Vintage Roadside America: 30 Cool Photos Show Signs Along the U.S. Streets in the Late 1970s

John Samuel Margolies (1940-2016) was an American architectural critic, photographer, and author who was noted for celebrating vernacular and novelty architecture in the United States, particularly those designed as roadside attractions.

Signs along the U.S. streets in the late 1970s taken by John Samuel Margolies

Starting from the mid-1970s, Margolies began to photograph sites during long road trips, since he was concerned these sites would be displaced by the growing modernist trend. He was credited with shaping postmodern architecture and recognizing buildings that would be added to the National Register of Historic Places through his documentary work.

Starting in 2007, the Library of Congress began to acquire his photographs, and created the public domain John Margolies Roadside America Photograph Archive in 2016, consisting of 11,710 scans of color slides taken by Margolies.

Take a journey along U.S. main streets, byways, and highways through photographs taken by John Margolies in the late 1970s.

Arizona. Dairy Queen ice cream sign, Gila Bend

Arizona. Hanks Coffee Shop sign, 4th Street, Benson

Arizona. Owl Lodge sign, Benson Highway, South Tucson

Arkansas. Tastee In ice cream sign, closer detail, Route 67, Arkadelphia

California. Doggie Diner sign, McArthur Boulevard & San Pablo, Oakland

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The “1900” Gravity Washer, a Six-Minute Washing Machine That Every Woman Will Have When She Knows It

This state of the art washing machine boasted that a woman could do a load in six minutes by simply sitting and turning the crank handle. To encourage sales, mail order catalogs allowed potential buyers to order one at no cost and test it in their homes for a month. The upscale combination washer-dryer model included a hand-operated wringer.

Six minutes, by the clock, and your tubful of dirty clothes is spotlessly clean. And by using hardly a tenth of the strength that you must expend washing any other way.

In its day, the Gravity Washer was considered a labor-saving device! The very simple but effective mechanism found under the drum provided a back and forth, oscillating motion while at the same time causing the drum to move vertically up and down. The source of power was typically the woman of the house. The operator would sit beside the machine and, using the handle on the side of the drum, would rotate the drum back and forth. If you were to examine the movement of the water as it circulated through the clothes in the tub, you would see little difference when compared with a modern day machine.

The biggest difference would be the source of power—electrical power with temperatures and times regulated by small computer chips, versus the common sense, manually-operated machines of the 1800s. Around 1920 the washer got an upgrade with the addition of an electric motor under the drum area. While this provided a more convenient power source, it also created a significant danger. Leaking water often caused a short circuit and, sadly, fatal injuries were not uncommon.

Even though modern washing machines bear little resemblance to the Model 1900 Gravity Washer, the basic process is the same. Warm water is circulated around and through the clothing, soap is introduced to float the solids from the fabrics, and gravity pulls the particles downward so they can be rinsed away.

Here are some ads of the “1900” Gravity Washer from the 1900s:

(via Greene-Dreher Historical Society)

Two Rare Photographs of the X-Rated Furniture of Catherine the Great

Catherine II (May 2, 1729 – November 17 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796—the country’s longest-ruling female leader. Known more for her affairs of the heart than for affairs of state, she nevertheless greatly expanded her country’s empire. Her accomplishments are often overshadowed by the legends and rumors about her scandalous personal life.

Portrait of Catherine II in her 50s, by Johann Baptist von Lampi the Elder, ca. 1780s.

Of the many legends surrounding Catherine that relating to a supposed secret erotic cabinet is perhaps the best known. According to some sources, this was placed in the Empress’s private apartments at Gatchina Palace, while according to others, the room was in one of the palaces of Tsarskoye Selo, in the outskirts of St Petersburg.

Two photographs exist supposedly representing the table and a chair from this eccentric suite of furniture; the photographs were taken by Wehrmacht soldiers in 1941. Soon after, the palaces were bombed, most of their contents - including, one might infer, the aforementioned pieces - destroyed in the ensuing fire.

Catherine, throughout her long reign, took many lovers, often elevating them to high positions for as long as they held her interest, and then pensioning them off with gifts of serfs and large estates. She had 22 male lovers throughout her life, some of whom would reap political benefits from their relationship with her, and many of whom were younger than she. In addition to her sexual relationships, her multiple illicit relationships with Russian nobles, and unfounded rumors that she liked to collect erotic furniture, and an atmosphere of palace intrigue cultivated by her son Paul I of Russia, led to negative portrayals of Catherine.

Some called her the “Messalina of the Neva”, while others termed her a nymphomaniac. Catherine died quietly in her bed on November 17, 1796, at the age of 67 after suffering a stroke. After her death, her enemies spread gossip about her that has endured for centuries: that she had died while having sex with a horse. Others claimed that she died on the toilet. Neither rumor was true.

