left on the side of the road

JOHN MARGOLIES SPENT NEARLY 40 YEARS CATALOGUING THE ARCHITECTURAL ODDITIES THAT LITTERED AMERICA’S ROADSIDES. HIS PHOTOS – ALL 11,710 OF THEM – SHOW A COUNTRY INCREASINGLY FADING FROM VIEW.

Writer Jesse Pearson

A GARGANTUAN DOUGHNUT. A FISH THE SIZE OF A DINER. A WHALE THE SIZE OF A GARAGE. UNCLE SAM AND BOB’S BIG BOY RENDERED IN FIBREGLASS AT TITANIC SCALE, LIKE GODS. These were some of the subjects of the photographer and architecture critic John Margolies, who roamed the United States taking pictures on yearly trips from 1969 until 2008. Over the course of those 39 years, Margolies covered each of the 48 contiguous states. A giant milk bottle in Oklahoma. A looming Viking in Minnesota. A platoon of outsized Paul Bunyans deployed nationwide. This was John Margolies’ America. Margolies became enamoured with roadside attractions while taking road trips with his parents – who did not share his interest. “My parents’ generation thought it was the ugliest stuff in the world,” he told…

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Smith Journal (Digital) - 1 Issue, Summer 2019

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