Roadside USA
It's time for some more somewhat-random "Roadside USA" scans. You just never know where we're going to wind up!
This first slide is date-stamped "August 1972", and shows a fearsome tiger (Siberian, I think) outside of an Esso gas station. Put a tiger in your tank! Sorry, no S&H Green Stamps or Blue Chip Stamps, instead you get Top Value Stamps (featuring "Toppie" the plaid elephant). Look at those gas prices! Outrageous. Up to 40 cents a gallon?! (Little does everyone know that the big oil crisis would be coming in about a year).
As always I want to know the location of a photo like this, and hoped that the Iofolla Industries sign might be a clue.
Well, I think this is the location; Portsmouth, New Hampshire, looking south along Lafayette Road. The Esso station is now a Sunoco station, and Iofolla Industries is gone, but I feel pretty good about this educated guess.
Next is this photo from August, 1970. What the...! There's a big boat on this mountainside, and it ain't Noah's Ark. Turns out that it is the Grand View Ship Hotel, in Schellsburg, Pennsylvania. That's about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh. One website tells us Upon climbing the Appalachian Mountains and rounding the corner of Grand View Point, a ship stood on the side of the mountain. The S.S. Grand View Ship Hotel was the site of live bands, good food, and a place to stay the night. Since 1932, people have stopped at the ship hotel at Grandview Point to "See 3 States and 7 Counties," as the sign on the ship's hull proclaimed to all passing motorists for nearly 60 years. After closing , the Ship Hotel burned down in 2001. The ship was part of a time when people did not race to their destination, when the success of a trip was measured by the enjoyment of the journey, not just the number of miles accomplished per hour.
There are lots of different vintage postcards showing the Grand View Ship Hotel, hinting at its popularity, or at least its novelty. The ship kept a log of customers and included famous names like Clara Bow, George Burns, Joan Crawford, Henry Ford, Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Tom Mix, J. P. Morgan, Buddy Rogers, Rudy Vallee, George Raft, Mary Pickford. The ship’s ninth log which ran from September 1936 to June 1938, had more than 102,000 names, including tourists from every state and 72 foreign countries.
We're going back in time! These old linen cards are comforting to me, having spent countless hours at paper shows digging through boxes and boxes of them. The S.S. Grand View Point Ship Hotel had a lot to offer to its visitors. One of the main attractions is the fact that a person could view seven counties and 3 states (PA, WV, MD). The ship had a lookout deck on one corner with various telescopes to view the sights. It was only located about eighty miles east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This was not a far drive to spend a night on a ship hotel and enjoy what it had to offer such as dances. Dances were held on the decks during evenings in the 1930s and early 1940s. The only downside to this hotel was the fact that the restrooms were down the hill on a long walk. To make up for this walk, visitors could see ponds filled with fish on the way down.
We miss you, Grand View Ship Hotel!
19 comments:
Major-
I too love the Grand View Ship Hotel. So wonderfully unique. I'm curious about what appears to be one hella-va telescope perched atop the 'upper deck'.
Thanks, Major.
The idea of a ship-shaped hotel perched on a mountainside seems rather arbitrary and random. Like its only reason for being is as a 'tourist trap'. That said, I love buildings that look like something they are not. That used to be a common thing back in the old days; a rarity, nowadays. Too bad it burned down in 2001. I bet it had something to do with those consarned Monoliths!
Why the heck were the restrooms located outside the hotel, down a hill? A remnant of the old 'outhouse' days? But hey, you get to see fish ponds!
Nanook, I also noticed that huge telescope. At first I thought it might be a (non-working) ship's cannon/anti-aircraft gun. But the sign out front says "Free Telescope". Presumably, they mean it's free to use it, not free to take it with you. ;-)
Thanks for another trip down the Americana rabbit hole, Major. Always fun.
Why is that tiger holding an upside down flag of the Netherlands?
I was wondering the same thing about those bathrooms for the Ship Hotel. Were those just the restrooms for people patronizing the restaurants or attending the nightly dances out on the deck? Or did the hotel rooms not have bathrooms, either? That would be a major inconvenience. But as JB pointed out, hey..look at the fish!
Thanks for the vintage trip, Major!
I have a vague memory of seeing the Grand View Ship Hotel, although I tend to think it was probably in my grandparents’ souvenir or slide collection rather than in person. Putting the bathrooms down the hill from the hotel does seem rather odd, but that wasn’t the only Goofy thing introduced in 1932. And that is One. Big. Telescope.
