Jackson, Mississippi
The Audience Behind the Sign
Jackson’s Alamo carried the history of a Black entertainment community through several addresses.
Read the story ↗11,707 photographs50 stories48 states1973–2008
Extraordinary places. A common ground.
An America worth pulling over for.
Motels, diners, gas stations, and the wonderfully unexpected. Explore John Margolies’s photographs of a country on the move.
Explore the archive
The road continues
Stories from
the roadside.
Discover the people, places and ideas behind the photographs — and what they reveal about America.
Read the stories
Roadside architecture is a portrait of a nation — creative, optimistic, and always on the move.
From the journal
A closer look.
AN AMERICA WORTH A SECOND LOOK
Before every road
looked the same.
For decades, John Margolies pulled over for the places other people drove past. A teapot that sold gasoline. An elephant you could walk inside. A motel sign promising a different kind of tomorrow.
This is an invitation to look again: at his photographs, the histories behind them, and the imagination built into the American roadside.
Meet the photographer11,707PHOTOGRAPHS IN THIS ARCHIVE48STATES REPRESENTEDFrom the Library of Congress.
Preserved with their original records.
Preserved with their original records.
FOLLOW YOUR CURIOSITY
A roadside vocabulary.
A FEW STOPS ALONG THE WAY
From the archive.
Teapot Dome gas station, Zillah, Washington
Adobe Diner, Route 64 & 285, Tres Piedras, New Mexico
Harold's Auto Center, horizontal view, Sinclair gas station, Route 19, Spring Hill, Florida
Premium gas station (formerly Joy gas station), Lakeshore Boulevard & Windemere, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Bomber gas station, diagonal view, Route 99 E., Milwaukie, Oregon
Hat n' Boots gas station, overall view, Route 99, Seattle, Washington.
ONE COUNTRY, MANY ROADS
Where will you
go next?
Follow a familiar road. Or find somewhere you’ve never been.
Browse by stateA CHANGING LANDSCAPE