New t-shirt available at Vintage Roadside - The Squirrel Lodge!

Previously only available at the National Trust for Historic Preservation Annual Conference in Nashville, we're pleased to offer the Squirrel Lodge as our first new website offering of 2010!

We're currently accepting pre-orders and will be shipping all Squirrel Lodge shirts on Tuesday, January 26th.

To place your order and to read more history about Squirrel Lodge please visit our Squirrel Lodge page here.

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Road Trip ideas for 2010

Happy New Year everyone! We hope you all had a great holiday season with family & friends and the new year is off to a nice start.

As we begin planning our road trips for 2010 we thought it would be fun to pull out a few brochures we've collected and take a look some places that caught our eye. They're places we've not been to yet, but if we find ourselves in the area they look well worth a stop. If you've been to any of them we'd love to hear your thoughts!

The Museum of Appalachia. Norris, Tennessee. From the brochure:

"The museum opened in the late 1960s with one log building, the General Bunch House, on a two-acre plot. Now it has grown to 65 acres, including dozens of authentic log structures, a large Display Building, an extensive Craft and Gift (and Antique) Shop, a Restaurant, the Mountain Heritage Room, the popular Appalachian Hall of Fame Building, the People's Building, and over a quarter million items."


Where: Norris, TN (16 miles north of Knoxville on I-75, exit 122)
When: Open daylight hours the year 'round (closed Christmas Day)
How Much: "Admission Charged" (exact amount not listed in brochure or on website)
Website: www.museumofappalachia.com


The Hall of Flame - Museum of Firefighting. Phoenix, Arizona. From the brochure:

"Over 100 restored pieces of apparatus on exhibit, dating from 1725 to 1969, in six air conditioned galleries." "1951 American La France Fire Engine available for boarding."


Where: Phoenix, AZ. "In Papago Park, across Van Buren Street from the Phoenix Zoo".
When: Open year round, Mon. - Sat. 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Sunday Noon to 4:00 pm. (Closed on New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas)
How Much: Adults $6.00, Senior Citizens 62+ $5.00, Students 6-17 $4.00, Children 3-5 $1.50, Children under 3 Free.
Website: www.hallofflame.org


Lane Motor Museum. Nashville, Tennessee. From the brochure:

"Lane Motor Museum is one of the few museums in America to specialize in European cars. You will be introduced to over 45 different marques representing Asia, Europe, North and South America...definitely not your typical car museum! Lane Motor Museum is a working museum with a goal to maintain all vehicles in running order."


Where: 702 Murfreesboro Pike, Nashville, TN.
When: Thursday thru Monday, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm (closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day)
How Much: Adults $5.00, Seniors (55+) $3.00, 17 and Under Free.
Website: www.lanemotormuseum.org


Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Vintage Roadside: Goodbye Nashville - Hello Kentucky!

Approaching fourteen hours on the road, we passed the sign for Goobertown, Arkansas around 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning while discussing the merits of Bob Seger's "Night Moves" playing on the only rock station we could find.

After another twenty minutes or so of driving and a riveting game of Name That Tune, we unanimously voted to pull over for the night.

We're waking up in Jonesboro, Arkansas with people to thank and photos to share.

Let's start with our thanks before heading up to Kentucky and the fabulous sight of Wigwam Village #2.

This year's National Preservation Conference was fantastic. Great staff, an incredible line-up of sessions and speakers, and a group of attendees who impressed and inspired us with their knowledge and enthusiasm for preservation.

We have a few personal thanks for:

Susan Neumann, who called us the first day Vintage Roadside officially opened to lend her support as the National Trust's Director of Member Engagement. A great friend and dinner buddy.

Daphne Gerig, who helped us pull together research for this year's road trip and is instrumental in spreading the word about This Place Matters, one of our favorite National Trust programs. We met her in person for the first time in Nashville and are keeping her!


Andrew Gorman, the man with the answers armed with a walkie-talkie and a smile at all times. Without him we might possibly have missed the Western Regional Reception and the beer stylings of the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium.

David Brown, who is always a pleasure to talk to as well as a pretty mean musician. We hope you enjoy Squirrel Lodge and look forward to seeing you next time you're in Portland.

Another big thanks to Barbara Sidway of the Geiser Grand Hotel for giving us such a fun send-off on our road trip to Nashville.

Although we couldn't catch everyone for an impromptu session in Vintage Roadside's photo booth, thanks to you all for making this such a great conference.

Finally, thank you to Governor Phil Bredesen for honoring Vintage Roadside with a welcome to Nashville.

A leader known for his commitment to historic preservation, Governor Bredesen was honored by the East Tennessee Historical Society earlier this year for his historic preservation efforts across the state.

He also recently announced, along with the Tennessee Historical Commission, that "a total of $579,000 in Historic Preservation Fund grants has been awarded to 23 community organizations for programs and activities that support the preservation of historic and archeological sites, districts and structures." TN.gov

On one night on the town, we also found that Nashville is a great place to satisfy your BBQ cravings.


On our way out of town, we snapped one final sight in Nashville:

Now, on to Kentucky!

You might wonder how we ended up in Cave City, approximately 90 miles in the opposite direction of where we should be headed home.

The credit goes to Karen Keown and Becky Proctor Gorman of the Kentucky Heritage Council. It's obvious they must be good at what they do because they convinced us in very short order to head northeast instead of southwest. After seeing the wigwams, we would have kicked ourselves if we hadn't taken their advice.

Number two of seven original Wigwam Villages built from the design plans of Frank A. Redford, Cave City's Wigwam Village is one of only three remaining. The other two are in Holbrook, AZ (visited, loved it) and Rialto (next on our list).



