I often scan the terrain as I drive, looking for roadside pieces of the past. I understand that businesses need to update, modernize, expand . . . but the generic landscape really makes me yearn for what used to be. Too much these days looks just like what I saw in the last mile, or the one before that. It doesn’t take many Paneras, California Pizza Kitchens, Targets, Lowe’s before my eyes just glaze over and I don’t see any of it.
And so I was sad to see the Pennsylvania Turnpike gradually changing all its rest stops to “travel plazas”—all faux Adirondack (which this writer certainly doesn’t like). The original buildings were white fieldstone, Colonial style, with gas stations, Howard Johnson’s restaurants, and a gift shop.
To my eyes, the Howard Johnson's were places of glamour (I’m not kidding). We never ate there—too expensive, of course—but if we had, I would have ordered their famous clam strips and then had to choke them down because six-year-old me didn’t know that I don’t like clams and there was no way I could get away with not eating them. Dodged that bullet!
Although, yes, all of the new travel plazas are of the same style, I don’t mind the new look (as long as they keep it clean) as much as I mind that the old buildings are being razed. Where is all that fieldstone going? What’s going to happen to the Midway tunnel under the road between the North and South plazas? How long will it take before all the food service turns into automats?
But I digress. What brought this generic landscape to mind yesterday was my route through Lancaster. I turned left onto Route 30 (the Lincoln Highway) from Route 896. Rockvale Outlets on my left, Waffle House on the right. I’ve passed these many, many times. The next strip-mall on the right, however, was different—no Lemon Grass Thai! (Moment of panic, but thanks to the Internet I now know they’ve moved into town.) Beyond that, for some reason—maybe it was the fog, or fatigue, or some of both—I expected to see the Glass Kitchen at the Willows. But that’s been gone for nearly 20 years, replaced by the American Music Theatre.
I drove on, past the Target and the Wendy’s, up the hill. On the left (heading west) is a new shopping development. Maybe it seemed more imposing because it sits on the hill, but I can’t say. I have no idea what’s there (although I’m guessing a Bed Bath & Beyond) because of course my eyes glazed over.
I kept driving. And a little speech I heard Bailey Quarters give on an episode of WKRP (when she’s trying to save a building) came to mind:
“Art deco is just about the last architectural style in which humanistic design and fine craftsmanship were valuable considerations. After that came the glass and steel box. Originally it was considered an art form, but it caught on mainly because it was cheap to hang curtains of glass and have load-bearing walls. The machine was a metaphor for these constructions. The machine was in, people were out. Space became more important than the place. Singularity of design replaced variety, which of course is the very essence of life.”
Place is important. And that’s what I write about.
