From 1969 to 2008, the writer and photographer John Margolies traveled the highways and back roads of America, photographing thousands of the unique and typically whimsical roadside signs and attractions that dotted the landscape—from a four-story fish to a “foam house of tomorrow” to a hotel shaped like a beagle and much more. The Library of Congress acquired the bulk of his collection in 2015, and shares the images online here. Collected below is just a small selection, a view of intriguing structures, some long gone, others still around but changed over the years.
Roadside America, Photographs by John Margolies
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![A large model of a brontosaurus stands near a road.]()
Read moreDinny the dinosaur, photographed at Claude Bell's Dinosaurs in 1978. Dinny was one of two large dinosaurs built adjacent to the Wheel Inn café in Cabazon, California. #
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![A large statue of a smiling chef holds a huge wooden spoon aloft.]()
Read moreThe Happy Chef sign, seen in Cherokee, Iowa, in 1987 #
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![A large fiberglass bull wearing sunglasses and a chef's hat stands near a road.]()
Read moreCaptain Bob's BBQ Bull, seen in Ocean City, Maryland, in 1985 #
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![A giant fiberglass fish with an open mouth]()
Read moreA giant pike stands at the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, in Hayward, Wisconsin, seen in 1988. The enormous fiberglass muskie is more than four stories tall. #
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![Rounded white domes make up a futuristic house.]()
Read moreThe Xanadu Foam House of Tomorrow, an experimental showcase home, photographed in 1988 in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin #
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![A 20-foot-long fiberglass woman diver in a red bathing suit is seen above a store.]()
Read moreA 20-foot-long fiberglass diver in a red bathing suit, created in 1959 for the Jantzen swimwear company, mounted atop Stamie's Smart Beach Wear, in Daytona Beach, Florida, photographed in 1990 #
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![A giant alligator mouth stands at the entrance to an animal park.]()
Read moreThe entrance to the Gator Jungle animal park in Christmas, Florida, photographed in 1990 #
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![A giant cowboy hat and boots adorn a Western-themed gas station.]()
Read moreA giant cowboy hat and boots adorn a Western-themed gas station in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood, seen in 1980. #
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![A building shaped like a giant beagle]()
Read moreThe Dog Bark Park Inn, in Cottonwood, Idaho, seen in 2004 #
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![A large aircraft sits on struts above a gas-station filling area.]()
Read moreA World War II–era B-17 sits atop Bomber Gas, a service station on Route 99E, in Milwaukie, Oregon, in 1980. #
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![A drive-in donut shop with two large donuts surrounding its entrance]()
Read moreThe Donut Hole, photographed in 1991 in La Puente, California #
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![A giant sea-lion statue stands outside an aquarium.]()
Read moreA sea-lion statue stands outside the Marine Life Aquarium on Route 16 in Rapid City, South Dakota, in 1987. #
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![A small building shaped like a yellow seashell stands beside gas pumps.]()
Read moreA Shell service station, originally built in 1930, stands in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, seen in 2001. #
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![A large fiberglass torso of a man holding several grocery bags sits on a trailer.]()
Read moreThe upper half of a Big John statue sits on a trailer in Eldorado, Illinois, in 1993. The statue was one of a number of such statues built for the Big John grocery-store chain. #
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![A three-bay garage roughly shaped like a dinosaur]()
Read moreHarold's Auto Center, a Sinclair gas station on Route 19 in Spring Hill, Florida, photographed in 1979 #
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![An extinct-mammal statue stands near shrubbery.]()
Read moreA view of a Uintatherium at Thunderbeast Park, in Chiloquin, Oregon, in 1987 #
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![A statue of a magical woman riding a giant goose]()
Read moreMother Goose flies above Storybook Land in Aberdeen, South Dakota, in 1987. #
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![A small stylized diner stands among other buildings.]()
Read moreThe Modern Diner stands in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1978. First built in 1940, the diner moved in 1984 to a different location, where it remains today. #
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![A giant Uniroyal tire stands along a highway.]()
Read moreA giant Uniroyal tire, once a Ferris wheel at the 1964 New York World's Fair, stands along I-94 in Allen Park, Michigan, seen in 1986. #
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![A giant longhorn skull acts as an entrance to a building.]()
Read moreThe entrance to a restaurant in Amado, Arizona, is through a giant longhorn skull, seen in 1991. #
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![A giant fiberglass shrimp wearing a cowboy hat and holding two revolvers stands against a blue sky.]()
Read moreA pistol-packin' cowboy shrimp advertises Christie's restaurant in Houston in 1983. #
John Margolies / Library of Congress
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