The folks at Vintage Roadside, the company that puts graphic art from defunct highway businesses on T-shirts, has expanded into selling photographs.
According to a news release:
We now have available the first three prints from the Vintage Roadside negative collection. We’ve chosen to start the series with a circa. 1940 image of the Las Palmas Tourist Court (Laredo, Texas), another from 1940: The Den-Tex Tourist Court (Denison, Texas), and a circa. 1949 image of the Starlite Drive In Theatre marquee located in South El Monte, California.
Striving to retain the feel and artistry of these professional images, we have commissioned a local photographer with over 50 years experience creating hand developed fine art photography to produce these prints. Rather than generate digital prints, we felt it was appropriate that photographs from this era be reproduced using traditional darkroom techniques.
Each hand made silver/gelatin photograph is produced from the original negative, using the same printing techniques and processes used by the original photographers. The prints are mounted on high quality, acid-free mounting boards and mats and are designed to fit any standard 8″x10″ frame.
We’re thrilled with the results and look forward to sharing these works of photographic art with those who not only enjoy American roadside history but also fine photography. It’s wonderful to see these images again for the first time in 50+ years!
The site’s page for the photographs can be seen in the screen shot above. There are no photos of Route 66 businesses yet, but I’ll bet they’re coming. Vintage Roadside is slated to soon release a new T-shirt featuring an as-yet-undisclosed Albuquerque business.
Prints go for $25 apiece, and when you buy one you also get a complementary one-year membership to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.