TM!, that’s not an upside-down Dutch flag - it’s the pre-Communist flag of Yugoslavia. Armed with that knowledge, I think the scene makes a whole lot more sense, don’t you?
I love roadside attractions and oddities. Half the fun of a trip is taking in the sights along the way. I am sorry to hear that this little gem is no longer with us. What a cool idea for a hotel. Thanks Major.
I fell down a rabbit hole after looking up the Ship Hotel. I guess the Lincoln Highway is a big deal, being the first transcontinental road built prior to biggie highways and such (which contributed to the downfall of the Ship Hotel.) There is a museum in Bedford that has much phem from the hotel, and some larger things too. There are other really cool things in Bedford, like Dunkles Gulf Station: look it up...very cool...more things too and worth a trip down the internet highway. At first I thought the ship was an actual ship perched on the hillside: I have seen these things in the past. On Catalina Island there was a old ship that they brought on dry land and made into a house. Here's a link to other ships on land:https://www.marineinsight.com/recreation/10-amazing-recycled-ship-houses/ The Catalina house in on there. I see that the Ship Hotel became the Ark later, and the owner had the state turn the name of the hill into "Mt. Ararat". That is some fancy footwork. Check out the "now" pics...just crumbles...but the view is still there. Thanks Major for the fun trip to Bedford PA.
I love the Lincoln Highway, though I never saw the Ship Hotel. I have a picture of the current view from that spot as well as a model of the hotel at a Ligonier museum in this post. Scroll down and you'll also see Dunkle's Gulf, such an amazing art deco treasure. The fire in October 2001 was just over a month after Flight 93 crashed in Somerset County west of Bedford on September 11th. There's a book written all about the Ship Hotel--it was pretty interesting. It originally was just one of many roadhouses along this stretch of the Lincoln Highway, which has several steep grades as it goes over the Allegheny Mountains. Entrepreneurs originally built these restaurants to give people a place to stop so their radiator didn't overheat, and the ship ballyhoo was added to make this one really stand out. Today, there are some crumbling stone walls and the old foundation, which is probably about a century old at this point. There's also an abandoned gas station on the other side of the road, but lots of people still pull off to see the view. Thanks, Major!
I sent today’s post to a friend of mine who used to live in Portsmouth, NH, in the early ‘80s. He said “It reminds me of US Route 1 (Lafayette Road) heading south out of Portsmouth near Yoken’s Restaurant. Looking at maps of my old haunts now…lots of changes.” Google says Iafolla Industries was at 650 Peverly Hill Road, just back from the intersection with Lafayette. Yoken’s Commons is currently located on the NW corner of that intersection on the former site of the restaurant.
Bu, thanks for the link to all of those boaty homes. I have seen the Benson Ford Shiphouse on South Bass Island. Looks kind of funny sitting up there when seen from the Lake Erie side.
One of the first themed hotels?
Inspiration for Las Vegas, or were they like pancakes, invented independently by different cultures?
Love these today, especially the Tiger. He has a sort of electronic soundtrack, a Trans-Siberian Tiger, if you will.
Thanks Major!
JG
Nanook, hopefully the telescope was removed before the place burned down. Maybe it was spruced up and is now known as the James Webb Space Telescope?
JB, are there any hotels shaped like trains? If not, I’m going to be the first and make millions. I’m also going to have the restrooms located outside the hotel - actually at the neighboring gas station. Or maybe hotel rooms that are trash dumpsters (of course they have been cleaned a little bit). I have ideas! Hey, why is that telescope pointed at that house with the open upstairs window?
TokyoMagic!, good eye on the flag, I should have realized that it was a Norwegian tiger. Now it seems so obvious. I hope that nobody mistook the fish ponds for the bathrooms. “I guess that’s how they do things here in Pennsylvania”.
Chuck, I’ve definitely seen photos of the Grand View Ship Hotel, and wish that my family had visited when I lived in Pennsylvania. Looking at Andrew’s blog, I realize just how much we could have done that we didn’t. Instead we went and bought bread from the Amish. Whoo-hoo! So do you think that tiger is protesting against the bourgeoisie in support of the proletariats?
Jonathan, after years of looking into old roadside attractions, I’m not that surprised that the Grand View Ship Hotel is no longer with us, but somehow knowing that it eventually burned down is an extra bummer.
