Roadside Americana

by Eric Peterson

Roadside Americana takes you on an armchair tour of some of the gaudiest, kitschiest, and weirdest wonders in the United States and Canada. The book explains the history of the roadside attraction and gives you an up-close look at hundreds of fascinating examples, including:

Solomon s Castle in Ona, Florida, a shiny 10,000-square-foot private residence and bed and breakfast constructed from recycled materials in the style of a mediaeval castle
W eel, a 40-foot turtle in Dunseith, North Dakota, made from 2,000 tire rims
The Mitchell Corn Palace, a turreted palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, decorated with thousands of bushels of corn and other grains
The world s largest red wagon, Spokane Washington s 12-foot-high, 27-foot-long Radio Flyer that can hold 300 children
Elbe, Washington s Hobo Inn, a collection of seven old cabooses converted into motel rooms

If you want to get a good look at the crazy and zany side of America, Roadside Americana is the perfect book for you.

Genres: Travel, Art, Nonfiction, Photography, Architecture, Pop Culture, History

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Born in Colorado Springs, grew up halfway to Denver, where I live now.

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun, heavily illustrated tour of roadside attractions. From Carhenge in Nebraska to Wall Drug in South Dakota to Casa Bonita in Denver to the Rock City barns to the attractions of Route 66, this book will delight aficionados of the eccentric and the bizarre. The background information is interesting- I'm as curious to know why someone would think it's a good idea to build the world's largest hercules beetle or a something like Carhenge as I am to visit them. The book has helped me to choose which ones are worth going out of my way for in my travels.

[Rafeeq O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eric Peterson's 2004 heavily illustrated Roadside Americana is an oversized--though shortish, at 128 pages--chronicle of funky U.S. roadside attractions, from kitschy old eateries and other "theme" buildings, through giant statues of humans and various animals and historical objects, to downright weird tourist traps. After the book's general introduction, which of course includes full-color photos on each page, each of the six chapters begins with an introductory page of text and then plunges into a delightful kitschucopia, with every photographed object receiving an informative caption of between a sentence and a few paragraphs. The piece concludes with an index organized by American states and Canadian provinces, which indeed could be a useful starting place for researching crazy things to be seen on a cross-country trip.

I confess to finding the breezy, occasionally quipping narrative voice of the piece a tad grating here and there, but I guess an inexpensive coffee table book is no Ulysses, so I'll cut it some slack. Peterson's Roadside Americana is swift and by no means deep or theoretical, but it is fun and colorful and definitely a 5-star read.

[Cj Zawacki · Rating 5 out of 5]

fun table book, explaining many of iconic roadside attractions

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, Love, Love this book.

This is what books about roadside attractions should be. Lots of pictures. Attractions in well organized groups. Not a very long book, only 128 pages. The last page lists all the attractions according to state so a great place to start looking for these roadside wonders.

Makes me want to, "Get out on the Highway. Looking for Adventure".

[RebL · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun coffeetable book. I'm sure at this point we would need to google all the spots to make sure they are still there before hitting the road, but you could really plan a trip around all these.

Only one Arkansas attraction, though; tsk. You would expect at least the Mammoth Orange in Redfield to be listed.

[Nicole C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pictorial journey through North America, paying homage to those roadside sculptures and buildings that catch the eye.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

My children and I LOVE this book. We used it on our Summer 2010 Roadtrip and tried to see most of the things in it!

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think a lot of people would love this book. I liked the idea, but found a lot of the places listed just reeked too much of "tourist trap". There are some really dumb man-made places in America.

[Pat Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, lighthearted stories and photos of the stuff you see along some freeway stops.

[Lauri]

Coffeetableesq book . Nice to learn more about some of these landmarks. Good ideas what to see and what to skip.

[Karl H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forgotten American art work.