Archive for the ‘food’ Category

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Lincoln Highway theme of church program/dinner

October 7, 2008

Bridge of Hope Lancaster and Chester Counties celebrates its 20th year helping homeless families with “Exploring the Lincoln Highway: Driving for Hope” on Saturday, November 1, 2008, 5–8 p.m., at Ridgeview Mennonite Church, 3723 Ridge Rd, Gordonville, Pennsylvania. Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for children ages 4-11.

Regional Lincoln Highway food favorites from their “farmer’s market” will include:

Carmel Popcorn (Times Square – vendor style)
Philly Cheese Steaks (an eastern PA favorite)
Potato Pirogues (Coatesville, birthplace of Bridge of Hope)
Chicken Corn Soup (Can we say Lancaster?)
Apple Salad (Adams County famous!)
Root Beer and Lemonade (Favorites at roadsides across the country)

Premier Desserts and Gourmet Coffees will be available from a replica of the famous Coffee Pot in Bedford, Pa. Festivities will include a mime and barbershop quartet; for kids there will be storytelling, games, crafts, free treats, and a simulated road rally with activities and clues pertaining to the Lincoln Highway.

For more information, visit Bridge of Hope (which promotes “ending and preventing homelessness — one church and one family at a time with the help of trained mentoring groups within congregations”) or download the event brochure here.

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Rare Crosser Diner in danger of collapsing

September 18, 2008

Among the many photos from Denny Gibson’s latest Lincoln Highway trip are some sad scenes from Lisbon, Ohio, showing the Crosser Diner at 127 W. Lincoln Way with a sagging roof and wall. At least supports have been added to slow the damage.

The Crosser is a c. 1944 Sterling diner made by J.B. Judkins of Merrimac, Mass., best known for their streamliner models featuring one or both ends rounded. This is a Dinette model, one of only 4 survivors.  Comparing to my photo below, the neon sign has already been removed.

OH_Crosser D

Lisbon is probably the only town along the Lincoln Highway having two vintage factory-made diners, with the Steel Trolley Diner a few blocks to the east. Here’s hoping the Crosser is saved and reopened, but after at least 6 years sitting empty, and now with walls collapsing, the prospects are dim.

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Book news: Crunch covers potato chip history

September 12, 2008

DIrk Burhans, known to many of us as publisher of the newsletter Burger Boy (later Greasy Spoon), has written a fun and informative book about potato chips and the people who make them.

Crunch: A History of the Great American Potato Chip runs 203 pages and includes color and b/w illustrations, an index, and extensive endnotes. Published by Terrace Books in hardcover at $26.95, it is widely available including on Amazon for $17.79.

I endorse it with a blurb on the back cover. Below, a 1958 billboard from the Jones chip company, located in a town along the Lincoln Highway: Mansfield, Ohio.

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LH Days in Nevada (Iowa, that is!) Aug 22-24

August 18, 2008

The interestingly named town of Nevada, Iowa, will celebrate its 25th annual Lincoln Highway Days this weekend – August 22, 23, and 24, 2008. The event includes a carnival, teen and adult dance, rodeo, pig wrestling, and a big parade.

Nevada is east of Ames and just west of the popular Niland’s Cafe/Colo Motel. The original Lincoln Highway Days in 1983 was actually called the Old 30 celebration to coincide with the completion of a railroad overpass west of town.

Friday night is the Adult Dance and the Teen Dance and the Rodeo. The Craft, Flea Market, and the Varied Industry building also will be open. The Parade is Saturday at 10 a.m. and the theme is “25 Years of Family Fun on Lincolnway.” Event co-founder Keith Cooper will be honored. The carnival and food court run all three days, with most activities on the Story County 4-H fairgrounds at 2nd St. and I. Avenue

Visit www.lincolnhighwaydays.com for more information.

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New SCAJ; two historic roads conferences in SW

August 5, 2008

The new Society for Commercial Archeology Journal (which I design) highlights the American Southwest in anticipation of two conferences set for in September. Both events are the same weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico, near the historic intersection of the 17th-century El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro and US Route 66.

