Decades of photographs of America's roadside architecture, be it an Art Deco movie theater on a quiet main street or a motel with an oddball theme, are now on display at the Henry Ford in Dearborn through next Jan. 24.
New York photographer John Margolies has spent decades photographing these sites, which are part of an exhibit: Roadside America: Through the Lens of John Margolies.
The museum website says:
His greatest admiration and affection are reserved for those entrepreneurial spirits of small-town America as they try to stand out in an increasingly mobile and commercialized environment.
This recently acquired collection documents a form of architecture and design and advertising that’s very homespun. There’s humor, there’s quirkiness. Margolies was willing to look at architecture and details that other people didn’t take seriously and at times didn’t even notice. There’s an emotional resonance that ties to fundamental aspects of American culture. The Henry Ford is acknowledging that and celebrating it.
Michael Hodges writes in The Detroit News:
Cheesy or charming, depending on your point of view, the mom-and-pop businesses that still ruled the land created a mid-century landscape of kitschy buildings and quirkier signage, each trying to out-shout the other to attract passers-by.