35 Handsome Portrait Photos of Dirk Bogarde From Between 1940s and ’60s

Born 1921 in West Hampstead, London, English actor and writer Dirk Bogarde was initially a matinée idol in films such as Doctor in the House (1954) for the Rank Organisation, he later acted in art-house films.

In a second career, Bogarde wrote seven best-selling volumes of memoirs, six novels and a volume of collected journalism, mainly from articles in The Daily Telegraph. He came to prominence in films including The Blue Lamp in the early 1950s, before starring in the successful Doctor film series (1954–1963).

Bogarde twice won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, for The Servant (1963) and Darling (1965). His other notable film roles included Victim (1961), Accident (1967), The Damned (1969), Death in Venice (1971), The Night Porter (1974), A Bridge Too Far (1977) and Despair (1978).

Bogarde was appointed a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1990 and a Knight Bachelor in 1992. He died in 1999 from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 78.

Take a look at these handsome portrait photos to see a young Dirk Bogarde from between the 1940s and 1960s.

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Stairway to Heaven, 1949

Steps to Santa Maria Aracoeli Church, Rome, Italy, 1949. Photographed by Herbert List.

(© Herbert List/Magnum Photos)

The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven (Italian: Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara coeli al Campidoglio) is a titular basilica in Rome, located on the highest summit of the Campidoglio. It is still the designated Church of the city council of Rome, which uses the ancient title of Senatus Populusque Romanus.

Originally the church was named Sancta Maria in Capitolio, since it was sited on the Capitoline Hill (Campidoglio, in Italian) of Ancient Rome; by the 14th century it had been renamed. A medieval legend included in the mid-12th-century guide to Rome, Mirabilia Urbis Romae, claimed that the church was built over an Augustan Ara primogeniti Dei, in the place where the Tiburtine Sibyl prophesied to Augustus the coming of the Christ. “For this reason the figures of Augustus and of the Tiburtine sibyl are painted on either side of the arch above the high altar” (Lanciani chapter 1). A later legend substituted an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

Minnesota’s Nightingale: Intimate Photos of Florence MacBeth at Home in the 1910s

Born 1889 in Mankato, American operatic soprano Florence MacBeth made her American debut as the Prima Donna Coloratura Soprano with the Chicago Opera Company, starring for six years in Rigoletto.

The Chicago Herald Examiner declared her “one of the greatest of all coloraturas.” MacBeth was also in demand as a concert singer across the country.

MacBeth sang in opera abroad and with the Chicago Opera Association, as well as in the Mozart operas given by the Society of American Musicians in New York in 1918. She was one of the organizers of the Los Angeles Opera Guild.

Macbeth was married to James M. Cain, American author and journalist. She died in 1966 at the age of 77.

A set of intimate photos from The Library of Congress shows everyday life of Florence MacBeth at home in the mid-1910s.

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Fetching Is Your Dior: Christian Dior Ad With Lisa Taylor by Chris Von Wangenheim, 1976

These photographs of Lisa Taylor with a Doberman biting her diamond-clad wrist in the 1976 “Fetching is Your Dior” advertisement is arguably one of the most the most iconic image in Chris von Wangenheim’s body of work.

Wangenheim’s knack for scandal ensured that the advertisement would be one of the most talked-about fashion ads of the decade, rivaling Richard Avedon’s Calvin Klein jeans campaign featuring a fifteen-year-old Brooke Shields in media scrutiny and public outrage. But the “Fetching” image may have a more nuanced meaning that what first appears.

Says Ralph Gibson in Gloss book by Roger Padilha and Mauricio Padilha, “I actually think it is about the protesting of hypocrisy and the establishment. If you attempt to deconstruct the actual symbolism of that image you would see a mad dog’s voraciousness for the value of diamonds.”

In the 1970s, photographer Chris Von Wangenheim (21 February 1942 – 9 March 1981) radically challenged the public taste with high fashion photographs capturing the zeitgeist and cultural changes of the era.

Chris was one of the photographers who could single-handedly make a model’s career. The world’s early supermodel, Gia Carangi, was one of them. He made dramatic portraits of such beauties and divas as Bianca Jagger, Grace Jones, and Diana Ross.

His dark photographs were emblematic of the time—an era that encompassed Deep Throat, the sexual revolution, punk, and porn—and continually challenged the viewers’ taste by its stylized depictions. His images appeared in every top fashion publication—including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Italia, and Interview — and he produced unforgettable campaigns for Dior and Valentino until he died in a car accident at age 39.

“I realized that getting my picture was more important to me than the discomfort of someone, not understanding or someone’s opposition to my goals.” – Chris Von Wangenheim