Chicago Tribune article on John Margolies

John Margolies has been writing about and photographing roadside America for over 20 years. I highly recommend any of his books.

The Chicago Tribune had an article on him today. Too bad they focused on his quirks and obesessive behavior. The guy should get a medal for caring about roadside architecture before most of us noticed it was being destroyed.

Oh, also check out his web site for info on books, etc.
http://www.johnmargolies.com

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Road worrier

Behind the wheel, photographer-writer John Margolies compulsively chronicles the architectural aspects of a dying America and obsesses about it from dawn to darkroom

By Ellen Warren
Tribune senior correspondent

July 8, 2003

KENOSHA -- The fella standing in the middle of the road is jazzed. He's psyched. He is, at last, happy.

John Margolies, chronicler of The Road, is back on it. In it, actually, as he takes a photo of the Keno Family Drive-In, a movie theater just over the Illinois line on the outskirts of this Wisconsin town.

When we set out on this day, in search of "what defines our culture," photographer-author Margolies (Mar-go-leeze) has only a vague idea of our itinerary.

"We're going east to the lake and turning left," he says. And we're off, waggling northbound in the direction of Milwaukee by way of . . . who knows?

After a fruitful stop in Zion (more on that later), Margolies is on the side of the road, an old no-frills Canon camera in hand, waiting for the traffic to pass.

Then, standing in the middle of Illinois 32, at 91st Street, quickly, efficiently, click, click, click. Back in the car and onward.

"I published a picture of the Keno in The New York Times in 1978," he says. "What a surprise that it would still be here!"

Since the mid-1970s, Margolies has been photographing a dying America. Roadside attractions, drive-ins (movies and restaurants), old gas stations, movie palaces, Main Streets, beauty shops.

But please don't call it kitsch, schlock or even nostalgia. Rather, he is an expert on roadside architecture. A commercial archeologist. A cultural populist. A chronicler of the amazing all-American culture of the automobile and what it wrought on the national landscape.

As we move along the highway, going exactly the speed limit -- "Anyone who passes me is speeding" -- Margolies describes his career, his passion.

"If you look back at your life and think of the great, important moments, those are fine. Maybe they're 2 percent of your life or 1 percent. And I'm interested in the other 97 or 98."

So much for the meaning of life, the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, a glance at Redwoods or the first sight of a rainbow. We're not talking life-altering events here.

"I think what we do in our everyday experience and with our everyday lives is the most important thing of all, and it's what defines our culture," he says.

"What I take pictures of are the commercial aspects of that culture. The stores we go to. The movie theaters we go to."

It is not cheap, either moneywise or on the psyche, to set out in a car for weeks at a time looking for these cultural signposts.

In fact, Margolies has been stuck at home since 1996 because he didn't have the $200 or so a day it takes to pursue his passion on the road.

A fellowship from the Washington-based Alicia Patterson Foundation has enabled him to get back behind the wheel. And the recent trip to the Midwest that started with that left turn at Lake Michigan has him almost giddy.

"This has reaffirmed my faith in America," he rhapsodizes at the end of his trip, just before returning home to New York City.

"Seeing those beautiful small towns in Illinois and Iowa. They're so dignified. They're not glamorous. They're stately and graceful and solid with their big courthouses surrounded by turn-of-the-century buildings."

A man of many words

Margolies is prolific. He has written 10 books. He also lectures, exhibits, teaches and is a major presence in the History Channel's "Hit the Road Week" series that begins July 14.

He also is eccentric.

"I'm addicted to Chap Stick," he says, which he always keeps in the same pocket of his tan Safari-style shirt of many pockets. Similarly, he is addicted to breath spray, which he also keeps in a specific pocket.

His manner is direct -- OK, he's blunt -- and he admits that he does not travel well with others.

He once -- once! -- set out with a companion. "She lasted five days. And took a bus back from Centerville, Ind. Because, when I travel it's me, me and ME!" This might explain why a single day traveling with Margolies is at once stimulating, overwhelming and, to put it nicely, enough of a good thing.

"I'm so over-organized, it's amazing." You can say that again.

"I have a whole windshield cleaning formula," he points out, including a preferred brand of extra absorbent paper towels (Viva).

The route he covers is scrupulously marked on a map each evening, with his overnight stays noted in black Magic Marker.

He always remakes the motel bed. "I like tightly tucked-in beds." And he asks for extra pillows so he can pick the one that most closely meets his exacting snooze standard. He always uses identical, pocket-size lined notebooks, one page per photo he takes.

