Saturday, October 21, 2017

Random Places

Sometimes, scanning random slides can send me down a rabbit hole of research. Results are iffy - occasionally I am successful, other times, not so much. Today's examples are a little bit of both.

Let's start with this September, 1960 photo of an unidentified road through some green, rolling hills. At first I thought it might be Tennessee's Smokey Mountains, but then I noticed the maple leaf on the gas station sign to the left. Also, the sign for the "Hotel Coulson" is up on the hillside to our right.


Looking up the Hotel Coulson, I found several scans of vintage postcards, including this one. Sudbury, Ontario! Now I have no idea if the first photo is within 50 miles of this town, but at least it gives me something to go on.


Here's another postcard, possibly from around 1960. Ish. Sudbury is a cute little town.


Next I have this undated slide featuring a roadside eatery called "The Chuck Wagon". It probably served traditional French cuisine (everything's cooked in duck fat!). My curiosity was piqued, so it was GOOGLE TIME.


Well well well! There she is, in all her lithographic glory. Turns out The Chuck Wagon was in Rapid City, South Dakota. It looks slightly more rustic here, perhaps this is from a few years earlier.


Yet another vintage postcard shows the place looking a bit more familiar. I'll start with foie gras, and then have the duck confit, and then (keeping with the duck theme), duck à la mode, with a glass of fresh duck juice.



10 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

These pics are just ducky, Major. Sorry, I was trying to come up with a "$1,000,000 Duck" movie reference, but came up with nothing!

Nanook said...

Major-

Those are two very appealing places. Any place declaring "howdy pardner" and "come as you are", will have me eating right out of their hand. Which reminds me of the old slogan from Pacific Drive-In Theatres: Come as you are in the family car.

And that would be a red & white 1953 Pontiac in the first image.

Thanks, Major.

Scott Lane said...

Duck season!

Chuck said...

Wabbit season!

Major Pepperidge said...

TokyoMagic!, what, you could figure out a way to reference a movie about a duck who eats weird applesauce and then gets irradiated and then lays golden eggs? I am very disappointed.

Nanook, I must confess that part of the reason I used that first photo is because it was a scan that I had “at the ready”. Major Pepperidge needs to get scannin’!

Scott Lane, what if the duck is a fricasseein’ duck?

Chuck, you’re dethpicable!

Melissa said...

The Conestoga door canopy is killing me. Next round of duckshots are on me if the maitre d' isn't dressed up like Ward Bond.

Anonymous said...

Well, it certainly looks as though the Chuck Wagon went above and beyond in its theming. Almost puts Cracker Barrel to shame. CB may give you the feel of eating at an old-timey general store, but do any of them actually have a covered wagon? Nope. LOL!

Nanook said...

@ The Disney Dudebro-

Or "Completely Air Conditioned". Make no mistake-!

Major Pepperidge said...

Melissa, it almost looks like one of those old-fashioned bonnets, I think they called them “coal scuttle” bonnets!

The Disney Dudebro, I suppose the Chuck Wagon had to really make a statement if they wanted people to pull over. I wonder how long the restaurant lasted?

Nanook, air conditioning seemed to be a big selling point for a lot of places back then. Especially movie theaters.

Anonymous said...

This thread quacks me up.

JG