Main Street To Miracle Mile: American Roadside Architecture. By Chester H. Liebs. (New York Graphic Society/Little, Brown and Company Inc., 1985. Second printing, Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Company Inc., 1989. John Hopkins Paperbacks edition, 1995.) Book type: Cultural History. Reflections, Acknowledgements, Epilogue, Notes, Selected Bibliography, Source of Illustrations, Index. Pp. 259.

     Charles H. Liebs gives readers a look at how the automobile has changed how our world looks, by focusing on the changes of commercial roadside architecture. The “movie through the windshield” as he refers to it, looks at the ‘strip’ that every city has and how it has changed due to the impact of society becoming more mobile. Liebs states, “ there is much to be learned from reading the American commercial roadside” (p.227) as “the roadside is both a visual bellwether of the prevailing popular mood and a storehouse of the emotive imagery of preceding generations.” (p.72).

     He begins with Main Street in the early days of the automobile, when those lucky enough to drive a car, still had to dodge horses and wagons as well as pedestrians. As society has sped up, roadside architecture has had to change to convey its message to passersby, that message usually being ‘Stop and buy here!’. Moving away from Main Street, architectural imagery has changed from domestic to fantasy to regional/historical, then to various modern styles to contemporary, concluding with the modern day Miracle Mile that has come about with the invention of the superhighway. Liebs also dedicates chapters to seven different types of architecture. The types of buildings he focuses on include automobile showrooms-which have evolved from the ‘salon’ to the large lot, gas stations-which have gone from pumps beside the road to car service centers to self serve convenience stores, supermarkets- which came about by combining several grocery businesses under one roof, miniature golf courses-that have gone from cottonseed hull playing surfaces to pre-fabricated courses, drive-in theaters-from their heyday to their decline, motels-from roadside camping to the guest service industry and restaurants-that have gone from family settings to today’s drive thru. Main Street To Miracle Mile is an entertaining but serious look at the roadside of the twentieth century. Liebs use of both words and pictures to convey his opinion that the roadside “is a visual museum containing dozens of exhibits that mirror swings in the national mood” (p. 71) is very agreeable. A simple drive to a different city, by avoiding the superhighways and sticking to the old roads, lends proof to that. The thought Liebs closed his writing with is another accurate statement: “The twentieth-century Miracle Mile, when re-examined in the twenty-first century, is also certain to provide critical insights into the transition from the industrial revolution to a commercial revolution” (p. 227). As society continues to evolve, so will our roadsides. Fortunately there are still some of these early ‘exhibits’ to study but the numbers are dwindling. Preservationists will probably have their hands full, fighting developers to save what is left. As for the look of the future, whatever it turns out to be, it is a safe bet that if it draws people and makes them part with money it will take hold in the landscape, at least for a time.