Modernism left its biggest momuments downtown - big glassy skyscrapers everyone came to loathe. But the most clever and interesting examples of post-war architecture were usually in the burbs, in the small commercial strips, the cafes and burger stands. This vernacular, be it Googie or stripped-down International Style or whimsical atom-era inventiveness - wasn't held in any particular esteem until recently. And now that we love it again, we're finding that it's gone.

But not entirely, as you'll see.
Once seen, it's still not believed. A classic jet-age suburban motel decorated entirely in Swingin' Indian.
The finest bowling-alley sign in town, and the interior is extra swank as well.
Suburbs aren't supposed to get knocked down en masse, but this post-war inner-ring burb was destroyed for an office complex. These are shots taken after it was abandoned, before it was destroyed. It's the Brady Bunch meets "The Stand."
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Unlovely and unloved, this downtown hotel - now gone - had some swank aspects we can enjoy. From a distance.
Fine Signage
Long-gone burger shop
Death of an Orange Roof
Church basement
This might be familiar.
Gas Stations
Fill 'er up
Southdale
The mother of all malls. Really
Other Sites You Might Enjoy:
Minneapolis today.
When you're sick of the present, moan about the past. Ten tons of photos and postcards of long-gone Minneapolis.
There are more than 10,000 in the state. These are three of them. Let someone else do the other 9,997.
Then & now shots of the University of Minnesota.
LILEKS.COM
This site is just a small part of the large general joy you can find at lileks.com. And by "joy" I mean "not entirely full of grim disappointment."