We were also persuaded to visit Cave City and Wigwam Village by the stories of one very special Eartha Kitsch who welcomed us to Nashville with a gift bag o' fun. We'll have a picture of that tomorrow minus a few cookies.

Before heading west once more, we took a few more photos around Cave City - definitely our kind of town - with a quick jog up to Jellystone Park for a fiberglass fix.



At dusk, we stopped to admire the remains of a motor court built of stone on the outskirts of Bowling Green (home of Holley Carburetors since 1952). Can't wait to do a little more research when we get home.

Before our "Night Moves" sing-off in Goobertown, we drove by Ferrell's Hamburgers in Hopkinsville. We'd already had dinner so didn't stay to eat, but seriously, this place may have the best smelling hamburgers we've ever come across. Nice people, too, as we got a wave from the counter when they caught us taking photos.



Not much in the way of sit-down space, but there was a brisk stream of take-out. Did we mention how good it smelled?

And there you have it, the first day of our road trip back to Portland, Oregon.

Since we have to scoot back in fewer days than we had coming out, we won't have as much time for writing. Instead, we're going to take you on a photo journey from Arkansas to Portland with a dip through the Southwest.

For additional Vintage Roadside updates from the road, you're welcome to join us on Facebook.

Thanks for following along and see you all tomorrow!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Vintage Roadside Nashville Tip!

Friday night finds us happy, exhausted, and owing a couple of blogs from the National Preservation Conference. We have a ton of thanks to send out and photos to share, but will save those great stories for later this weekend.

Before we start our weekend catch-up, here's a quick post about an event that's going on in Nashville tomorrow.

Susie Campion, a member of Belmont-Hillsboro Neighbors, stopped by our booth to let us know about the BHN's Annual Tour of Homes. After listening to Susie's story and reading through the tour guide, we wish we could stay on for one more day!

If you do find yourself in the lucky position of spending a Saturday in Nashville, we recommend a fun day touring Belmont-Hillsboro's historic homes. The eleven homes on the tour range from Belmont Mansion, a circa 1850 home featuring Tennessee marble mantels and original gasoliers to a 1925 Four-Square with a beautiful front porch supported by period stone columns. The tour runs from 11-5 and is just $10.00. Proceeds raised from the tour will be dedicated to a variety of projects including a tree planting to restore the neighborhood's canopy and a gift for continuing restoration of Belmont Mansion.

Instead of heading back to Oregon tomorrow, we'll be on the road to Cave City, Kentucky (thanks to some very enthusiastic and persuasive Kentuckians!), but wish Susie and the rest of the Belmont-Hillsboro volunteers the best of luck.

We'll be back on the blog by Sunday with highlights and photos from the conference along with photos from our detour to Cave City - Wigwam Village, here we come! Starting Monday, we'll kick off a photo tour of the Southwest as we head back to Portland.

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Vintage Roadside: Nashville dispatch 1

After negotiating downtown Nashville traffic (busy), navigating our way through the convention center's underground parking garage (deep), and riding the freight elevators about 100 times (fun), we've worked our way through the day turning packed boxes into finished booth.

At the end of the day all fingers are intact and we're ready to roll out our inventory first thing in the morning.


For those of you attending the conference, be sure to swing by booth 220 to say hi. For those of you not attending, we'll continue to bring you photos throughout the week so stay tuned!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Vintage Roadside: Portland to Nashville - Day 8

Over seven days on the road through occasional high winds, snow, sunshine, and rain we've seen everything from roadside giants to National Trust success stories to threatened grain elevators saved from demolition to create a city-maintained park.

Today's last day of driving before arriving in Nashville for the National Preservation Conference was no exception to the rule that you never know what you're going to find on the road. We've put together a selection of photos from the day including a hello to Terry, our friend at LaPlace, Louisiana's Frostop Drive-In.

Day 8's post is a little shorter than usual, but after 2700 miles on the road team Vintage Roadside is looking forward to catching up on a little sleep followed by a meet-up with our friend Eartha Kitsch and her mister.

We hope you've enjoyed following along as much as we've enjoyed your emails, comments, and road trip tips.

Now, onto the photos!

In Poplar Bluff, Missouri we found an unusual mix of roadside sights:





South of Holcomb, we spotted some pets that were not too big, not too small, but just right, along with a vintage deco motel sign.


Just before crossing the border into Tennessee we took a swing through Kennett (for you roadside trivia fans, the birthplace of Sheryl Crow) and were rewarded with this fantastic sign:

Tennessee at last. Driving through downtown Dyersburg, we whipped over to park when we saw the sign for Dixie Liquor.


A vintage ad we have describes the satellite structure on top as a Neo-Lectra sign topper built by Standard Neon Supply Company of St. Louis measuring 13 feet in width and requiring approximately 132 feet of neon tubing.

We also go to meet the mayor of Dyersburg who happened to park across the street for an event while we were taking photos. There's some random roadside fun for you.

Just as the sun was setting, we stopped in Huntingdon and met Leslie, owner of the Court Theatre. He was outside working on the marquee and offered to let us roam around inside although he was closed for the day.

View from inside the ticket booth (hello Frostop!)

Opened in 1920, Leslie has owned and operated the Court Theatre for the past 12 years and, although the maintenance is continuous, enjoys being the owner of a place with so much history. In addition to work on the underside of the marquee, the front has recently received a fresh coast of red paint to be followed shortly by a new coat of bright yellow on the stripes.

Cue drumroll, please...we're happy to say that Nashville looks as interesting at night as we had imagined.

Tucked into our motel for the night, we're looking forward to a great week ahead at the conference. Although not on the road, we'll continue to bring you updates on our blog and Facebook page including a picture of the limited edition t-shirt we produced in honor of Nashville's roadside history.

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside