A Four-Course Spread of Bigwig Kitchens

Queens, N.Y.: The kitchen of Louis Armstrong has cobalt cabinets with dishwasher to match and (to the left of the sink) a built-in dispenser for waxed paper and aluminum foil. Armstrong moved into this cozy Corona abode in 1943 and the kitchen has not been tampered with since his death in 1971. 

Lincoln, Mass.: Designed in 1938, the Küche of German-born architect Walter Gropius--with its stainless-steel sink and countertops, two garbage disposals and early electric dishwasher--served as a much-imitated model for up-to-date kitchens constructed in the U.S. after World War II. Gropius died in 1969, and more than four decades later, his innovative kitchen lives on unchanged.

 Washington, D.C.: Three years before her death in 2004, Julia Child conveyed her Cambridge, Mass., kitchen to the Smithsonian, which reinstalled it lock, stockpot and melon baller in the National Museum of American Museum. The kitchen was designed in 1961 by Julia's husband, Paul.

Flat Rock, N.C.: After his death in 1967, Carl Sandburg's home of 22 years--with all its contents intact--became the first U.S. Historic Site honoring an American poet. The kitchen looks as it did the day he died, right down to some dirty dishes in the sink.

Eloquent Opening Statements in N.Y.C.

 233 Fifth Avenue: The doorpulls of the Museum of Sex explicitly signal X-rated exhibitions.

 170 East 110th Street: Savoy Bakery.

 75 Ninth Avenue: Dickson's Farmstand Meats. What a cleaver idea, no?

 1123 Broadway: The eatery Hill Country Chicken.

430 86th Street, Bay Ridge: What you see is what you get.
To look at more doors, visit: Art Deco Doors in N.Y.C.

Selections From My Collection of Stuckey's Post Cards

 Stuckey's has been an American roadside institution since 1937. This Stuckey's is in Altamont, Ill.

 The first Stuckey's was a folksy pecan stand operated by Williamson Sylvester Stuckey Sr. (1909-1977) in Eastman, Ga. This Stuckey's is (or rather, was) in Diboll, Texas.

 Starting in the late 1960s a teal pagoda-style roof became Stuckey's trademark design for its newer franchises. Here is an example in Whitakers, N.C.  

 The first Stuckey's franchise opened here in 1947, though this is not the initial structure. From Georgia, Stuckey's radiated to points throughout the South and much of the rest of the country, eventually numbering 350 or so outlets. 

When older facilities were updated, a zigzag roof became the signature shelter for gas pumps, usually Texaco. This is the same Altamont, Ill., Stuckey's as in the top post card, shown with a new teal roof as well.

Nowadays there are about 200 Stuckey's, but this one in Ronks, Pa., is no longer.
For another tribute to a roadside icon, visit: A Salute to the Holiday Inn Sign

Modernism in the Midwest

Wauwatosa, Wis.: Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church (1961) by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Madison, Wis.: First Unitarian Meeting House (1951), also by Wright.  

 Milwaukee Museum of Art (2001) by Santiago Calatrava.

 Dubuque, Iowa:  Prairie-style band shell (1930s) by Alfred Caldwell in Eagle Point Park.

Glencoe, Ill.: North Shore Congregation Israel Synagogue (1964) by Minoru Yamasaki.

Chicago: Frederick C. Robie House (1906) by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The University of Chicago's Regenstein Library (1970) by Walter Netsch of SOM. 

Chicago: Illinois Institute of Technology's McCormick Tribune Campus Center (2003) by Rem Koolhaas.

River Forest, Ill.: William H. Winslow House (1893) by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Davenport, Iowa: Figge Art Museum (2005) by David Chipperfield.

Columbus, Wis.: Farmers' and Merchants' Union Bank (1919) by Louis Sullivan.

University of Chicago's Laird Bell Law School Quadrangle (1959) by Eero Saarinen.
To see further examples, visit: More Modernism in the Midwest & Yet More Modernism in the Midwest

Turn-Ons for Typophiles

Archetypal art deco typeface on Fourth Avenue, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Designed in 1927 by Morris Fuller Benton, the font was christened Broadway in honor of Manhattan's Theater District.

 A sewing business at 48 West 25th Street, Manhattan.

  L&T's lissome logo was hand-written in the 1940s by Andrew Geller of Raymond Loewy's storied design office. Here the logo bedecks the flagship Fifth Avenue store of 1914, designed by Starrett & van Vleck.

 Devastating deco in the lobby of the General Electric Building (1931) by Cross and Cross
 on Lexington Avenue, Manhattan.

 West 88th Street, Manhattan.

 A 1949 confectionery at 8518 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn.

Murray's Sturgeon Shop, 2429 Broadway, Manhattan.
To look at more examples, visit: Turn-Ons for Typophiles: Upper West Side Addresses

For Trick-or-Treating Philatelists

A full sheet of 15 stamps that make up the squares of a chocolate bar. They're Swiss, they came out in 2001, and they're scratch-and-sniff. (The stamps only smell like chocolate; they taste like plain old stamp glue.) I mounted the stamps on cardstock with photo corners that look like pieces of chocolate.

By the way, in 2007, the Year of the Pig, China put out this scratch-and-sniff stamp bearing the aroma of sweet-and-sour pork.

Selections From My Collection of 1960s Mall Post Cards: "Waiting for Godot" Series

 In these post cards of malls, an anonymous photographer caught folks waiting, waiting, waiting in climate-controlled comfort, including this fella at the Tacoma Mall, constructed in 1965. Dig those groovy clocks.

Scottsdale's Los Arcos Mall, constructed in 1969, demolished in 2000. Is that Vladimir and Estragon on the right?

 Florida's Winter Park Mall, constructed circa 1960, almost entirely demolished in 1997 (including the inverted mushroom-cap fountain).

Jacksonville's Regency Square Mall, constructed in 1967, "rejuvenated" in 1992. A poignant image if you click and look closely.

Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana, Ill., constructed in 1962.

Lloyd Center Mall in Portland, Oregon. This mall--in an open-air configuration--opened in 1960. What, one wonders (maybe a bit), is the story of the fella waiting on the bench.

To see more mall post cards, visit: Selections From My Collection of Mall Post Cards: Water Feature Series &
 Yet Further Selections From My Collection of Mall Post Cards & More Mall Postcards: Stairs and Balconies & Still More Selections From My Collection of Mall Post Cards