"I'm a compulsive fool," he says more than once, barely pausing to change the subject, which he does, frequently.

For instance, "I really wonder if photography is an art."

Or, "Wendy's have the best plastic silverware. It's important to know this stuff. Well, somebody has to know."

Or, on his rental car, preferably a Cadillac, "The distance between my head and the top of the car is in direct proportion to my sanity. Don't ask me why."

OK. Won't

Margolies, 63, does not own a car.

Paper chase

He does, however, own an enormous collection of old post cards, travel brochures and the like. They appear throughout the pages of his books that cover topics that include Catskill resorts, miniature golf, tourist attractions, the travel brochure, motels, movie theaters and the American road map. He also maintains a comprehensive Web site, JohnMargolies.com

In many ways, despite the compulsions, Margolies is an ideal traveling companion for those accustomed to traveling with surly males who are in a hurry to get where they're going.

Two examples: A prodigious coffee drinker himself, Margolies is always delighted to pull into McDonald's for a bathroom pit stop. (He knows that he will have to wipe his wet hands on his blue jeans; they only have those annoying hot air dryers that take forever.) And he enthusiastically brakes for antique shops.

One of the things that Margolies is particularly fanatic about is the weather -- as it relates to the light. "I'm totally weather dependent. I look at the satellite [on the weather channel] early in the morning." That determines his itinerary for the day.

On a good day, he insists on getting on the road exactly a half-hour after sunrise because he cherishes the early morning light and lack of traffic for his photos.

"I went way out of my way in 1980 to get back to Tifton, Georgia, to take a picture of the Tift (theater). . . . I knew it was there," but he had passed it by on his previous trip there "because it was facing in the wrong direction."

Margolies is adamant on this point. He won't stop at a great building or attraction if the light is bad. And, he will not photograph a building if the facade is obscured by parked cars.

"Cars are temporal elements. I want my pictures to be iconic," he says.

He cherishes Sundays and holidays, not like the rest of us to goof off. They are essential to his oeuvre because they're sparse traffic days with fewer cars to have to work around.

"I'm a picture-taking machine," he says in one breath. But the machine does not work in poor light.

"I'd shoot that if the sun was out," he says, driving by the Nu Glo Drive-In Cleaners sign in Zion.

"Of the 100,000 slides I have of 15,000 things, they all have visual consistency. They all jump out at you. It's a consistent visual record. Of what they are -- with no cars, no people."

On the Springfield, Ill., leg of his recent 3,500-mile, 17-day swing through Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, Margolies traveled for part of a day with Mike Jackson, chief architect with the preservation services division of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

Jackson describes Margolies as a "hybrid" -- not strictly an architectural historian or a photographer. He credits him with a "keen eye" and a "strong aesthetic sense of how his photographic images are to be presented. He's meticulous about it."

"I watched him picking up cigarette butts. . . . Slightly manipulating the real world to get a more precise image. He didn't want the white specks in the grayness of the asphalt," says Jackson. But that's nothing.

Margolies says that in Sigourney, Iowa, he stopped in front of the newspaper building, where "the gutters were filled with cigarette butts and leaves and crud. I don't want them in my pictures. I asked the editor in chief, or the owner of the newspaper, if he had a broom and a trash can, and I started cleaning up."

In the earlier days he wouldn't ask people to move their cars and would just drive on to the next serendipitous discovery. But, now he does ask, with an explanation that "I have down to 25 words or less. `I'm here on a grant from a journalistic foundation in Washington, D. C. . . . '" Only a few motorists won't budge.

Jackson finds it intriguing that Margolies is chronicling "an automobile landscape without automobiles in them."

As we journeyed north toward Milwaukee -- we never actually got there -- Margolies found himself getting more and more enthusiastic.

The Keno drive-in theater was a thrill. He comes to a quick halt at what appears to be an old bandstand in Zion and is beside himself with joy to discover it is actually the preserved dome of the old Zion Hotel (1902-1979). Click, click, click.

Back in the car, "I like that they saved the dome and put it in the middle of the town. I've got to find a postcard of it." Then, reflecting for only a moment, "I love that. I'd prefer that it was on the hotel and the hotel was still standing."

By the end of the day, he's covered exactly 186 miles -- you will not find it shocking that he keeps scrupulously detailed records. Since he started his project some 30 years ago, he's driven some 100,000 miles. "It's fun. But it's work."

