EXPLORE THE ARCHIVE / Themes

A roadside vocabulary.

The buildings, signs and small ambitions that gave each road its own character. Themes connect the archive’s original subjects and categories.

Adobe Diner, Route 64 & 285, Tres Piedras, New Mexico

Main Street

1,569 photographs

Frog hole, Royal Oak miniature golf, Royal Oak, Michigan

Miniature Golf

1,213 photographs

Grand View Resort, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire

Vacation Resorts

1,178 photographs

Motel Inn (1925) ("first motel"), horizontal view, Route 101, San Luis Obispo, California

Motels

979 photographs

Teapot Dome gas station, Zillah, Washington

Gas Stations

793 photographs

Adobe Diner, Route 64 & 285, Tres Piedras, New Mexico

Restaurants

756 photographs

Bordertown Drive-In Theater, blue sky, San Bernardo Avenue, Laredo, Texas

Movie Theaters

311 photographs

Bordertown Drive-In Theater, blue sky, San Bernardo Avenue, Laredo, Texas

Drive In Theaters

209 photographs

Colonial Gas sign-billboard, Route 40, St. Marys, Georgia

Roadside Advertising

128 photographs

Teapot Dome gas station, Zillah, Washington

Mimetic Buildings

92 photographs

Adobe Diner, Route 64 & 285, Tres Piedras, New Mexico

Diners

86 photographs

Richfield Gas, Route 66, Cucamonga, California

Route 66

77 photographs

Wellsboro Diner at day with neon, Route 6, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania

Neon Signs

33 photographs

Coca Cola Bottling Company, giant Coke bottle corner detail, 14th & Central Avenue, Los Angeles, California

Roadside Giants

25 photographs