Mid-Century West Coast Florida - Orange Blossom Groves

This week I'm sharing some postcard views of Florida's west coast, images from the 1940s and '50s. Each day, Monday through Friday, comes a new scene from the Sunshine State's tourist past.

Quoting a handwritten note on back of the (January 29, 1957) card: "We have a very nice place to stay here/have been out on the lawn sitting ... flowers all in bloom & birds singing."

Mid-Century West Coast Florida - Moses Tabernacle

This week I'm sharing some postcard views of Florida's west coast, images from the 1940s and '50s. Each day, Monday through Friday, comes a new scene from the Sunshine State's tourist past.

Quoting from back of (undated) postcard: "World's most wonderful shrine - Full Size Replica of 'Moses Tabernacle in the Wilderness' - with all its beautiful symbolic furnishings which reveal the foundation of all divine religion on earth."

Mid-Century West Coast Florida - Glass Bottom Boats

This week I'm sharing some postcard views of Florida's west coast, images from the 1940s and '50s. Each day, Monday through Friday, comes a new scene from the Sunshine State's tourist past.

Quoting from the back of the (hand-dated, 1940) postcard: "See Silver Springs - 'Nature's Underwater Fairyland' - Largest flowing springs in the world, over 750 million gallons daily. Electric driven glass bottom boats. Greatest depth 80 feet. Temperature of water 72 [degrees] winter and summer. Shown from sunrise to sunset, every day in the year."

Mid-Century West Coast Florida - Spook Hill

This week I'm sharing some postcard views of Florida's west coast, images from the 1940s and '50s. Each day, Monday through Friday, comes a new scene from the Sunshine State's tourist past.

Quoting from the back of the (hand-dated, 1952) postcard: "Here playful ghosts apparently seize your car and in defiance of the laws of gravity and your previous experience in such matters, roll your vehicle gently backward uphill, while they chortle in unholy glee at your mystification."

Mid-Century West Coast Florida - St. Petersburg Pier

This week I'm sharing some postcard views of Florida's west coast, images from the 1940s and '50s. Each day, Monday through Friday, comes a new scene from the Sunshine State's tourist past.

This undated card comes from a booklet of St. Petersburg scenes. More developed blog posts I've written about that city include notes on the following:

St. Petersburg overview: "St. Pete was ... covered with the thick patina of older memories and places: sprawling waterside mansions and stuccoed hotels, bustling downtown restaurants filled with shoppers and strollers, and a strict racial geography that distilled the world below Central Avenue into South St. Pete."

St. Petersburg Pier: "The St. Petersburg Pier has long fascinated me. Growing up nearby, I remember visiting the famed local hangout and tourist attraction with my mom. But this was the 70s, and the pier had been remade into its current iteration as an inverted pyramid. Only while flipping through postcards at a local antique shop did I discover the older 'Million Dollar Pier,' which had been built in 1926 and demolished a year before I was born."

Webb's City: "[D]uring its heyday, Webb's City was renowned (and attacked) for its 'stack it high and sell it cheap' philosophy and its fearlessly tacky gimmicks that included dancing chickens, mermaids, and dollar bill-sales (95 cents per buck). Webb's City was a southern tradition."

Aunt Hattie's: "Aunt Hattie's was a St. Petersburg landmark since opening in 1939 as a hamburger joint. By the time my mother made a habit of visiting in the 1970s, Aunt Hattie's had a new building and had expanded to become a pleasant sit-down restaurant known for its toy chest. I remember waiting for my chance to seize a prize after I cleaned my plate."

Writing about Waffle House

I recently received a call for a prospective anthology of essays about Waffle House, largely to be authored by communication studies folks. I couldn't resist.

Here's an excerpt of my response to the collection of authors gathering for this opportunity:

... I must travel pretty far to visit that southern institution; the nearest outpost to my Pacific coast home awaits in Phoenix.

Still, I will happily make that roadtrip to rekindle my Waffle House memories.

After all, WH was where I first recognized the freedom of the road.

After a 1986-90 tour in the active duty Navy, knowing always during those years what I'd wear, where I'd go, and what I'd do, I found myself taking my first solo roadtrip from Clearwater, FL to Jacksonvile, FL on good 'ol Route 301 [I wrote about some of my adventures during that trip in a previous post about McDonalds sweet tea]. Even at the age of 22, heading for reserve duty in JAX, this trip was my first experience with real adult freedom: the ability to choose my own path, go at my own pace, and stop when I damn well please.

