There’s something about Americana many people discover solace in, whether or not or not we acknowledge it overtly. That is very true with regards to hitting the street and seeing the sights. As we marvel at these relics of the previous, they provide us a slice of a a lot bigger story. They spark our curiosity as merely observing tells us one thing concerning the place we discovered them and the happenings that occurred there earlier than we arrived. We really feel that sense of ease within the second, but it surely usually fades as we rapidly flip our consideration again to the current.
Rolando Pujol is an exception.
“The Nice American Retro Highway Journey: A Celebration of Roadside Americana”
The creator and journalist paperwork these intriguing insights on America’s previous as a lifelong ardour and key a part of his work.
As Pujol notes within the introduction of his new guide, “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey: A Celebration of Roadside Americana,” the pursuit emerged in childhood as he marveled on the eccentricities surrounding him. The reminiscences had been profound and protracted, particularly as these staples of his upbringing slowly pale to pave means for the rising fashionable period.
“I started to understand how important these locations had been, how nearly criminally underappreciated they had been by a lot of society,” Pujol writes.
This realization pushed him to discover and share the distinctive landmarks that survived, first in newspapers after which on information web sites, social media, and ultimately his ongoing weblog and e-newsletter, The Retrologist. Now, anybody excited by a better look can maintain Pujol’s account of nostalgic American historical past and tradition of their palms.
Pujol spent the final a number of years compiling his explorations from The Retrologist and past into the brand new guide, revealed earlier this week on June 24. He referred to as the guide a “great subsequent step on this journey, a blessing in life that lays a powerful, new basis in my quest to discover and rejoice roadside Americana.”
A Lifelong Retrologist
The origin of “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey” begins with Pujol’s first household street journey to Miami Seaside in 1977, when he was simply 4 years outdated. Even at such a younger age, he discovered the journey extra thrilling than the vacation spot.
In 1998, he took his first solo street journey at age 25. Having full management of the itinerary, Pujol centered his debut expedition across the roadside Americana he’d see alongside the way in which. But it surely wasn’t till the brand new millennium that he really tackled this ardour in a public-facing means. His earliest skilled writing on the subject was in 2005, reporting about New York Metropolis preservation points for amNewYork as managing editor.
As he started posting a mixture of extra random content material on Tumblr and Instagram in 2012 underneath The Retrologist, he discovered that individuals had been particularly drawn to the nostalgic stops he recounted on-line. Sensing a possibility to share one thing he beloved with an appreciative viewers, his focus shifted towards the classic remnants of America’s previous. His Instagram web page gained traction in 2019, and the pandemic craving of 2020 created an much more aggressive starvation for nostalgia-related journey content material.
By the tail-end of 2022, a writer took curiosity in his work and Pujol knew he needed to go for it.
Retrologist outlined: “A practitioner or skilled within the ‘retro’ — actually, it’s classic, although ‘Vintagologist’ doesn’t sound fairly as good.”
Excerpted from “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey” by Rolando Pujol (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2025. Images by Rolando Pujol
Structuring “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey”
The guide is split into 10 areas (The Northeast, New England, The Mid-Atlantic, The Southeast, South Central, The Midwest, The Heartland, The Desert Southwest, The Mountain West, The Pacific Northwest, and California).
Every area contains classes to include distinct parts of roadside Americana:
- Roadside Quirks: these one-off, usually quirky, marvels you received’t discover elsewhere
- Roadside Eats: traditional culinary stops
- Mainstay of Important Road: locations you’d discover in an American downtown or strip mall
- On with the Present: theaters and leisure
- Candy Stops: sweet shops, ice cream stands, and different candy spots
- Cheers!: bars, taverns, and liquor shops
Pujol additionally contains sidebars all through, that includes eating places and distinctive locations meriting a deeper dive.
Design and Visuals
Whereas the guide’s contents are expansive and detailed, “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey” doesn’t really feel bloated. The regional sections and repeating classes inside assist, however pairing them with clear and useful design offers a good smoother expertise.
