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1916 Guide Shows What the First Road Trips Were Like

phenomena.nationalgeographic.com

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Re: 1916 Guide Shows What the First Road Trips Were Like

#31

Post by cm3 »

cperciva wrote: post #23
toyg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is particularly visible in Europe, where magnificent centuries-old buildings are constantly scarred by road and parking signs (as well as advertising billboards).

Indeed, every time I visit "old" Europe I notice how street signs tend to be (a) small, and (b) attached to buildings; but it never occurred to me until reading this article that this could be largely explained by the fact that they didn't need street signs until recently.

I can't say I remember a building in Western Europe where traffic signs were mounted on buildings. In cities it's either on or at the edge of sidewalks.

Re: 1916 Guide Shows What the First Road Trips Were Like

#32

Post by cperciva »

cm3 wrote: post #31
cperciva wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, every time I visit "old" Europe I notice how street signs tend to be (a) small, and (b) attached to buildings; but it never occurred to me until reading this article that this could be largely explained by the fact that they didn't need street signs until recently.

I can't say I remember a building in Western Europe where traffic signs were mounted on buildings. In cities it's either on or at the edge of sidewalks.

I'm talking about names of streets, not traffic signs.

Re: 1916 Guide Shows What the First Road Trips Were Like

#33

Post by jacquesm »

slededit wrote: post #25
jacquesm wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in Canada today you can still see instances of this. Fairly disgusting, to put it mildly. I found this out when we employed the one person of color in the community as a gas station attendant, the reverse situation sketched in the wikipedia article linked. Large customers would contact me and pointedly demand we fire the person or they'd cease doing business (this was fine with me, the nearest alternative was a…

Where in Canada was this? I could possibly see it in Northern Ontario, they were eagle eyed watching a black friend of mine there. In the cities or southern Ontario I'd be very surprised to witness open racism.

Northern Ontario, spot on. But even in the cities I've seen plenty of it, just more clever variations.

Re: 1916 Guide Shows What the First Road Trips Were Like

#34

Post by jacquesm »

DrScump wrote: post #29
jacquesm wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in Canada today you can still see instances of this. Fairly disgusting, to put it mildly. I found this out when we employed the one person of color in the community as a gas station attendant, the reverse situation sketched in the wikipedia article linked. Large customers would contact me and pointedly demand we fire the person or they'd cease doing business (this was fine with me, the nearest alternative was a…

Did (or, do ) First Nations people experience similar overt racism?

Yes, no doubt. I befriended some people from those communities (apparently a rarity) and some of the stories they told made me cringe. There are quite a few stereotypes at work there and if you're born into one of those then you'll be working uphill to escape these. The net effect is that First Nations people tend to be either un-employed or employed as cheap labor only. It's a very sad story and even though on paper the Canadian government is doing all kinds of things to create a more level playing field the only viable option a First Nations born person has to change that is to assimilate.

Re: 1916 Guide Shows What the First Road Trips Were Like

#36

Post by toyg »

cm3 wrote: post #31
cperciva wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, every time I visit "old" Europe I notice how street signs tend to be (a) small, and (b) attached to buildings; but it never occurred to me until reading this article that this could be largely explained by the fact that they didn't need street signs until recently.

I can't say I remember a building in Western Europe where traffic signs were mounted on buildings. In cities it's either on or at the edge of sidewalks.

In any Italian city, "no parking" signs are absolutely everywhere on buildings. If the road is tight enough (which means medieval streets, usually), road signs will also be on buildings, because there is no space for alternatives.

Re: 1916 Guide Shows What the First Road Trips Were Like

#37

Post by scribu »

shortformblog wrote: post #17

It's worth noting that Michelin guides, which date back to 1900 in France, were actually launched with the same idea in mind: http://tedium.co/2015/04/09/michelin-guide-unusual-side-busi... Long story short, the guides were created to drum up interest in tires—by encouraging customers to actually take their cars to go on road trips. The fascinating part about them is that the guide's reputation at rating restaurants…

Oh, so that's why they call them Michelin stars!

Re: 1916 Guide Shows What the First Road Trips Were Like

#38

Post by e40 »

rmason wrote: post #28

Back in the seventies anytime I took a trip out of state my Dad would get me a AAA trip book. Each page had a short section of the highway and in a yellow marker it would show exits, towns etc. You'd flip the pages over every 40 miles and people referred to them as flip books. I found them to be quite useful but now they seem kind of quaint. It would show gas stations and motels at the exits. Every year they'd publis…

It's called a TripTik[1] and it still exists. I remember them well. My grandmother and I took a trip across the US in the 1960's. They were invaluable.

[1] http://www.aaa.com/travelinfo/maps-directions.htm

Re: 1916 Guide Shows What the First Road Trips Were Like

#39

Post by gergles »

rmason wrote: post #28

Back in the seventies anytime I took a trip out of state my Dad would get me a AAA trip book. Each page had a short section of the highway and in a yellow marker it would show exits, towns etc. You'd flip the pages over every 40 miles and people referred to them as flip books. I found them to be quite useful but now they seem kind of quaint. It would show gas stations and motels at the exits. Every year they'd publis…

These were called TripTiks.

http://pearlsoftravelwisdom.boardingarea.com/2014/01/remembe...

Re: 1916 Guide Shows What the First Road Trips Were Like

#40

Post by pessimizer »

alistproducer2 wrote: post #3

There used to be guide book for African American travelers called the green book. It helped them know places they could use the bathroom, eat, and lodge. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Negro_Motorist_Green_Boo...

My grandfather's job in the military (in the early 1950s) was to desegregate (by aggressive diplomacy) places to eat and rest between East Coast bases, because when soldiers travelled together (esp. by the busload), all of them were limited by the fact that any of them were black.

America is not a great place for black people.

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