The no passing zone was the same kind of yellow stripe as now, but instead being along the center line, it was right in the middle of the lane where the tires would straddle it and you usually see the darkened area from oil drippings. It would start at the bottom of a hill for instance, and stop at the crest or where you could see the oncoming lane again. Also major highways had the drainage "lip" at the outside of the lane. Old 66 and 71 had these, other roads too. I think the center line was white and dashed on a blacktop roads. And I think just the black tar joint served as the center line of the lighter colored concrete roads. As I remeber, all states wern't like this. Travelling with my folks out of Missouri, which had the center lines as above, other states had no passing lane lines like they are today. Arkansas and Kentucky were different from Missouri if I remeber. But it HAS been a while... Tom
Speaking of Burma Shave, here are some of the originals that are at the Museum of Transportation in St Louis. And the same made ready to print for everyone.
LOL Well Done - Keith Man, they were everywhere - and the best part is they were not shot up nor had graffiti on them. http://burma-shave.org/jingles/
The Burma Shave signs were indeed everywhere. Some were funny as could be. And, here in Missouri, there were thousands of "Pete's Cafe" signs, a red diamond with white letters. They would mount about ten of them in a row along the road over about a tenth of a mile strech. Pete's Cafe was in Boonville, Mo. Ken
Don't know if there replicas or originals but east of Alma on HWY 64 there is a house with those signs going down there fence row. It is right next to an Antique shop which was right across the road from my Great-Grandmothers house. I'm debating putting a few on my layout at my mom's house. Ship it on the Frisco!!! Murphy Millican
LaBelle & Seeley both make Burma Shave signs. LaBelle makes 6 sets each in both HO and N scales. Seeley makes three sets in HO only for 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's eras. Woodland Scenics also makes a dry transfer set. Here in Kansas there are still locations where religious groups have erected signs with Bible verses with the last one being the actual location in the Bible such as John 3:16, etc. While we are on the subject, how many of you remember the motor oil signs that were mounted on the fence posts during the 50's and 60's. Both Quaker State and Pennzoil had them. There was an added signficance to these as there were games that famililes played while driving and one of them was an alphabet game where siblings would complete to be the first one to get all the way through the alphabet by looking at billboards, etc. Of course the hardest two letters to find were Q and Z. I can still remember that there was either one or both of these signs between Parsons and Erie, KS. on our way to grandma's house.
Those were the "good old days" when kids looked outside the automobiles and learned geography, directions, and interacted with the family. Now days, they are engrossed with ipods, DVD players, movies, and such. All directed towards "self indulgence" and not knowing how to interact with the rest of the populace. No one looks another person in the eye anymore - pass someone on the sidewalk and they look downward- anything to NOT have to speak to someone else in an intelligent way. Too bad: That's a lot of what is going wrong in todays society.
The sign came from Blair Line, LLC which makes various structure and sign kits for the model railroad industry. The owner is Dale Rush and he is a member of this group (trainsignguy). If you look down through this thread you will find a post from him. His business has a web presence at http://www.blairline.com and it appears that this series of signs (fallen flags) is being discontinued.
Re: Building Reference Maps gbnf - For many years, somewhere along that Main Street (US 40) in Boonville, MO was Pete's Cafe. Pete was famous in Missouri for his "Eat at Pete's Cafe" highway signs, a red & white square with the point up, that were all over mid-Missouri's highways by the many hundreds. He often placed a string of five or six of them just after a string of Burma Shave signs. As a kid, we drove around Missouri a lot visiting relatives and vacationing in the Ozarks. I always loved to see the Burma Shave signs followed by several of Pete's. I only ate there once - we were driving to the KC area early in the morning and stopped at Pete's for breakfast. I-70 killed his business as US-40 ran right by his cafe, but I-70 was a few miles south. Ken
Re: Building Reference Maps gbnf - For many years, somewhere along that Main Street (US 40) in Boonville, MO was Pete's Cafe. Pete was famous in Missouri for his "Eat at Pete's Cafe" highway signs, a red & white square with the point up, that were all over mid-Missouri's highways by the many hundreds. He often placed a string of five or six of them just after a string of Burma Shave signs. As a kid, we drove around Missouri a lot visiting relatives and vacationing in the Ozarks. I always loved to see the Burma Shave signs followed by several of Pete's. I only ate there once - we were driving to the KC area early in the morning and stopped at Pete's for breakfast. I-70 killed his business as US-40 ran right by his cafe, but I-70 was a few miles south. Ken
