On Days Like These...

Normal people often ask me how I can justify owning a car in the city. The cost, the hassle, the sheer masochism involved often drive me to the brink of madness. But then I find myself on a deserted country road watching the fast-setting autumn sun shimmer off the cat-tails along the Hudson River with a dear friend. And I know it couldn't be any other way.

Roadside Eating: White Manna Hamburgers

If you ever find yourself driving through Hackensack, New Jersey, make sure to visit White Manna Hamburgers. Like the onion-laden sliders they serve, the building itself is diminutive, plunked down in at the corner of River Street and Passaic in 1942.  This weekend, after a few rounds of Karting at a nearby track, my friend and I stopped by to sample their burgers. I love American roadside architecture, and White Manna has a wonderful aged appearance to it; one that speaks to decades of simultaneuous love and neglect.  The sign on the roof used to have white lettering painted on it, but all that remains today are the neon tubes and the faintest traces of the letters that once were behind them. Like an unrestored vintage car, it retains all its original character, yet it admittedly looks kind of shabby.

Once inside, you are greated immediately by the cooktop, which is right in front of the door.  You give the cook your order, and she smacks some balls of ground beef on the greasy grill along with the other orders, already sizzling away.  It takes a few minutes to get your burgers, but in the meantime you can savor the archetypal diner environment around you.  The place is tiny and cramped, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

The food itself was ok. I have had much better burgers in my life, and I left smelling like onions. But who really cares? The beef sliders are tastily complemented with potato buns, and the comfort food rounds out the complete nostalgic roadside burger experience perfectly. The Automobiliac approves.

Click the image for more photos of the diner.

Plasticville Lives! - The photos of Michael Paul Smith

Photographer and hobbyist Michael Paul Smith has a fascinating approach to combining his interests.  He sets up elaborate period dioramas depicting midcentury roadside life.  But what makes his work so brilliant is the clever way he photographs his 1/24 scale models outdoors against real backdrops, to make images so believeable you have to rub your eyes for a moment to figure out if what you are looking at is a model or not. No 21st century pixel-pushing for him.  He does all his wizardry in-camera. His photos of snowbound Edsels with period billboards in the background are dreamy and evocative, as are his night scenes with rainslick, deserted streetscapes.  His sense of composition, scale, and perspective are spot on.  As someone who grew up with a train layout in his basement and who has built scale models his whole life, the Automobiliac gives a hearty thumbs up to Mr. Smith's work!  Click here to visit his mind boggling Flickr Stream!

Photo Credit: Michael Paul Smith.