings ranged from playful to eccentric, from deliciously cartoonish to psychedelic. Photographer John Margolies spent over three decades and drove more than 100,000 miles documenting these fascinating and endearingly artisanal examples of roadside advertising and fantasy structures, a fast-fading aspect of Americana.
His book Roadside America brings together approximately 400 color photographs of Main Street signs, movie theaters, gas stations, fast food restaurants, motels, roadside attractions, miniature golf courses, dinosaurs, giant figures and animals, and fantasy coastal resorts. Magazine LIFE.com picks up 11 most wacky attractions from among it.
The Wounded Armadillo Club, Richmond, Texas, 1983
Gatorland Zoo, Kissimmee, Florida, 1980
Ace Travel Service, Del Rio, Texas, 1982
Old Jail Billboard, Saint Augustine, Florida, 1979
Horseless Carriage Museum, Rockerville, South Dakota, 1980
Big John, El Dorado, Illinois, 1993
Rawhide City Billboard, Mandan, North Dakota, 1980
Big Daddy's Pawn Shop, Texarkana, Texas, 1993
Flinstone's Bedrock City, Valle, Arizona, 1987
The Donut Hole, La Puente, California, 1991
Big Fish Supper Club, Bena, Minnesota, 1980
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