June 20, 2008
Fly Me To The Moon...
The Alma Exchange Bank Drive-thru, circa 1962.
There's nothing like a space race to bring out the best in all walks of life. Even kitschy architecture. I miss the Soviet Union. I do. Without them we wouldn't have had the nerve or, dare I say it, the desire to create such aesthetic affrontery as the drive-thru branch of the Alma Exchange Bank.
I like those satellite rings. They look like some kind of chastity belt from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. But of course they represent telecommunications satellites, orbiting the earth, beep-beep-beeping early warnings of Soviet ICBM launches. And, occasionally, television programs.
They even put a globe up on a space needle in front:
Looks like the Daily Planet headquarters. You know, I'll bet George Jetson banks here. And Spacely Sprockets has a commercial account. All this down in south Georgia, in a region even hobos disdain for lack of good dumpster diving.
When I was six years old and riding in the back seat of my mother's station wagon with a Mercury space helmet glued to my noggin I would have been absolutely fucking enthralled with that bank.
And I kind of still am.
... time to dig out that dvd of The Right Stuff and grab a bottle of Patron, brother....
It's Jane Jetson's bathing suit!
It's the only line I memorized from that show when I was little. Jane tells George she's going shopping for a new bathing suit... I guess she said something like, an orbital bikini. He asks what that is and she replies, "just a couple of rings around the right places."
Posted by: Joan of Argghh! at June 21, 2008 7:42 AMI'd prefer a couple of rings around Jane's wrong places.
Posted by: Velociman at June 21, 2008 7:44 AMI with Vman and Eric..."a couple of rings around Jane's wrong places", and "a bottle of Patron".
Posted by: Sam at June 21, 2008 8:36 AMMan I have not thought of The Jetsosns in ages. I was absolutely addicted to that cartoon as a youngster. I bet I could recite the entire theme song if my life was on the line.
Posted by: kerrcarto at June 21, 2008 11:08 AMI miss the commie bastards too. I really do, too. It's all the spirit of competition....our dysfunctional relationship with the Russians was just that. On a lot of counts.
Posted by: kelly at June 21, 2008 2:58 PMToo bad it was a spy (John Walker) that kept them technolically able to pace us. On their own, I guess they weren't all that after all, were they?
Posted by: kelly at June 21, 2008 3:01 PMI remember your moms station wagon. She broke the shocks going over a railroad crossing driving back to Savanna once. You did have on your space helment too. Damm that was like 48 years ago.
Car load of brats, 8 I do believe with Aunt Peggy at the wheel for a week of fun. Bet it cost $10.00 for gas from Uncle Don's house to the Senator house. She sure drove fast I think.
I remember your moms station wagon. She broke the shocks going over a railroad crossing driving back to Savanna once. You did have on your space helment too. Damm that was like 48 years ago.
Car load of brats, 8 I do believe with Aunt Peggy at the wheel for a week of fun. Bet it cost $10.00 for gas from Uncle Don's house to the Senator house. She sure drove fast I think.
That Daily Planet thing reminds me of the radio station my husband used to work at. The building was constructed at the corner of one of the town's busiest intersections during the late 60's. On top of it was a large rotating globe (planet Earth) with the station's call sign emblazoned upon it. Problem was, the globe had to rotate the wrong direction in order to make the letters properly readable. It was dubbed "the corner where the world turns backward". The front of the station contained two large (floor-to-ceiling) plate glass windows, so that passersby could watch the announcers doing their thing. Eventually, because the front of the building was tremendously hot during the summertime, the windows got a one-way mirrored coating. The result was that during the nighttime, the announcers were on display but could not see outside. During the daytime, people walking past the station would treat the windows as full-length mirrors. They would check their makeup and adjust their clothes. The folks inside took to waiting until people were doing this, then they would creep up and put their faces to the glass to see the startled reaction.
Posted by: PeggyU at June 22, 2008 1:30 AMDamn thing looks like an old-school McDonald's gone wrong. Or our second house.
I love early 1960's architecture.
Posted by: Elisson at June 25, 2008 12:09 PMDurn, a man would have to drink alot o' whiskey to have an account at that bank!
Posted by: Mockinbird at July 15, 2008 1:00 PM