Bu, why would they name a highway after Elmo Lincoln (the first movie Tarzan)? There’s something so charming and fun about the idea of taking a road trip vacation in an old-timey car, with lots of cute diners and fun hotels to stop at. Maybe it just *sounds* more romantic than it was, but now we mostly have the usual fast food places, and maybe a Motel 6 or a Days Inn. I’ve only stayed in a Motel 6 one time, and it was one of my worst hotel/motel experiences. Cigarette burns on the sheets, which may or may not have been washed. Filthy shower. I wrapped my pillow in a towel just in case. I just looked up Dunkles Gulf Station, so neat. Thanks for the link to “recycled ships”, I had no idea. “Mt. Ararat”, well, I guess I can’t blame that guy for trying.
Andrew, I love that you’ve had the Lincoln Highway experience (and been to the Lincoln Highway Experience museum!). See my comment to Chuck, considering that I lived in the Harrisburg area (Camp Hill, actually) in the 1970s, there were probably SO MANY amazing things that my family could have done. Old amusement parks for instance. But I was a dumb kid, and my mom and dad didn’t seem interested in that sort of thing. Maybe I wouldn’t have appreciated it back then (but I’ll bet I would have!). So it was Hershey Park for us if we wanted to go to an amusement park. I’m sorry that we never saw Dunkle’s Gulf, or the Grand View Ship Hotel. But those Amish were VERY plain, which was rewarding in its way.
Chuck, you must be Yoken! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Does it help that I now feel shame? Iaofolla (which I misspelled in today’s post) Industries was the #1 helpful clue for that first picture. I’ll bet Iaofolla Industries made the sporks that the Apollo astronauts used. It’s a spoon AND a fork, Chuck! Benson Ford Shiphouse, for a second my brain saw another word. Shame again!
JG, I’m not sure when “programmatic architecture” became a big thing, but it sure seems like there was plenty of it in SoCal in the 1920s or 30s. Maybe just not hotel or motels though. There’s the famous “Hoot Hoot Ice Cream” (a giant owl of course) and the tamale stand that looked like a bulldog. On Melrose Avenue there was a restaurant called “The Burger That Ate L.A.” that looked like a giant cheeseburger, I stupidly never took a photo of it when it was new and thriving.
Major, I think the tiger is more likely a refugee Yugoslav royalist forced to flee the country after Tito’s partisans took over at the end of WWII. The commies wanted him dead, which is why they put the Exxon him.
And I’m not sure how you saw another word after “Benson Ford.” I’m not even sure what Shiphorse would mean.
The hotel reminds me of The Flagship in the median of Rt. 22 in Union NJ. Build as a restaurant and nightclub, now a PC Richards electronic store. I should stop in there one day to see what the interior is like.
Chuck, the chuckle I got from your "Shiphorse" confusion almost made up for the big "Exxon" groan. BTW, is the word "chuckle" derived from your name? If so, you must have done something incredibly funny as a kid to have a word coined after you.
JB, it’s funny that you mention “chuckle” - the friend I mentioned above who used to live in Portsmouth calls me “Chuckles.” It’s weird, though - that’s the first nickname I ever had, and he didn’t give it to me until I was in my late ‘40s. Not sure why it’s so difficult to find a nickname for “Chuck.” You’d think someone could throw up something clever, but nobody ever came up with something worth losing your lunch over. It makes me feel sad, like some poor, misbegotten retch.
Careful, Chuck. You'll make yourself chuckle. What happens when a Chuck chuckles? Do they turn inside-out?
Major, re train-shaped hotels, there used to be a hotel near Dunsmuir that WAS a train, all the guest rooms were rail cars. Looks like it is still in business.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/RsvttBDt9n97v1Ge7?g_st=i Railroad Park Resort And Dining Car Restaurant
JG
Andrew, now I remember your post and your pic of the model of the Grand View Ship Hotel! I thought there was something familiar about it here, but wasn't sure where I would have seen it before. Thanks for the reminder.
Chuck, you sure do know your flags of the nations. And yes, now the picture makes a whole lot more sense. I am also now seeing all 32 of the hidden messages within it. ;-)
Major, make that "Hoot Hoot I Scream." I didn't realize that building was in Long Beach, CA, and I didn't know that it was standing up until 1979. My great grandmother lived in Long Beach, beginning in the early 1970s, but I guess we never passed by the owl-shaped building....unfortunately.
There is a restaurant in San Gabriel, CA, called Clearman's Galley. It's two doors down from one of the Clearman's North Woods Inns. The restaurant goes all the way back to 1968, and was built using an authentic 1913 Alaskan mail boat:
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.128222,-118.0732606,3a,75y,247.48h,89.47t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6gi8nVOHVoyAbU4vlltrwA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
George Raft, of the Tom Sawyer Island Rafts.
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