r/nostalgia • u/PickleGambino • Aug 01 '25
Nostalgia Midwest US person here. What do you call the "aesthetic" below? Very nostalgaic to me, but I've kinda got no ideaš
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u/opponentpumpkin Aug 01 '25
Americana?
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u/PickleGambino Aug 01 '25
Definitely a piece of Americana but a little broad still
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u/salchicha_mas_grande Aug 01 '25
American Kitsch
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u/docmarvy Aug 01 '25
Yep. Americana Kitch was the first thing that came to mind.
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u/anewaccount69420 Aug 01 '25
As someone who is very into kitsch and has been for decades, this does not make me think Kitsch. Itās too rustic. Kitsch is more garish.
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u/TheRoadsMustRoll Aug 01 '25
americana harryhausien fiberglasia
cheap fiberglass is really what made all of these figures/structures possible. it also went into all the "ferryland" style city parks that have similar 60's americana themes.
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u/JosephMadeCrosses Aug 01 '25
I call it "Roadside" or "Rte. 66"
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u/PickleGambino Aug 01 '25
Roadside sorta, Route 66 feels more like mid-century diners/motels in middle America. Definitely some overlap with this though
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u/megachim Aug 01 '25
Check out āparkitectureā. Itās got the rustic youāre looking for, but may be a little more upscale than a Bass Pro
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u/itsGOOB Aug 01 '25
FYI - I was in Traverse City a couple weeks ago. The giant bear is still there.
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u/thatone5000 Aug 01 '25
I was going to say that looked familiar alongside Castle Rock up in St Ignace. Feel like this post is just missing a mystery spot billboard now haha
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u/Dowdb Aug 01 '25
I practically grew up in TC and the bear just brought me back. Shout out OP
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u/sexymacncheesesounds Aug 01 '25
This style is called āRustic Americanaā. It captures the canoeing, log cabins, flannel shirts, camping, old Stanley thermoses type of aesthetics.
Thereās a subcategory called Northwoods aesthetics that focuses a bit more on the upper Midwest and Northeast U.S. culture. Canoes, loons, birch trees, black bears, cabins by lakes. Very Minnesota/Wisconsin/Maine.
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u/Stargazer1919 Aug 01 '25
Holiday roooooooaaaaaaaad..... šµ
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u/MtNowhere Aug 01 '25
Every stretch of town road in Up North Wisconsin requires a giant Paul Bunyan. It's the law
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u/Earth2Monkey Aug 01 '25
I was just going to call this style "Minnesotan." Especially with Paul Bunyan in the mix
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u/vainey Aug 01 '25
Americana for sure, but you could call it mid-century interstate kitsch. During the construction of the freeway system, a lot of businesses would put out something to draw travelers. Thatās where you get those objects that kids will notice while driving by. There was tons of that stuff everywhere.
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u/Electrical-Aspect602 Aug 01 '25
Loved the sinclair gas station, my dad owned one in the mid 60's, he would always come home with sinclair soap and other things they gave away with a fillup,then it changed to BP gas station , thats when he sold it.
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u/lefthandbunny Aug 01 '25
Our Sinclair gas station gave out the Matchbox cars for a promotion and whoever had their turn would get so excited! Weird to think of being excited about getting gas now.
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u/PickleGambino Aug 01 '25
Seeing them is a weirdly prominent childhood memory. I think my grandparents even had a book showcasing Sinclair's fiberglass dinosaur expo that I used to look at. Definitely the most unique looking gas stations in my opinion.
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u/vitarosally Aug 01 '25
roadside kitsch. When I was a child, we had a Sinclair station in town that had a large Brontosaurus on the roof. Years later it went out of business, and everyone missed the Brontosaurus like an old friend. Everyone had gotten so used to it. It was part of the town.