As a confirmed lover of waffles, I was drawn to that trademark yellow and black exterior, right off the interstate, to an enclave of inside patter, knowing asides, and ancient interactions. I knew that I was a visitor to this place, not a denizen.

Even so, WH become something magical to me, a place of both liberating freedom and safe consistency.

Thereafter, I completed undergraduate schooling in Florida and Georgia, and I traveled plenty more miles along the highways and byways of the South, even after I moved to the Left Coast. In fact, our family recently made a pilgrimage to great BBQ spots from Texas to the Carolinas, and we could not avoid stopping at our beloved Waffle House along that journey. There's something that fascinates me about this place that is both comfortably ubiquitous and fiercely local.

So I will make another long drive soon, racing as far east as I must to hang out at WH. There I will write - something.

My research these days focuses on omnitopia. By this term, I refer to the structure and performance of ubiquity as a continuum of experiences that invoke a synecdoche of a world from a single node: modernity as airport, shopping mall, or casino, each a door to the same place.

But what of Waffle House, that singular institution with consistent slang, jukebox tunes, and design? Can this place be fairly termed a node of omnitopia when so many of its interactions are so obviously personal?

I'd like to investigate that question.

At this early juncture, I won't speak of literature reviews or modes of methodology. I just plan to spend some time in one spot that will likely resemble my "first" WH experience. I will drink strong coffee and I will order my hash browns scattered and smothered. And I'll write something that rings as close to truth (or at least some useful facsimile of truth) as I can.

Worst case scenario: I'll produce a self-indulgent and meaningless essay that will earn a polite "thanks, but no thanks" from the editors. A disappointment but not a crisis. Whether this piece sees the light of day or remains an undercooked effort at would-be cultural geography, I'll enjoy some tasty waffles either way.

Learn More

Atlanta Magazine: Waffle House

Waffle House Shrine

Welcome, Freshmen. Have an iPod

Jonathan D. Glater writes in The New York Times about plans to distribute iPhones and iPods to students, all in an effort stimulate their learning. The article quotes the requisite number of professors who ban such devices (even adding a snarky note about one needing to have them "explained" to him). The piece also cites a Harvard professor using these sorts of devices to study augmented reality. The article is balanced but generally more sympathetic to those who remain wary. Here's a snip (with a quote from a Reed College prof):

The rush to distribute the devices worries some professors, who say that students are less likely to participate in class if they are multitasking. 'I’m not someone who’s anti-technology, but I’m always worried that technology becomes an end in and of itself, and it replaces teaching or it replaces analysis,' said Ellen G. Millender, associate professor of classics at Reed College in Portland, Ore.

Read the entire article [registration required]: Welcome, freshmen. Have an iPod

Great Western

I've uploaded the website for our 2008 Great Western. It's still in draft form. Any errors in clarity, spelling, fact? Please don't be shy. Post a comment and let me know. Here's the link: http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/greatwestern/

Fox Theater - Montrose, CO

Searching through pix from our 2008 Wood Family Great Western Roadtrip, I came across this snap of the Fox in Montrose. The theater's efforts to reproduce a sort of mosque recall an age when movie palaces were part of the show, not just seat-boxes.

I imagine that a number of folks have vivid memories of this place. Care to share? Please leave a comment.

2008 Wood Family Summer Roadtrip

We're back from two weeks on the road, touring the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde, Devils Tower, Yellowstone, and Craters of the Moon. This was our last big trip before Vienna heads off to college, so we made the most out our time together as a family.

Over the next few days, I'll be working on a website with tons of stories and pictures from the trip. In the meantime, I invite you to check out this video (link below) posted on YouTube.

Please click "Watch in High Quality" to get the best looking view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0iWRRThJo8

Highways Week - National Highway

All this week I'm celebrating the American roadside. From Monday through Friday I'm opening up my postcard collection to showcase images from our nation's Age of Mobility.

Quoting handwritten note from the back of the (September 5, 1936) postcard: "Dear Brother, it is 5.30 [illegible] have come to Cumberland to day/will start back now/want to go to Mt. Vernon Monday/With love..."

Highways Week - US 80

All this week I'm celebrating the American roadside. From Monday through Friday I'm opening up my postcard collection to showcase images from our nation's Age of Mobility.

While there's no text or date on the back of this card, the image paints a vivid (though somewhat idealized) portrait of California's southern deserts.