"I do have a goal in life: to go everywhere, to see everything," he says.

"Nearly nothing I shot 25 years ago still exists," he says. "I'm the architectural undertaker. The bulldozer comes through just after I'm here."

"The concept of diminishing returns defines what I'm doing," he says.

In part, this is why Margolies also is photographing the modern landscape.

He jubilates after taking a photo of "quite a handsome Circuit City" on Touhy Avenue that he's found just down the street from the Days Inn where he's staying in Niles. That's also just down the street from the half-size version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, built in 1934 to hide a water tower inside. He photographs that too.

One of Margolies most ongoing concerns -- he calls himself "a basket case" after every trip -- is that his photos won't turn out. This has never happened. Not once. But he still worries, obsessively.

On this trip, he took 60 rolls, and he had his cab driver take him from the New York City airport to the film lab to drop them off.

Twenty-four hours later, Margolies is on the phone, leaving a message on the voice mail.

"This is Johnny. I have all my pictures back. And they came out. Hooray." Click.

A world according to Margolies

• "Wendy's has the best plastic silverware. It's important to know this stuff. Well, somebody has to know."

• "The distance between my head and the top (roof) of the car is in direct proportion to my sanity. Don't ask me why."

• "I have a whole windshield cleaning formula," which includes Viva towels.

• "I'm addicted to Chap Stick," he says, which, when on the road, he always keeps in the same pocket of his tan Safari-style shirt of many pockets. He says he is also addicted to breath spray.

Copyright (c) 2003, Chicago Tribune

Shit, this guy sounds like me, except for all of his weird obsessive quirks (like the chapstick and the window-washing ritual)... give me a few years, by the time I am his age, I'll be successor to his throne... I am sure I'll be just as weird by the time I am 60.

Did I mention that my latest road-trip travelogue (which includes Mondo Tiki and photographing every roadside America stop between Illinois and California) is up at http://www.tydirium.net

...and that's not shameless self-promotion, because I am not selling anything! :)

[ Edited by: purple jade on 2003-09-07 21:04 ]

On 2003-07-09 11:00, tikibars wrote:
Did I mention that my latest road-trip travelogue (which includes Mondo Tiki and photographing every roadside America stop between Illinois and California) is up at http://www.tydirium.net

...and that's not shameless self-promotion, because I am not selling anything! :)

Geez James, you ought to break that travelog up into seperate web pages! (one per day perhaps?). I spent the better part of the day at work reading the damn thing! But I really enjoyed it and it got me more excited for my upcoming road trip from Chicago to California.

Loved your comments on retro diners and their decor. It's real sad when fake 50s joints do good business while the real ones close and get demolished. I wonder sometimes if most Americans would rather see imitation diners than original ones.

In my bit of traveling I've noticed a few sad trends. Old roadside places (motels, cafes, attractions, etc.) seem to have a harder time surviving when located nearby the Interstate that replaced them. Route 66 is the best example. Newer chain motels and restaurants proliferate along the interstate and outcompete the older non-chain establishments located nearby and causing them to close due to lack of business. Coral Court (which closed in 1995 but is still an icon of US66) is a good example http://www.coralcourt.com/. Many people who "do 66" (present company excepted) would still rather stay in a chain motel where it's possibly cleaner and they can watch cable TV and eat in fake 50s diners. This is obvious by the proliferation of these types of places along 66.

On the other hand, there are still several old US highways that are almost completely intact from the West Coast to the East Coast, or from Mexico to Canada. US 50 (which JT took across Nevada), US 20, the Lincoln Highway - US 30, US 95, US 89, and others. These highways were the principal routes of travel until the 60s and are often quite a ways from any Interstate, so they still act as important routes for those that live in rural communities. For that reason many of the old motels and eaterys that exist along these routes still do a good business and are less likely to turn into cutesy teddy bear filled Inns or ugly 'retro' diners.

For evidence of this pick up a AAA tour book and look at the motel listings for any town along an Interstate. Usually the listings are mostly chain inns or lodges (why is motel a dirty word these days?). Then look at a fair sized town that's way off the Interstate and located on an old US highway. More old motels and fewer chains - and usually cheaper prices.

I still think Route 66 is totally worthwhile to tour at least once (Tucumcari, NM is a neon lover's paradise). But I sometimes think other routes with as good, or better, places to visit often get overlooked.

For an excellent guide to old US highways get the book "Road Trip USA" by Jamie Jensen (Moon Handbooks).

