Submitted by Stacy Rusnak on Thu, 12/15/2011 - 9:22am
Topic area:
Car Culture and the Road (Rusnak)
Session Chair:
Stacy Rusnak
This panel investigates the contradictory role of the Road in defining American culture. Not only is the road a metaphor for fluidity in terms of flight, escape, and self-discovery, but it is also a metaphor for the concept of place. Road travel is related to notions of the Search for America, and the American Dream, both of which are fluid constructs that shift both individual and national definitons of Self. Along these searches, one encounters the stationary building: gas, food, lodging. These spaces, although static, also shed light on notions of identiy formatio
Submitted by Kelli Shapiro on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 9:16pm
Presentation Title:
An Afterlife for (Former) Gas-Food-Lodging Sites: Rescuing and Reusing the Roadside Recent Past along Route 66 in Albuquerque
Utilizing case studies taken from my dissertation, “Saving Suburban Sites and Rescuing Roadside Relics: The Historic Preservation of the Recent Past through Adaptive Reuse,” I examine how local roadside buildings have – through creativity and vision – managed to outlive the failure of their original purpose. I discuss one example each of common types that once provided gas, food, and lodging along Albuquerque’s stretch of the famous Mother Road – including a gas station, a prefabricated diner, and a motel. Focusing on their preserv
Submitted by kaitmcnamee on Wed, 11/30/2011 - 11:48am
Presentation Title:
Journey to Nowhere: The Road and The American Dream
As car travel became increasingly popular during the 20th century, so did the American travel novel. American writers began recreating the idea of the traditional travel narrative through car travel. Often, these writers married the idea of road travel with the chase of the American dream.
