Great Black Friday deal for 'The Great American Retro Road Trip' plus a cornucopia of news for you
A Philly cheesesteak institution to close; an LA donut icon rolls to NYC; reward for stolen beer sign and more updates.
One of the best Philly cheesesteak sandwiches I’ve ever enjoyed is not in Philadelphia proper, but just outside, in the Main Line town of Bala Cynwyd.
Mama’s Pizzeria has been around since 1958, and despite the name, the thing to get here is the cheesesteak sandwich. I’ve visited twice, most recently in April 2021. (We walked off the big meal with a hike through nearby West Laurel Hill Cemetery and stumbled upon Dave Garroway’s grave.)
Sadly, Mama’s Pizzeria is now going to the mom-and-pop graveyard in the sky. CBS Philadelphia reports that Saturday, Nov. 29, is the last day in business. The owner was planning to retire next year, but health problems accelerated those plans, and now fans of Mama’s are making their final runs here before this is all just a memory.
I always marvel when I see a business go under that is clearly so cherished and, at least ostensibly, doing so well. I wish there were agencies or organizations dedicated to helping such businesses manage ownership transitions and other challenges that often undo cherished community institutions. Perhaps the ideal next owner of this place is waiting out there, but has no idea Mama’s is about to close. A match made in heaven that will never come to pass.
Fabulous Black Friday deal on my book, ‘The Great American Retro Road Trip’
Black Friday and the holiday shopping season are upon us, which means it’s a great time to pick up a copy of my first book, “The Great American Retro Road Trip.”
In fact, Amazon is incentivizing you to pick up multiple copies you could give away as gifts! Amazon is offering a great deal — for a limited time the book is going for $19, a nice shave off the $35 cover price! This is as good a time as any to get your hands on several copies. I’ve heard from multiple people who buy several copies for people in their lives they know would appreciate the book. This is a great time to knock off a bunch of names from that shopping list — and give Santa a hand. (He’s even in the book a few times!)
I’m grateful to all of you who’ve purchased a copy, and hope those who haven’t will take advantage of this opportunity to do so!
So what’s in the book? The short answer is so many things I love about America, 320 pages of it! I tackled the country coast to coast, dividing the chapters by region, and, within those chapters, I have shared stories and photos about roadside quirks, restaurants, bars, motels, candy stores, ice-cream stands, fast-food chains and more. Plus, the book is teeming with sidebars (I call them “Pullovers!” because that’s what you’ll want to do when you see them) with tasty nuggets of cultural context. It’s all tied together by the storytelling you’ve come to expect from me, along with hundreds of photos.
Is this a coffee table book? You could certainly put it on your coffee table and I promise it’ll look great there. But the book is meant to be leafed through, bookmarked, dog-eared and carried around.
These places I’m sharing are manifestations of American ingenuity, creativity, and community. They are part of our communal story, and I see these nostalgic holdouts as sacred places, worthy of adoration, each fascinating subjects of pilgrimage.
Signposts Up Ahead!
Randy’s Donuts, an icon of Southern California, is reportedly set to open in a Greenwich Village storefront in December.
The architect Robert A.M. Stern has died at age 86. Above, his postmodern flair is asserted with grace at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. I shot this in January 2010, not realizing at the time it was a Stern design.
Cupid’s Hot Dogs, the charming Southern California, has reopened its Florida location!
A purloined privilege sign for Jax Beer has the owners of Fleur de Lis Pizza in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, asking for help getting the sign back and offering the THIEF $1,500 if they do the right thing. The restaurant also has great neon on its facade.
LAist profiles the Diner Preservation Society — I’d love to tag along on one of their visits!
Preservation Massachusetts has placed Buddy’s Diner of Somerville on the 2025 Massachusetts Most Endangered Historic Resources List.
A historic inn in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley will reopen under new ownership.
A Westchester County, New York, classic, now called the Kittle House Inn, has reopened under new ownership and with renovations. For years, the Chappaqua restaurant was known as Crabtree’s Kittle House, named after its former owner.
“The Sistine Chapel of New Deal art” could be imperiled now that a federal building in Washington, D.C., is for sale.
Too late for this one: Farewell to a Brutalist beauty (or scourge?) at the University of Houston.
A historic New Jersey theater with a fabulous neon marquee has reopened seven months after a roof collapse could have spelled curtains for the Cranford institution.
The Twin Donuts sign in Allston, Massachusetts (featured in my book) has been restored by Neon Williams! The shop closed earlier this year, and there was, for a time, concern about the fate of the sign.
A second location opens for Nasto’s, an iconic ice cream shop in Newark, since 1939.
San Francisco’s Tenderloin Museum seeks donations amid its ambitious expansion plans.
Las Palmas, for 45 years a Cuban dining institution in Miami, has closed.
Now a boutique motel, the La Vista, a 1956 motel in Denver, has reopened, and the occasion was marked with a neon relighting ceremony.
A former Dairy Barn in North Bellmore. (Rolando Pujol/2021) Long Island’s iconic and shuttered Dairy Barn drive-thru convenience stores are reemerging as The Barn — check out the latest in Patchogue.
The owner of Cool Scoops in North Wildwood is retiring and the store is for sale.
Meanwhile, San Francisco’s Vogue Theater in Presidio Heights just had its neon restored and will hold a relighting ceremony Dec. 3.
JP Morgan is on a skyscraper-building kick. After the insertion of 270 Park Avenue into the Gotham skyline, replacing the more modest and elegant former Union Carbide building, the bank has again commissioned Foster + Partners for another biggie, this one in London.
A Westchester County, New York, classic, now called the Kittle House Inn, has opened under new ownership and a renovation. For years, the Chappaqua restaurant was known as the Crabtree’s Kittle House, reflecting the name of the former owner.
Savannah’s historic Cotton Exchange building hits the market for the first time in over a century.
And finally, we end on good news. Could Sizzler be staging a comeback? The retro store redesigns are amazing, a sign of how to reinvigorate a nostalgic brand by leaning into legacy, not wholesale reinvention.
Atlanta’s Waffle House museum will be open to the public for one day (Dec 6), the first time since 2022. https://www.atlantaonthecheap.com/waffle-house-museum-atlanta/?fbclid=IwdGRleAOZYSpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xNzM4NDc2NDI2NzAzNzAAAR4N8vTL64GaBjeGe8ddftJR6OQdUUMoXqH79VWON7go8ZOLVM02vb29rwTPrw_aem_LlxBuEiSag3UOOAFxNql5w