Great article. Thanks for sharing it. Another road worth exploring just about anywhere on the east coast is US 1. Also, thanks for plugging the AAA TourBooks (my employer). The current editions are a great resource for auto travel to out of the way places. The old editions (available at a lot of thrift stores) are just fun to look through.

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-07-10 09:55 ]

On 2003-07-09 15:51, thejab wrote:
Geez James, you ought to break that travelog up into seperate web pages! (one per day perhaps?). I spent the better part of the day at work reading the damn thing!

Coral Court (which closed in 1995 but is still an icon of US66) is a good example http://www.coralcourt.com/.

For an excellent guide to old US highways get the book "Road Trip USA" by Jamie Jensen (Moon Handbooks).

Jamie Jensen's book should be an inspiration to us all, he really undertands the 'road trip' mentality and covers a lot of obscure places.

Dean, that link to Coral Court rules. Too cool.

Also, I guess I might break the road trip story up into smaller documents, but then again, if having it as one long page meant that it kept you reading, rather than finding 'convinient' places to stop, so perhaps the current method is best?

On 2003-07-10 09:51, Kailuageoff wrote:
Great article. Thanks for sharing it. Another road worth exploring just about anywhere on the east coast is US 1. Also, thanks for plugging the AAA TourBooks (my employer). The current editions are a great resource for auto travel to out of the way places. The old editions (available at a lot of thrift stores) are just fun to look through.

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-07-10 09:55 ]

I love the AAA maps and tour books but I get the feeling that the Tour Books focus on the chain hotels and don't cover older mom & pop motels enough. Do you guys really check every motel? Do many older places not get into the book because they lack certain minimum amenities? Are many motels encouraged to upgrade or modernize in order to get in the book? I have stayed at a few older motels that were in the book and some that were not in the book and were perfectly clean and safe. On the other hand I have also stayed in flea bags that were not in AAA because it was all that had a vacancy. So I usually plan out my road trips rather than winging it like JT.

I have found the Tour Books (even current ones) to be great for finding older restaurants. For example, I was browsing through the Florida tour book and found a listing Julian's in Ormond Beach (a great polynesian style steakhouse from the 50s). It was well worth the long drive from Fort Lauderdale to eat there.

Jab,
I agree with your comments on the AAA books, but the premise of the TourBooks is to present an array of accomodations to meet different expectations/budgets of travelers, not to catalog every hotel/motel in the USA. It would be great if they did that, but not practical since AAA's road reporters do visit and inspect every property.
They do that by giving each property a 1 to 5 diamond rating. One diamond means it is basically clean and habitable at $35 or so per night, but offers little more than a bed and a bathroom. Five Diamonds means you're at the Grand Wialea on Maui dropping $600 per night.
Because the books have existed in their current form since the 1950's (previous to that decade they were called the AAA blue books), they have continously added and dropped listings. That's part of the reason it is worthwhile to find some of the older Tourbooks because some of the places you might be interested in could have been listed at one time and then dropped.
Not sure about California hotels because I don't really focus on much outside of Florida, but almost every tiki hotel postcard I have has the AAA logo on it which is kind of fun for me to see. That also means is was listed in a AAA Tourbook at some point in time.
One of my favorite Tourbooks is the 1969 Florida Tourbook. It lists just about every tiki motel in the state that I have been able to identify through postcards or matchcovers, plus it has some wonderful display ads for places like the Hawaiian Village, the Waikiki, the Aku Tiki, and the Hawaiian Inn. Tiki Gardens also has a write-up.
One of my favorites ads is for the Castaways hotel and Wreck bar that proudly proclaims its nude sunbathing. (I'm sure that must have slipped by the AAA censors.)
The thing that can be frustrating about the AAA publishing environment is that almost everything we do has to be geared to a mass audience with circulation in the millions (AAA has 46 million members). That means specialty publications are a really tough sell to management.
Thank God someone like James can come along and do micro travel guides for those of us with special interests, and we can swap travel tips on TC.
KG

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-07-10 20:17 ]

Thanks for answering those questions about the tour books - I've been wondering for a long time.

When I was growing up my family took several road trips in the station wagon and I always remember my parents using AAA tour books and maps. It's a family tradition.

