Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in St. Petersburg

This Krispy Kreme postcard is interesting for several reasons.

First, this is a carefully composed iconic image of mid twentieth America which manages to capture both the the interior and exterior of the coffee shop. It also includes a good view of a googie style sign and a color coordinated 1956 Ford Ranch Wagon. Although photographed in daytime, the interior has an eery resemblance to Edward Hopper's famous painting, Nighthawks.

Second is the style of the Krispy Kreme sign which does not include or resemble the Krispy Kreme logo. Even the word "donuts" on the sign and in the description on the postcard back does not match the Krispy Kreme way of spelling "doughnuts." Roadside Peek's Donut Delights has another example of a different looking Krispy Kreme "donuts" sign, plus some other good examples of doughnut signs.

In researching the address (3441 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, Fla.) I discovered an article, a day in dough business, about the donut shop at this address. This article was apparently written in 2001 when there was a Fray's Donuts shop at the location. A longtime employee informed the reporter that the shop was built in 1947 as a Krispy Kreme shop and the sign (reading Fray's Donuts) was the first or second big business sign on Central Ave. At the time of the article, the place had changed owners four times since 1947. Current directories list this address as St. Pete Donut House.

Another interesting thing about my Krispy Kreme postcard is that it was mailed in 1957 to Cadillac Showcase of The Price is Right TV show. According to Wikipedia, The Price is Right frequently featured a home viewer "showcase," for which home viewers were invited to submit their bids via postcard. I wonder how many other postcards survived from this and other sweepstakes and are now in postcard collections. My postcard came from a lot of advertising cards in a 1980s Barr's Postcard News auction.

Beginning U.S. Route 1 Sign

I am starting a new topic for postcard signs today. I am planning to include postcards of all types of outdoor signs. Most, but not all, will be chrome postcards of roadside signs: highway signs, billboards, historical markers, welcome signs, advertising signs, etc.

I have been accumulating these cards for many years. Most have been found when I am not really looking for them. Postcard dealers are unlikely to have a signs topic — most dealers don't even have a roadside category.

U.S. Route 1 seems like a good place to start. Here is some information on U.S. Route 1 and Florida signs from Wikipedia:

U.S. Route 1 (also called U.S. Highway 1, and abbreviated US 1) is a United States highway which parallels the east coast of the United States. It runs 2,390 miles (3,846 km) from Key West, Florida in the south, to Fort Kent, Maine at the Canadian border in the north. US 1 generally parallels Interstate 95, though it is significantly farther inland (west) between Jacksonville, Florida and Petersburg, Virginia. It connects the major cities of the east coast, including: Miami, Florida; Jacksonville, Florida; Columbia, South Carolina; Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Washington, DC; Baltimore,Maryland; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York, New York; New Haven, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; Boston, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine.

In Florida, where signs for U.S. Highways formerly had different colors for each highway, the "shield" for US 1 was red. Florida began using the colored shields in 1956, but during the 1980s the MUTCD was revised to specify only a black and white color scheme for U.S. Highway shields. As such, Federal funds were no longer available to maintain the colored signs. On August 27, 1993, the decision was made to no longer produce colored signs. Since then, the remaining colored signs have gradually been replaced by black-and-white signs; at present, there are a few rare colored ones still in place.

Roadside America Postcard

Question: What is Roadside America?
Answer: A miniature village located in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania!*

* So "Roadside America" is not just a term describing popular culture of the American roadside.

As described on the back of the postcard (in very small type):

The greatest spectacle man has ever seen in miniature.
Which is titled as Roadside America which tells the story of life in America
from the cabin days to this period. It all started in June 1903 by two brothers
who climbed to the top of Mt. Penn at Reading, Penna. and reaching the crest
they say a beautiful panorama of 200 years of American Life laid before them. It
sure had the appearance of miniatures at 800 ft. above seal level. Lawrence said
to his brother Paul, "Let us start to build little houses as they look from here
to tell the life of the individual home live of America to the coming
generations." After all these years as a hobby, Roadside America is credited as
a shrine to American Life the world over.

Be prepared to see more than you expect. You will be amazed. Every true red-blooded American should see this display. Especially the children who will someday carry the flag and torch of destiny for Freedom.

The Roadside America, Inc. website gives a somewhat different story.

The indoor view of Roadside America, showing the builder making train adjustments, includes some additional information about the attraction — that the village then covered over 4000 square feet and was nearly 50 years in the making by Laurence T. Gieringer.

SPAM Postcards

I am a postcard collector and graphic designer. I also like free stuff and popular culture, so I was thrilled when I found this Spam Museum brochure on a rack with ordinary brochures and flyers. It is printed on cardstock with perforations for removing the three postcards that make up the bottom 2/3 of this clever brochure.

This is the 70th anniversary of SPAM. You can learn about SPAM at www.spam.com . And there is a SPAM STORE with some more conventional SPAM postcards, as well as an awesome variety of other SPAM merchandise.

About "Postcards Magazine"

"Postcards Magazine" is not about postcards! Actually, I discovered that there is more than one "Postcards Magazine," and they are devoted to travel, not postcards.

Postcards Magazine #1 — Carlson Wagonlit Travel magazine with articles about U.S. and world travel destinations.

Postcards Magazine #2 — Guide to travel, dining and lifestyle in Victoria, Australia.

Embroidered WWI Patriotic Postcard, April 1917

Patriotic embroidered postcards, made in France, were popular souvenirs made for soldiers during WWI. This one is unusual in that has the month "April" as well as the year "1917." It features an American flag. Embroidered American flags seem to be much less common than British and French flags.

This embroidery on this postcard is quite faded, making it less valuable than a brightly colored card. It still is very clean and collectible, however. The embroidery is on cloth inserted between an embossed paper frame and a paper backing. The embossing on the frame consists of horseshoes in the corners and four-leaf clovers on the sides--two good luck symbols. On the back is printed "Fabrication Francaise."

More information on embroidered postcards:

Gabrian Silk Postcards

Propaganda Postcards of the Great War, Silks (embroidered postcards)

Love Tokens from the front

Taxes or Texas

Some vintage political humor on the subject of taxes. The way some people talk, "Texas" really does sound like "taxes" to me.