Trailerama

by Phil Noyes

A celebration of the travel trailer’s unique place in twentieth-century America. Trailerama provides a visual wonderland filled with fascinating and diverse imagery that will surprise the average reader. From sheet music to greeting cards, postcards to Hollywood, the travel trailer figured prominently in twentieth-century American pop culture. It’s put on grand display in this kitschy celebration culled from the coffers of Trailer Travel’s Phil Noyes. Phil Noyes has been a television and film producer in Los Angeles for two decades, and produced a PBS special on the history of the RV in America called Mobile America. He cowrote the Gibbs Smith book Trailer Travel and also writes a regular column for RV Magazine called “Trailer Tribe.” He owns many vintage trailers, and his backyard could pass for a trailer park.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this little book with its great text and photos of ephemera (post cards, games, magazine pictures, paper dolls, advertisements etc., etc.). It is a fabulous trip especially covering the 1930s through the 1970.

The mid-century modern esthetic is supreme here. The author particularly covers the earliest home made canvas-on-wagons through teardrops and the space age bullet, bread loaf and canned ham styles developed and beloved in California and Florida. Many of these were sold to G.I.s after WWII who took their families on the road. In truth, many were not actually intended for the road at all but ended up in posh trailer parks with all the frills. You could have little picket fences and flowerbeds, neighbors to have cocktails with or to go to dances and dinner with on site. Trailer parks did not suggest low rent or the unfortunate designation of “trailer trash” that they might now. The most expensive trailer park still in existence is in Malibu, CA and you can pay more than a million for your digs and have neighbors like Matthew McConaughey. I don’t know if he’d be willing to have hot dogs with you. Your own parents or grandparents might have been more like mine and less into the fancy lifestyle and more into camping and fishing. That type of trailering is not covered as well here, to my disappointment. Noyes does mention my parent’s 16’ Shasta—“There is nothing more iconic in the world of trailers than the glorious Shasta, the king of the canned hams.”

The Shasta interior was far more basic than a lot of the beauties here; it’s just that it was omnipresent on the road. The pictures show some absolute mind-boggling things—a woman playing a piano (not big of course but furniture nonetheless, people always dressed to the nines in their Mad Men suits and formal dresses with their ever present martinis (they must have had room for grand closets somewhere). Then there are photos of models in bathtubs, moms cooking at full sized stoves and even televisions!

Must be seen and read to be believed!

[Celia · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandparents had a travel trailer. I remember it with both sadness and joy. There was the time I sat on the table, breaking it, and severely gashing my sister's leg. Then there was the time, on vacation, I was the star navigator, and guided my grandfather down a dead end street by mistake. There was nothing for him to do but back it out, not an easy feat, and he was P_SSED. Joy was brought by my pride in being in a travel trailer family, and having a place to play away from the adults.

The book brought smiles immediately.

The Shape - either bread loaf or ham. (our trailer was shaped like a ham).

The book contained MANY pictures and descriptions.

I did enjoy my walk down memory lane... but where were the pictures of my grandparents and their trailer(s). 😁

5 stars

[Stephen Snead · Rating 4 out of 5]

More and larger pics would be great.

Fun trip back in time. I would have enjoyed larger pictures. Because this is a celebration of Americana from back in the day. Still, it was bargain priced when I bought it. Anytime you can get it for less than five dollars I'd say it's well worth it.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original RVing

Great nostalgic photos, postcards and advertisements for the trailer life bring back the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Lost of fun to see this photo dense book.

[Jim Mcclanahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I "read" this book in about a day. The text added by the author is mostly sidebars added to a fairly dense and entertaining set of photos and magazine articles. The nostalgic look at camping trailers from the 1940s on up through the 1960s or thereabouts is fascinating. However, the author (perhaps due to my conjecture that he is much younger than me) largely omits much mention of situations in which people often did more than use them for trips to state and national parks. Personally, I lived in such a trailer in the early 1950s with my parents in a trailer park in Oxnard, CA and on the property of my grandparents in Ojai, CA. It represented an economic necessity for my parents then, but I never felt it constituted a hardship. I have fond memories of that time and this book stirs a lot of them.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phil Noyes has done a very thorough job of gathering all memorabilia (photos, ads, postcards, etc.)regarding America's love of the travel trailer. While some readers might hope for a lot of text that would trace the history of our love for the road, this is strictly a pictorial history of travel trailers. Makes me long for a trip in ours!

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great selection of photos, but not much in the way of actual text. Most photos aren't referenced or give any clue as to where or how the author came across them, which seems to me to be a little sketchy.

Also has an interesting collection of the more kitchy-collectibles that came out of the trailer craze, including toys and models. And interesting glance through, but nothing I'd pay for.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and has a ton of pictures. It shows trailers in a different light than we tend to think of them now. It made me want to spend a summer tooling around the country in a silver airstream trailer just for the experience.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This guy is a serious collector so this is a very comprehensive survey with great visuals. The social history is interesting, too, especially the "gracious living" marketing.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fun book on everything trailer - logos, ads, souvenirs, some interiors. a little bit of everything

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greeat pictures, a little thin on the information but some fascinating mini bios of vintage trailer owners.