Preserving the Historic Road 2008
September 11-14
www.historicroads.org
The 6th Preserving the Historic Road conference offers a choice of 3 tours or a field session on the 11th, sessions at the historic Kimo Theatre and Hotel Albuquerque on the 12th such as “Reality and Myth-Building on Historic Highways,” “Lodging Challenges Along Historic Highways,” and “Before the Interstate: The Perpetuation of Indigenous Roads.” The 13th will have more sessions on bridges, trail traces, and historic corridors.

Click the logo to enlarge.

Southwest Detours
September 10-13, 2008
www.sca-roadside.org
The SCA’s conference will explore automobile tourism in the southwest, with paper sessions and tours:

Thursday, Sept. 11
Bus Tour along Route 66 to Gallup, NM
The tour to Gallup along Route 66 includes Dead Man’s Curve, neon signs in Grants (“Uranium City USA”), the Continental Divide, trading posts in Gallup, and lunch at the famous 1937 El Rancho Hotel (“Home of the Movie Stars”), built by the brother of movie mogul D.W. Griffith. (includes tour book and lunch)

Friday, Sept. 12
Symposium and Paper Sessions

Saturday, Sept. 13
Bus Tour to Mountainair and Socorro, New Mexico
The old Route 60 tour will include sites spanning over three centuries. It will take us along some of the oldest alignments of Route 66 in south Albuquerque, and include lunch in Mountainair at the Pop Shafer Hotel, Restaurant and Curio Shop, with a tour of Shaffer’s Rancho Bonito. Socorro highlights will include stops at a southwestern trading post, the old plaza, and a roadside produce stand during chili season!

Here are some roadside highlights in town that I snapped early one morning:

Though centered around Route 66, you’ll meet many Lincoln Highway fans and historians, and see amazing roadside attractions, trading posts, and restaurants (the Frontier is a must-stop).

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Shady Bend to reopen with food & drinks

July 25, 2008

The Grand Island Independent reports that Shady Bend, a popular Lincoln Highway attraction on the east end of Grand Island, Nebraska, is being partially revived.

The mostly-cleared site has been bought by Craig Woodward, a grandson of founder H.O. Woodward. All that remains from the once-thriving site at US 30 and Shady Bend Road is the former Spanish-Revival gas station, which has been a tavern in recent decades. Still, the Shady Bend Gas Station, Grocery and Diner is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and so Woodward, his wife Karen, and their daughter Jennifer Drapel are working to reopen the bar and restaurant. The business was started in 1929 and grew to include gas, food, and lodging in more than 30 tourist cabins, but the most famous of its attractions was a buffalo herd:

“I grew up thinking that everyone had buffalo in their yard,” Craig said.

He soon realized his grandfather and father’s diner was more than the average family business.

“Everyone I run into is excited to bring this place back,” he said. “They remember the buffalo, they remember eating there and hanging out there.”

For the past few years, the Shady Bend has been rented or vacant. Craig took sole ownership at the beginning of the year.

“We truly would like to have a gathering place again,” he said.

The state LHA newsletter “Linc” Across Nebraska has an in-depth story on it in its July 2008 issue by Lenore Stubblefield, who also provided the top image. She recalls a playground, sandy beach lake, tile tennis courts, and the restaurant’s most expensive meal, a T-bone stteak for 65¢. The cabins (later apartments) closed in 1981, The station was luckily spared in 1994 and 2004 road widenings, and will again be serving travelers.

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Bike ride across Iowa following Lincoln Highway

July 24, 2008

Scott Berka, city clerk of Colo, Iowa, sent some great photos of the RAGBRAI® — The Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. Yesterday (day 4 of the week-long event), the bicyclists traveled the Lincoln Highway from Ames to State Center. He snapped the photos at the Reed/Niland Corner in Colo about 9:30 a.m.. They show the restored gas station, cafe, and area near the just-reopened motel. CLICK each one to see it larger.