Re: Building Reference Maps Hi Ken - Apparently, Pete used post cards also. See images below. Sounds like you might have written this: (Source: http://www.route40.net/page.asp?n=1260 ) Pete's Cafe (second location) (closed) 12847 West Highway BB Rocheport, MO 65279 Of all of the restaurants along Route 40, Pete's was a legend. Founded by Pete Christus, this venerable eatery (originally located at 314 Main Street in Boonville) did well as a result of clever advertising. Christus placed hundreds of signs along approaching highways for his restaurant - many of which were placed at the end of Burma Shave signs. (If you remember the old South of the Border signs on the east coast you'll get the idea). The technique worked and visitors flocked to this humble restaurant on Boonville's Main Street. When Interstate 70 bypassed Boonville and Pete's, Christus took a gamble and relocated his restaurant from Boonville to an offramp setting in nearby Rocheport. A few years later, Pete's closed for good. The original Main Street location remains and the last time I drove through Boonville it was the home of the local Chamber of Commerce. The Rocheport location is now the retail center for Bourgeois Winery. -----end quote----- Pete's made the cover of a book. (See images below) I remember Burma Shave signs. THE POOREST GUY IN THE HUMAN RACE CAN HAVE A MILLION DOLLAR FACE BURMA SHAVE OUR FORTUNE IS YOUR SHAVEN FACE IT'S OUR BEST ADVERTISING SPACE BURMA SHAVE HE'S THE GUY THE GALS FORGOT HIS STYLE WAS SMOOTH HIS CHIN WAS NOT BURMA SHAVE USE THIS CREAM A DAY OR TWO THEN DON'T CALL HER SHE'LL CALL YOU BURMA SHAVE THIS CREAM MAKES THE GARDENER'S DAUGHTER PLANT HER TU-LIPS WHERE SHE OUGHTER BURMA SHAVE ROUND THE CURVE LICKETY SPLIT BEAUTIFUL CAR WASN'T IT? BURMA SHAVE ON CURVES AHEAD REMEMBER, SONNY THAT RABBIT'S FOOT DIDN'T SAVE THE BUNNY BURMA SHAVE CAR IN DITCH DRIVER IN TREE THE MOON WAS FULL AND SO WAS HE. BURMA SHAVE PASSING SCHOOL ZONE TAKE IT SLOW LET OUR LITTLE SHAVERS GROW BURMA SHAVE - George
Re: Building Reference Maps Hi Ken - Apparently, Pete used post cards also. See images below. Sounds like you might have written this: (Source: http://www.route40.net/page.asp?n=1260 ) Pete's Cafe (second location) (closed) 12847 West Highway BB Rocheport, MO 65279 Of all of the restaurants along Route 40, Pete's was a legend. Founded by Pete Christus, this venerable eatery (originally located at 314 Main Street in Boonville) did well as a result of clever advertising. Christus placed hundreds of signs along approaching highways for his restaurant - many of which were placed at the end of Burma Shave signs. (If you remember the old South of the Border signs on the east coast you'll get the idea). The technique worked and visitors flocked to this humble restaurant on Boonville's Main Street. When Interstate 70 bypassed Boonville and Pete's, Christus took a gamble and relocated his restaurant from Boonville to an offramp setting in nearby Rocheport. A few years later, Pete's closed for good. The original Main Street location remains and the last time I drove through Boonville it was the home of the local Chamber of Commerce. The Rocheport location is now the retail center for Bourgeois Winery. -----end quote----- Pete's made the cover of a book. (See images below) I remember Burma Shave signs. THE POOREST GUY IN THE HUMAN RACE CAN HAVE A MILLION DOLLAR FACE BURMA SHAVE OUR FORTUNE IS YOUR SHAVEN FACE IT'S OUR BEST ADVERTISING SPACE BURMA SHAVE HE'S THE GUY THE GALS FORGOT HIS STYLE WAS SMOOTH HIS CHIN WAS NOT BURMA SHAVE USE THIS CREAM A DAY OR TWO THEN DON'T CALL HER SHE'LL CALL YOU BURMA SHAVE THIS CREAM MAKES THE GARDENER'S DAUGHTER PLANT HER TU-LIPS WHERE SHE OUGHTER BURMA SHAVE ROUND THE CURVE LICKETY SPLIT BEAUTIFUL CAR WASN'T IT? BURMA SHAVE ON CURVES AHEAD REMEMBER, SONNY THAT RABBIT'S FOOT DIDN'T SAVE THE BUNNY BURMA SHAVE CAR IN DITCH DRIVER IN TREE THE MOON WAS FULL AND SO WAS HE. BURMA SHAVE PASSING SCHOOL ZONE TAKE IT SLOW LET OUR LITTLE SHAVERS GROW BURMA SHAVE - George
Re: Building Reference Maps For what it's worth a similar scenario played itself out with the famous Diamond's Restaurant on old Route 66 near Villa Ridge, MO. I have fond memories of stopping there as a kid. When I44 bypassed it, it tried rebuilding on the Interstate but to me was never the same. I must admit that before reading the below article that I didn't realize the original was built to represent a ball diamond. http://legendsofamerica.com/picturepages/66mo-graysummit-cuba-3-diamonds.html
Re: Building Reference Maps I have very fond memories of the Diamonds as a kid. We would stop there every time, either on the way to or the way back from, trips to the Ozarks, or on trips to visit our grandfather's farm located between Gerald and Owensville, MO on US-50, along the Rock Island Lines. The Diamonds was quite a place, nationally known, at the intersection of US-66 and MO-100 (which was the first concrete paved highway in the US). Though life is very good today, there were a lot of things and places around here when I was a kid that people today would miss greatly if they knew about them. The original Diamonds was one such example. Ken
Re: Building Reference Maps Wow, I'm going to have to look for this building the next time we go to Boonville to eat at Glenn's Cafe in the old Hotel Frederick. Been in Mid-Missouri 16 years, now, and didn't know the place existed. OT, but I also just learned that Boonville is home to our nearest hobby shop. Columbia's population is now well over 100,000, and Hobby Lobby is the only place in town with any stock of model railroading goods. Best Regards,
