Posts Tagged ‘roadside attraction’
July 7, 2011
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Roadside and Route 66 enthusiasts Emily Priddy and Ron Warnick recently took a 10-day road trip that Emily chronicled on her Red Fork State of Mind blog. She sent me news updates including that volunteers were stripping the World’s Largest Teapot in Chester, WV, with scrapers, heat guns, and blowtorches as part of an Eagle Scout project.
Above you’ll see they also visited two excellent roadside attractions in east-central PA: the Lincoln Motor Court east of Bedford, and the giant Coffee Pot on the edge of downtown. Then they filled up at Dunkle’s Gulf, a rare art deco gem still in the same family—and still pumping gas!
Emily said their goal was to see Ryne Sandberg managing the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in Allentown, so she and Ron (who pens the Route 66 News blog, which inspired this one!) headed east on the Lincoln Highway:
I fell in love with the farmland of Iowa; the vibrant energy of Chicago; the charming downtowns of Goshen, Ind., and Van Wert, Ohio; the giant teapot in Chester, W. Va.; the winding mountain roads of rural Pennsylvania; and the ethnic neighborhoods and skinny townhouses with old men killing time on their front stoops in the narrow side streets of Allentown.
To follow their trip, start at redforkhippie.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/go-the-distance then use the calendar to keep following, or just go to redforkhippie.wordpress.com and read up from the bottom!
Tags:Coffee Pot building, giant teapot, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Pennsylvania, Road trip, roadside attraction, Route 66, travel, West Virginia
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, travel | 4 Comments »
June 29, 2011
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
We’re once again lucky to have Denny Gibson traveling and documenting part of the Lincoln Highway, this time some of the roads to and from the 2011 LHA conference in Lake Tahoe. You can follow his adventures beginning at www.dennygibson.com/lhfest11/day09/index.htm when he visits bits of the Lincoln in Utah. He starts with the beautiful little Lambs Canyon bridge (below). Then it’s across the Utah desert (below #2) and into Nevada.
At the conference, participants rode the old road at Clarksville, Cal., in Model A Fords (below). We’ll save more for our next blog entry….
Tags:California, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, roadside, roadside attraction, roadtrip, travel, Utah
Posted in food, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, road surface, Road trip, roadside, transportation, travel | Leave a Comment »
May 4, 2011
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Rumors continue to swirl around the Hi-Way Drive-In Theater along the Lincoln Highway east of Pittsburgh in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The most likely fate is that drugstore chain CVS is buying the land to open a store. Perhaps the only delay now is assuring all permits proceed.
One post on the drive-in’s Facebook page listed a response from CVS:
CVS has outgrown the current store location in Latrobe and we need to relocate to a site that will be more convenient and accessible for our customers, which is why we are moving to a larger location on Rt. 30. According to the current property owners, the drive-in is being closed for financial reasons whether or not CVS moves to this site. We look forward to providing the Latrobe community with improved pharmacy services when we open our new store next year.
UPDATE: An article ran a week before this post in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Tags:drive-in theater, highway history, historic highway, Latrobe PA, Lincoln Highway, PA, roadside attraction
Posted in film/video, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, roadside | 4 Comments »
February 7, 2011
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The York Dispatch ran a nice story (and the photo below) about the reopening of Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum, a popular Lincoln Highway roadside attractions west of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Seven months after arson destroyed Ed Gotwalt’s business, the museum opened Saturday. State police have no suspects for the blaze that destroyed the museum and its 10,000-piece elephant collection. “I’m very blessed,” Gotwalt said. “I’m very excited. I want to share this with the world.”
The new museum features two elephant sculptures made from salvaged pieces of the destroyed elephant souvenirs. You can visit at 6019 Chambersburg Road/U.S. 30 in Orrtanna, between Chambersburg and Gettysburg, from 10 am – 5 pm daily; admission is FREE. Contributions made to the Tammy Lee Cullison Save the Animal Fund, in memory of Gotwalt’s daughter, will be given to the SPCA in Gettysburg and Chambersburg and an animal sanctuary in Tennessee.
Tags:elephant museum, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, museum, Pennsylvania, Road trip, roadside, roadside attraction, travel
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip, roadside, travel | 1 Comment »
September 22, 2010
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A beloved Lincoln Highway landmark, the Hitching Post in Cheyenne, Wyoming, has been destroyed by fire. Various newspapers covered the fire and aftermath, including an initial story by the Caspar Star Tribune.
This article in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle recalls some history:
The Hitch, as it is fondly known, started out as a small motor hotel called the Lincoln Court. Pete Smith opened it in 1927…. In 1946, the Lincoln Court became a charter member of Best Western International. In 1948, the family opened a restaurant at the hotel called the Hitching Post. As more and more rooms were added, the name stuck.