Oh, and about Julian's. That is one of the choicest lounge/dinner spots around. Glad you found it.
It sounds like Hukilau is going to be in Ft. Lauderdale again in 04, but there is a full tiki weekend in Daytona/Ormond/Cocoa Beach as well. Didn't you dig all of the old themed hotels/neon/and crazy 60's architecture in Daytona? Everyone raves about South Beach Miami, but 60's Daytona is every bit as worthwhile for preservation.
I tried to get the reporter from CityLink to talk about how preserving tiki is an extention of a bigger issue which is preserving Florida's tourism history from the fifties and sixties, but he must have thought I was just another chap stick -obsessed lunatic.
I really wish they would put a big ass fence around Daytona and not let anyone tear anything down.

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-07-10 20:16 ]

I loved The Daytona Beach strip! The Aku Aku Motel, the Makai, the Hawaiian Inn, and tons of old 50s motels. Next time I go to FLA I want to visit Daytona again but for a bit longer than one night. Next time I want to see the show at the Hawaiian Inn as they were on vacation when we were there last.

Fort Lauderdale also still has many old 50s motels, particularly along the A1A and the area between the beach and the inland waterway, and south in the town of Hollywood. They are almost all well kept and a pretty good value, especially if you get a weekly rate. Many can be found here:

http://www.superiorsmalllodging.com/

The one mrsmiley and I stayed at before and liked is the Winterset.

http://www.thewinterset.com/TheWintersetInternet/Our_Property/our_property.html

On 2003-07-10 12:03, thejab wrote:
So I usually plan out my road trips rather than winging it like JT.

You just have to develop a sixth sense that enables you to begin to feel the presence of upcoming towns full of small cheap motels about an hour before you get tired...

This sense is not unlike the Tiki Radar that many of us on TC have that leads us straight to the Tiki mugs in thrift stores and garage sales... back in the old days anyway.

Wahine Marian and I are always up for an evening at the Hawaiian Inn, so we encourage TC members to please get in touch if they come this way. We have gotten to know the show manager and bartender and love bringing our friends in to meet them. It's about 45 minutes from where we live in Orlando.

I've been a fan of John Margolies for some time now, and have met him several times. He will often do the lecture/slide show / book signing thing at the National Building Museum here in DC. My favorite book of his is titled 'Fun Along the Road' and features photos of old roadside attractions.

About 3 years ago the Building Museum did an exhibit titled 'See the U.S.A.' that I believe Margolies was the curator for-- lots of old roadmaps, postcards, and even a replica of a 1950's Holiday Inn motel room. It was one of the best exhibits I've seen here in D.C. -- and this is the town with all theSmithsonian events a happening.

It doesn't surprise me that Margolies is a bit quirky - he was probably the least personable of all the authors I have met at book signings. For the 'Fun Along the Road' signing, I mentioned to him that my own father had himself started to build some small-scale replicas of buildings - several of these miniature villages are mentioned in his book. He grumbled back in return 'Oh, he's one of those!, scribbled his name, and then turned to the next person in line.

But his lectures and books are always fascinating, and because of this I am still a big fan of his.

I love this road trip thread! Does anywhere else keep a U.S. road atlas where they highlight in yellow all the roads they've driven across? I have a long-term goal of taking 6 months off and driving to every town in the U.S. and Canada that has 'vern' in its name (there are almost 100 of them!)

Vern

We (C'Al,King Kook and I) saw a giant shrimp on top of an old station wagon on one of the Keys in Fl. It must have been close to 20' long! All sorts of funky roadside thangs down there.

I used to have a map in my office where I had outlined all of my road travels. At one point, I was a regional manager for AAA and drove all over the western USA. Thinking all that time on the road contributed to my divorce, I got rid of it about five years ago. Consider yourselves warned...

And, on the roadside thing... "South of the Border" in South Carolina has to be seen to be believed.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/SCDILsob.html

Someone should organize a roadside festival there. I've always thought it would be a wild place to get psychodelic.

*On 2003-07-11 09:03, ikitnrev wrote:*For the 'Fun Along the Road' signing, I mentioned to him that my own father had himself started to build some small-scale replicas of buildings - several of these miniature villages are mentioned in his book.

I plan on seeing this miniature Western scene in Cody, WY this summer on my road trip. "See buffalo falling off a cliff in mid-air!":

http://www.imt.net/~rodeo/mini.html

*On 2003-07-10 09:51, Kailuageoff wrote:*Another road worth exploring just about anywhere on the east coast is US 1.

The History Channel is showing a 4 hour documentary on US1 this Thursday and Friday. More info:

http://www.historychannel.com/global/listings/castbios.jsp?ACatId=8435214&CaseId=8435213&EGrpId=8414176