Each area is accompanied by its personal coloration, lining a few fourth-inch on the prime of every web page. When the guide is closed, you’ll see the sequence of colours from the facet and prime illustrating every regional part. As you make your means inside, this easy however efficient code acts as a simple reference level. When you get a really feel for the guide, it’s a fast visible cue to seamlessly information you to every particular area.
Each web page is adorned with ample visuals, which feels non-negotiable for this subject. Every photograph is paired with a quantity tied to an in-text reference, so you may rapidly study extra after a photograph or in any other case discover corresponding visuals whereas studying Pujol’s written explanations. The primary point out of each new place and attraction is bolded, creating much more ease and guaranteeing you by no means get misplaced within the textual content.
Excerpted from “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey” by Rolando Pujol (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2025. Images by Rolando Pujol
Placing the “Retro Highway Journey” on Paper
It’s evident as you flip via the pages that “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey” got here from many years of journey and tireless documentation, from the pen of somebody who is really passionate and dedicated to those cultural wonders.
Even so, I couldn’t fairly fathom that these experiences all got here from the identical individual. (After I requested Pujol if every thing within the guide got here from his experiences and journey alone, he confirmed the reply is certainly “sure.”)
Chunks of “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey” got here from his previous work for The Retrologist. Nonetheless, Pujol realized that he needed the guide to have a extra complete method as he started writing. So, he hit the street to fill within the gaps.
“I managed to get to each state within the decrease 48 in an more and more mad-dash whirl of hectic weekend getaways because the deadline neared,” Pujol stated. “It was essential to me to have that geographic swath of illustration. Apologies to Alaska and Hawaii — I’ll get there if there’s a subsequent guide, and I hope there will likely be as a result of I’ve loved this one a lot.”
Writing and Storytelling
It’s merely a beautiful guide. I discovered myself shedding time flipping via and all the footage, with these particularly catching my eye prompting me to study extra by way of the in-text reference quantity alongside it. And Pujol’s writing is simply as participating.
Whereas I used to be shocked this was all his doing, I’d be hard-pressed to consider that such detailed and immersive prose got here from somebody who hadn’t really been on the street and lived these experiences firsthand. It’s written as in case you are on this journey with Pujol, together with private musings, his ongoing “travelogue” all through the trek, some historical past, and (in Pujol’s phrases) “all coronary heart.” He advised me, “Loads of myself goes into this work,” and it reveals.
As quickly as you begin studying, it’s clear you’re in good palms. His accounts are participating and enjoyable to learn, however Pujol’s many years of expertise as a journalist additionally shine via. The storytelling is powerful, and every pit cease lasts so long as it ought to. Each spotlight comes with ample data to spark curiosity and supply wanted context. Although it by no means feels such as you’re overstaying, as Pujol swiftly has you again on the street and onto the following vacation spot.
Excerpted from “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey” by Rolando Pujol (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2025. Images by Rolando Pujol
Extra Than Only a Journey E-book
Candidly, I wasn’t conscious of Pujol’s work till I pursued this evaluate and interview. Because the editor of Highway Journeys for Households, I’m at all times in search of related tales to share with our viewers. After I first discovered about this upcoming launch in early Could, it was an apparent match. I didn’t suppose a lot concerning the subject or how I felt about it. Then I obtained my palms on the guide and began pondering deeper about my relationship to the retro relics round me.
An Angeleno of 5 years dwelling in Hollywood, I nonetheless really feel like an LA child (possibly I’ve made it to toddler standing). I usually take additional time to marvel on the indicators and constructions that had been clearly right here lengthy earlier than I used to be alive, not to mention dwelling amongst them. As I discover myself experiencing the brand new chapters of Los Angeles in actual time, I confront these accomplished passages that laid the bottom work. It’s humbling to consider the numerous tales that got here earlier than my very own, in good instances and dangerous.
It’s comparable once I return residence, spying ’90s remnants in Northern Colorado that promptly transport me again to my childhood and every thing I’ve skilled since. Even in new locations, the echoes of the previous stick to me most. It’s the same grounding feeling, though I’m witnessing this stuff for the primary time in a spot I’ve by no means visited.