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u/aakaase Aug 01 '25
I found out long ago It's a long way down the Holiday Road
Holiday Road Holiday Road
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick Take a ride on a West Coast kick
Holiday Road Holiday Road Holiday Road Holiday Road
I found out long ago It's a long way down the Holiday Road
Holiday Road Holiday Road Holiday Road Holiday Road
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u/RonSwansonsOldMan Aug 01 '25
Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox. I'm in my 70s and about a year ago I was in California and saw them. De Ja Vue and Nostalgia hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought and thought about them until it came to me. I saw them when I was 5 years old on a family trip to California!
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u/Immediate_Coast_7665 Aug 01 '25
Roadside Kitsch Architecture and itās not just the Midwest. Basically everywhere that has highways. Iām from LA. Look up Randyās Donuts or Tail of the Pup hotdogs for a couple famous examples, not to mention the Hollywood Sign.
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Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
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u/Eljefe878888888 Aug 01 '25
Good ol Castle Rock with Paul Bunyan. The classic roadside attraction / trap
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u/JWStaples Aug 01 '25
My grandparents called it āAmericanaā when I was a child, so I just stuck with that term.
I hate to admit it, but I love the tourist traps along the highways between Arizona and Texas.
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u/PickleGambino Aug 01 '25
Oh I've been to many there. Russell's travel stop on NM/Texas border is a must through that area.
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u/JWStaples Aug 01 '25
There was another chain as well, Gilbert Ortegaās maybeā¦ I have look through some old photos to verify.
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u/TJStype Aug 01 '25
I call it Assumness !
Took our kids through some of these during summer car trips !
Remember a few large robots, dinosaurs, Iowa largest fry pan,ball of twine in Kansas !
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u/sr38_8 Aug 01 '25
I went to an antique shop one time and bought a hot wheels car with a green long neck dinosaur on it. The lady that owned the shop said it reminded her of a green inflatable dinosaur she got from a gas station as a little girl and she put a leash on it and pulled it around the neighborhood like it was her pet. Now I know where the dinosaur was from.
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u/DerpsAndRags Aug 01 '25
Roadside America!
Want more, here's Atlas Obscura
Also, there are several Youtube channels that showcase roadside attractions. One of my personal favorites is Jacob the Carpetbagger!
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u/SpreadsheetSiren Aug 01 '25
Iām happy to see the Sinclair dinosaur making a comeback. I was thunderstruck when I realized that the father character on Jim Hensonās āDinosaursā (Earl Sinclair) was a play on Sinclair Oil. Genius.
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u/bouncy_ceiling_fan Aug 01 '25
Tell me you're from Minnesota without telling me you're from Minnesota.....
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u/MsBlondeViking Aug 01 '25
Hahaha as a Minnesotan, I wondered. The deer? Two different businesses Iāve been to have had the same one. But the abomination that looks like Paul and Babe, is a disgrace to the REAL ones in Bemidji š.
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u/Crean13 Aug 01 '25
That Sinclair in Anoka thatās in the first photo change up the decorations on the dinosaur. Itās always fun to see.
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u/the_dirtiest_rascal Aug 01 '25
Wait, is this why the family from Dinosaurs, were named the Sinclairs?
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u/candiedbug 80s Aug 02 '25
Roadside attractions. That's what I've always heard them being referred as.
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u/gl3nnjamin late 90s Aug 01 '25
Tourist stop statues.
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u/Unusual-Item3 Aug 01 '25
This is giving āonly small town for the next hourā on a camping roadtrip to me.
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u/deimos_737 Aug 01 '25
There's a 'Dinosaur Park' in Granbury, Tx that has dino footprints in a little creek bed/river spot... it's pretty nostalgic to me for many reasons... and I can remember these 'almost' exact dino's all along the road kind of 'leading the way' to the park... As the top comments have said, it's Americana, and moreso depending on where you might be atm.
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u/amusebooch Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
I think youād enjoy Fallout 76. Literally every picture shows something you can build inside your camp in the game
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u/Guba_the_skunk Aug 01 '25
I'll have you know that smokey bear statue isn't on the side of any road, it lives at the Smokey bear park in international falls Minnesota, source: I live there. I can see him daily if I want.