RAGBRAI was started in 1973 as a 6-day ride (not a race) across Iowa by two Register columnists; it’s still planned and coordinated by the newspaper and is now hosted by the Register’s front-page cartoonist, Brian Duffy. The Des Moines Register naturally has numerous daily updates, including news that tacks strewn near Nevada, Iowa, caused at least 100 flat tires. Learn more by visiting the RAGBRAI® site or read a brief story at at WHO-TV.

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Free map & guide shows Ohio Buy-Way yard sale

July 22, 2008

A free Lincoln Highway BUY-WAY Yard Sale Travelers Guide is being distributed along the different routings of the Lincoln Highway through Ohio. The fourth annual BUY-WAY Yard Sale will take place August 7, 8 and 9. The guide features a map of all Lincoln Highway alignments and towns in Ohio, plus contains listings and ads for more than 50 of the larger group events. Guides can be found at participating businesses such as restaurants, attractions, and convenience stores.

Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway Executive Director Mike Hocker says, “The guide is very helpful since many people are confused about where the Lincoln Highway ran — it did change alignments through the years from 1913 to 1928.”

In the 1920s, much of the old route in Ohio was marked US 30 but modern 4-lane improvements bypass the old towns and alignments. That means Ohio alone has roughly 350 miles of yard sales, community events, and festivals with lots of food, drink, and fun for kids. Last year saw more than 700 individual and organizational sales just in Ohio. Indiana and Illinois are participating too, and West Virginia’s 2.25-mile segment of the highway through Chester is also part of the BUY-WAY sale.

More information and a printable listing of yard sales and locations can be found at http://www.historicbyway.com (updated frequently). To get your guide ahead of time by mail (free for the price of a SASE), visit the travel guide page.

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Fun at the Twin Hi-Way Drive-In

July 18, 2008

We spent last night under a rising full moon at the Twin Hi-Way Drive-In, named for the two roads passing by: the Lincoln Highway and Wm. Penn Highway (later US routes 22 & 30). Opened in 1950 in suburban Pittsburgh, the “drive-in capital,” it had closed in 1996 and sat mostly vacant, hosting volleyball tounaments for the adjacent bar and military-themed haunted attractions at Halloween. Three local partners – Jerry Salnoris, Dan Tice, and Jim Torcasi – reopened it last July 3. Business is OK but they have the usual challenge of rainy weather and that most profits go back to the movie distributor, so they depend greatly on snack bar sales. We did our part with endless trips for drinks, ice cream, french fries, and popcorn!

Visit your local drive-in this weekend to experience a movie under the stars. Their land is always tempting to developers so let’s support them while we can. Check the list at right for a LH drive-in near you or send any I might have missed.

Twin Hi-Way Drive-In
5588 Steubenville Pike
Robinson Township, PA
(412) 494-4999
http://www.twinhiwaydrivein.com

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Road changes close classic Hazen Market in NV

July 15, 2008

Hazen Market, a well-known stop east of Reno, Nwevada, has closed after some 70 years in business. A report in the Lahontan Valley News says the recent widening of US 50A made it difficult for travelers to stop, leading to a decline in business. The store was originally along the old Lincoln Highway but was relocated in 1944 when the railroad and highway were moved to bypass south of the little town. Producer Rick Sebak stopped last year on his first trip for the upcoming PBS special and, like so many, enjoyed his visit.

The market had been spruced up since then (as seen in Rick’s sunset photo above versus one from the article below). It still maintained its classic appearance, but that was not enough according to the article, excerpts of which follow.

Owner Allen Hughes blames the Nevada Department of Transportation for the store’s demise…. “The State of Nevada blocked me off,” he said, adding he was promised three turning lanes, which never materialized.

People traveling from Fernley would have to drive 300 feet past the market and make a U-turn to enter his business and make another U-turn when exiting the store because there is no turn lane when traveling eastbound….

Hughes said he is not sure of what he will do with the building, but has thoughts of turning it into a delicatessen/bar to make it more of a destination business than a convenience. He said people who would not stop for a soft drink might do so for a sandwich.

Hughes said the store is for lease, and is willing to work with interested people who would like to open some type of business there.

Hazen residents said they are being affected by the closing of the market, which is located halfway between Fallon and Fernley.

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