Highways Week - Tamiami Trail

All this week I'm celebrating the American roadside. From Monday through Friday I'm opening up my postcard collection to showcase images from our nation's Age of Mobility.

Quoting a handwritten note on the back of the (May 18, 1951) card: "Dear Mama - Drove clear down the East Coast to Key West, Florida. Now we are coming back up the West Coast and are here at Punta Gorda, Fla. We are on our way to New Orleans, Louisiana. Tell Smokey hello."

Highways Week - US 17

All this week I'm celebrating the American roadside. From Monday through Friday I'm opening up my postcard collection to showcase images from our nation's Age of Mobility.

Quoting a handwritten note on the back of the (August 23, 1952) card: "Arrived here 30 min. late/may be late at Washington."

Highways Week - Route 66

All this week I'm celebrating the American roadside. From Monday through Friday I'm opening up my postcard collection to showcase images from our nation's Age of Mobility.

Quoting a handwritten note from back of the undated card: "This is R. 66 on the West of Albuquerque, and R. 66 goes through the city and we live on the other side of these mts."

Chief Motel - Manitou Springs, CO

Difficulty viewing the embedded video? Try this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMW5-eWsWpc

[Note: If you select the link rather than the embedded video, please click "Watch in High Quality" to get the best looking view.]

GGIE Week - Ferry Building and Exposition Island

All this week, I'm celebrating the Golden Gate International Exposition, which was held on an artificial island near San Francisco in 1939-1940. From Monday through Friday I'm opening up my postcard collection to share some of my favorite images from that exposition, the Pacific Coast's answer to the 1939-40 NYWF.

Quoting from the back of the card: "More than 55,000,000 people pass through the portals of the San Francisco Ferry Building each year, where boat connections are made for the East Bay cities and for other rail connections in all directions."

GGIE Week - Court of the Moon

All this week, I'm celebrating the Golden Gate International Exposition, which was held on an artificial island near San Francisco in 1939-1940. From Monday through Friday I'm opening up my postcard collection to share some of my favorite images from that exposition, the Pacific Coast's answer to the 1939-40 NYWF.

Quoting from the back of the card: "Court of the Moon at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. Center, the Tower of the Sun; left, the Palace of the Mines, Metals and Machinery; right, the Palace of Homes and Gardens.

GGIE Week - Triumphal Arch at Night

All this week, I'm celebrating the Golden Gate International Exposition, which was held on an artificial island near San Francisco in 1939-1940. From Monday through Friday I'm opening up my postcard collection to share some of my favorite images from that exposition, the Pacific Coast's answer to the 1939-40 NYWF.

Quoting from the back of the card: "The graceful Arch of Triumph reflecting in the fountains of the Court of Flowers at the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. Through the Arch a glimpse of the Siamese umbrella lanterns in the Court of Reflections.

GGIE Week - Triumphal Arch in Daytime

400th Post!

All this week, I'm celebrating the Golden Gate International Exposition, which was held on an artificial island near San Francisco in 1939-1940. From Monday through Friday I'm opening up my postcard collection to share some of my favorite images from that exposition, the Pacific Coast's answer to the 1939-40 NYWF.

Quoting from the back of the card: "Triumphal Arch between the Court of Reflections and the Court of the Flowers at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay."

GGIE Week - Distant View

All this week, I'm celebrating the Golden Gate International Exposition, which was held on an artificial island near San Francisco in 1939-1940. From Monday through Friday I'm opening up my postcard collection to share some of my favorite images from that exposition, the Pacific Coast's answer to the 1939-40 NYWF.

Quoting from the back of the card: "From the slopes of Yerba Buena Island in San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate International Exposition, located on Treasure Island constructed on adjacent shoals, acquires an aspect of romance. In center, the four-hundred foot Tower of the Sun."

Back from Oblivian

Wow.

Blogger-bots, scouring the web with algorithms and little else, pissed off a lot of folks over the past 24 hours, automatically shutting down blogs around the world with no recourse and no warning, requiring us to wait for anonymous workers to determine that our sites are not spam- or phishing-platforms.

One day later, I'm back online and feeling relieved. But the initial notice, including a threat to delete my blog, was scary stuff. I take only small pleasure in knowing that I was not alone.

I can only hope that Blogger learned something in this mess. They're right to be vigilant against spammers and other online criminals using the web for their nefarious schemes. But there's got to be a better way to handle these matters.

Blogger is a solid platform, but they risked a lot of goodwill today.