This sense is most blatant in my day by day Los Angeles life; wherever it occurs, it’s not at all times a very acutely aware expertise. I didn’t understand till I opened the guide that these seemingly distinct workouts are primarily the identical — wanting towards the previous to place the current into perspective. Actually, the placement and context-specific functions to my life are the one variations.
(And That’s What “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey” is Going For)
After I shared this with Pujol, he affirmed this sensation “will get to the guts of what I hope to do with The Retrologist.” Its earliest manifestations had him sharing the small issues he’d see strolling round New York or throughout his travels, coming collectively to inform a extra important story.
“It’s a type of on a regular basis archaeology, mining the latest previous, a means of stopping and smelling the roses with out risking a sneezing match,” he stated, as each statement comes with a posh yarn to unravel. “… The Retrologist outlook on life provides you a lens by which to judge your environment in a recent means, to seek out little historical past classes or hidden qualities that add which means and worth to your travels, whether or not or not it’s in your hometown or half a continent away.”
Greater than “appreciation for the sake of appreciation,” he stated, the method provides richness and consciousness which might successfully drive optimistic change; it helps us recognize the ecosystem of the constructed surroundings round us. To Pujol, the “spectacular effort that went into cultivating experiences that will amuse, entertain, and, in fact, get you to fork over a couple of dollars,” is what makes roadside Americana so particular.
“There’s one thing distinctly American about this: It’s a type of cultural expression that peaked within the mid-Twentieth century, using the wave of widespread automobile possession, a booming financial system, and a pre-jet age sense of liberation, however as we get farther away from that interval, and dwell extra in our digital and social bubbles, the attract of a tangible piece of American advertising and marketing grit holds extra attract than ever.”
Excerpted from “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey” by Rolando Pujol (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2025. Images by Rolando Pujol
The Verdict
So, do you have to decide up this guide? My vote is sure. As somebody who doesn’t journey almost as a lot as they’d like, I’ve already gotten one thing magical out of it.
Might “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey” make for a enjoyable espresso desk guide? Properly, certain. Though, inserting this wealthy assortment of experiences and cultural insights inside that field alone looks like a reductive slight to the work that created it and every thing it would encourage when you see what’s inside.
If you end up hitting the street or touring to new locations regularly, this guide feels all of the extra sensible so as to add to your assortment. Whereas there’s one thing to be stated for these fashionable sights — the locations you’ll discover Googling “what to do whereas visiting [whatever place]” — “The Nice American Retro Highway Journey” invitations you to discover the hidden gems you may in any other case miss. And that’s what Pujol is after: creating a brand new body for vacationers and even people like me, who’re most frequently traversing the place they name residence of their day-to-day adventures.
“You’ll start to see issues concerning the world round you that you simply by no means observed earlier than, and that might make your life simply a lot richer and extra attention-grabbing, or so I’d prefer to suppose. You’ll begin asking questions and studying issues. You’ll develop into a Retrologist, too.”
Rolando Pujol’s Message to Readers
Pujol hopes readers can go to as many of those locations, and people like them, as potential, calling the guide “only a hearty serving of a bigger meal.” He additionally urged readers to help these locations so that they dwell to see one other day. Pujol shared a extra solemn ingredient of the writing course of as we wrapped up: Many locations he talked about have since closed, and it occurs quickly. He alluded to a number of spots that had been up and working in December 2024 however have since shut their doorways for good as of June 2025.
“This guide is as a lot a celebration as it’s an elegy,” Pujol closed. “Visiting and supporting these locations can delay the elegy a bit longer.”
“The Nice American Retro Highway Journey: A Celebration of Roadside Americana” is out there now in hardcover and eBook codecs.
To maintain up with Rolando Pujol’s travels and ongoing quest to doc America’s nostalgic pleasures, discover him on Instagram.
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You’ll find them at keeganmwilliams.com or on Instagram @promwitch.
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