This is an interesting idea: an apparel company in Portland, Ore., scours the country for cool graphics from now-defunct 1930s to ’60s roadside businesses and puts them on T-shirts.
Vintage Roadside not only helps preserves the memory of a long-gone motel or restaurant on a T-shirt, but its site also provides a brief history of each business. The company says it gets information for these summaries from local historical societies.
It sounds like the proprietors are hardcore roadies. From the site’s “About” page:
Over the past decade we’ve spent a lot of time exploring old highways and small towns practicing our own version of archaeology — stopping at boarded up businesses to take pictures of old signage, collecting stories from local historical societies, and tracking down mom and pop memorabilia from the 1930s – early 1960s. We’ve also happily paid admission to any roadside attraction we could find with an interesting story to tell … although we have to confess a particular weakness for paper mache dinosaurs and miniature buildings.
One of the shirts Vintage Roadside is selling is for the B&B Rancho along Route 66 in Rialto, Calif. Here’s what Vintage says about the B&B:
If you happened to be traveling the western stretch of Route 66 in the 1950s, you would have found yourself passing through Rialto, California. Although this stretch of Route 66, known as Foothill Blvd. as it passes through Rialto, Rancho Cucamonga, and Pomona still had a few of its famous orange and lemon groves at the time, the real attraction for the savvy traveler was a night or two at The Wigwam Motel and dinner at The B & B Rancho.
Located at the corner of Foothill and Riverside, just a mile west of The Wigwam Motel, the B & B was in a perfect location to catch the eye of hungry motorists. The B & B was a place where you could take time to relax from the road and slow things down for an hour or two over a great meal.
The B & B was owned and operated by Bob and Betty Lasher who are still remembered fondly for their good food and wonderful service. The location has long since passed through numerous owners and business names.
If you have any additional information or stories regarding the B & B Rancho or The Bobette Liquor store we’d love to hear from you. Click here to send us a note.
Vintage has 14 T-shirts for sale at this time, and in an e-mail, the company says it hopes it will have new Route 66 offerings soon.
Vintage Roadside is happy to hear from people for stories and suggestions. If it’s looking for more Route 66 material of departed businesses, may I suggest Pop Hicks in Clinton, Okla., or the Club Cafe in Santa Rosa, N.M.?