My family stayed at the Lincoln Court about 5 years ago, by then a wonderful mid-century motel, but that older portion had recently been demolished. The remaining and much larger Hitching Post maintained an Old West decor.
The newspaper reported that the motel, lounge, and restaurant served as a longtime second home for Wyoming legislators but had closed amid financial trouble last year and remained vacant. “The hotel has been undergoing extensive renovations and officials of the company that owns it say it was just weeks away from reopening…. The front lobby and an attached liquor store were destroyed.”
The city called in an ATF team of about two dozen agents to help with the investigation, and the blaze was just ruled arson but the investigation is ongoing. Most comments to articles are overwhelmingly nostalgic for what has been lost, with only a few voicing a need for modern retail there.
Thanks to loungelistener for the tip.
Tags:Cheyenne WY, fire at motel, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, motel, roadside attraction, Wyoming
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, lodging, signs, travel | Leave a Comment »
August 6, 2010
Todd Keeran writes, “Just wanted to let everyone know I set up an (admittedly amateur) website at www.savemistereds.com/. My kids really loved the store and museum and I’m primarily hoping to gather some elephant donations to help the museum rebuild.”
Tags:elephant museum, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Mister Ed's Elephant Museum, roadside attraction, roadtrip
Posted in highways, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip, travel | Leave a Comment »
July 12, 2010
The Travel Guys radio show out of Sacramento featured a special Fourth of July episode along the Lincoln Highway. One of the guys is radio personality Tom Romano, while Mark Hoffmann operates Sports Leisure Vacations, which offers tours of 2-lane roads like Route 66 and now the Lincoln Highway. Your blog host, me, Brian Butko chimes in with a few favorite stops along the Lincoln. Listen HERE. You can also download archived mp3s here.
Tags:Brian Butko, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, roadside attraction, travel, vacation
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, souvenirs, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »
July 6, 2010
Olga A. Herbert, Executive Director of Pennsylvania’s Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, just alerted me that Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum in central Pennsylvania has been destroyed by fire. Owner Ed Gotwalt has spent decades amassing his collection of elephant-themed objects joined to a candy and gift store; he also serves on the Corridor board of directors. Olga said it “burned to the ground late last night, including every elephant. He plans to rebuild and be open by September 1.” Although the news is horrible, it’s equally astounding that he’s ready to rebuild and so quickly! The York Distpatch covers it here and the York Daily Record ran a story about Ed vowing to rebuild.
Tags:elephant museum fire, highway history, historic highway, history, Lincoln Highway, Mister Ed's Elephant Museum, Pennsylvania, Road trip, roadside, roadside attraction, US 30
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip, roadside, souvenirs, travel | 14 Comments »
June 10, 2010
Scott Berka writes that while the city of Colo, Iowa, is still looking for someone to lease the cafe at Reed/Niland Corner, a farmers market will take place there Thursdays from July 1 – September 23, 4pm – 7pm.
FRESH Produce! ~ ORIGINAL Crafts!
HOME BAKED goods! ~ Ice Cream!
If you are interested in being a vendor at the Colo Farmers’ Market, reserve a table for a week or the season by emailing them at colofarmersmarket@gmail.com or for more information contact Colo Development Group at (641) 377-2278. The adjacent Colo Motel continues in operation.
Tags:Colo IA, cool cafe, highway history, historic highway, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, restaurant, Road trip, roadside attraction, travel
Posted in food, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, roadside, travel | Leave a Comment »
April 16, 2010
A colorful roadside attraction along the Lincoln Highway in western California is finally being demolished after closing in 2007.
The Lodi News-Sentinel reports that Pollardville, “once home to staged gunfights, Vaudeville plays and juicy fried chicken, was systematically demolished Tuesday morning.” The site included a ghost town that featured the set of the 1957 film “The Big Country,” with actors portraying bank robbers and sheriffs, the Pollardville Palace Showboat Dinner Theater, and the Chicken Kitchen, formerly the Polynesian-themed Islander Restaurant from Stockton.
The odors from the machine’s diesel engine served as a sharp contrast to the former aromas of mashed potatoes and comfort food Pollardville’s restaurants were once known for. The creaking of the structures collapsing was balanced by the sound of the cars quickly zipping past on Highway 99
Only hint of good news?? The company that handled the demolition said the 50-foot Pollardville sign will remain until someone buys the property and decides what to do with it.
Tags:big sign, Calif roadside, ghost town attraction, highway history, Lincoln Highway, Pollardville CA, Polynesian restaurant, Road trip, roadside attraction
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, signs | 3 Comments »
Lincoln Highway News 