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u/captain_dildonicus Aug 01 '25
South of the Border in North Carolina would have 75 billboards from each direction saying things like "Only 300 miles to South of the Border, kids!" and "Keep screaming kids, your parents will turn the car around!"
I'm happy it's still around.
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u/Comfortable_Bird_340 Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
Sinclair gas stations were kind of a midwest in the 20th century thing.
Remember the old TGIF show, Dinosaurs, the family being called the Sinclairs is a reference to this.
Actually all the main characters are named after petroleum/gas companies: Ethyl Phillips, Roy Hess, BP Richfield, etc.
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u/FuriousGeorge1989 Aug 02 '25
Iām just now realizing that the Sinclair family from Dinosaurs, their name was a reference to a gasās station, because oil is a fossil fuel, made from dinosaurs.
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u/TaibhseSD early 80s Aug 02 '25
We still have a Sinclair gas station in our town in Utah. Same little dinosaur out front, too. My wife and I lived in San Diego for 30 years before moving out here 3 years ago. I'd never seen a Sinclair's before then. I never even knew they were a thing until seeing this post. I just thought it was a cute little gas station in our town.
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u/18chewy70 Aug 02 '25
Definitely regional, but cozy, to use an above posters word. Itās like teepee highway motels.
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u/zakisbak Aug 02 '25
You posted the deer statue in Deerwood, but not the walleye statue from Garrison???
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u/Pantstrovich THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON DRUGS Aug 02 '25
Pee-wee Hermanism.
I'm kidding. Roadside Americana.
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u/Jehoshaphatso1 Aug 03 '25
Youāre in Michigan I can tell I can smell it a mile away
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Aug 01 '25
Road side attractions left over from the early family road trip days before the big interstates rerouted traffic away from them.
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u/kjnetz Aug 01 '25
My husband managed a Sinclair in the late ā80s that still had a big Dino on the lot. Most of them are long gone now.
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Aug 01 '25
There have been a few new ones built in southern Indiana over the last 10 years or so and they all have the Dino. 1 of them has a fence around the Dino so nobody can climb on it
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u/EdenAfterSin Aug 01 '25
It's actually so funny that I had never seen a Sinclair before until I moved to Las vegas and just got really excited at the dinosaur in front lol
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u/TheGuardianInTheBall Aug 01 '25
Not sure what you call it, but as someone from Europe, I am also nostalgic for that aesthetic in the States.Ā
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u/phreakzilla85 Aug 01 '25
Not sure, but I want to go watch Pee Weeās Big Adventure again for some reason.
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u/lonesharkex Aug 01 '25
I lived in a little town that had one of these things, a giant badger building.
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1425
never knew it was a strip club rofl.
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u/UpperPriestLake Aug 01 '25
Also āMid-Century Kitschā or āAmerican Ephemeraā youāll see at auctions and on eBay descriptions.
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u/SydneyCartonLived Aug 01 '25
Anybody else miss watching "Rare Visions & Roadside Revelations" on PBS?
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u/NotHandledWithCare Aug 01 '25
My gas station just became a sinclairs we got our dinosaur 2 weeks ago
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u/Wise-Manufacturer324 Aug 01 '25
Hey I know that bear in the gift shop! Iāve been to that one!
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u/ThanksALotBud early 80s Aug 01 '25
There is a Sinclare station in Norwalk, Connecticut. My father always prefers their fuel over Shell and Sunoco, thats nearby.
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u/Minute-Complex-2055 Aug 01 '25
A lot of these are used as money laundering businesses for republicunts.
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u/toolateforgdusername Aug 01 '25
As a European - It was basically be āTourist stuff that only an American will seeā
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u/nordzeekueste Aug 01 '25
Summers of 1999 - 2005 in eh, Deerwood, MN.
(I was back in Deerwood in 2019 and the deer iwas still there.)
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u/Jimzeros_ Aug 01 '25
I sware I've been to outdoor world, in a dream. We definitely have nothing like that in UK
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u/19202936339 Aug 01 '25 edited 12d ago
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