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American Road Magazine
Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

roadmaven

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  1. My greatest memory growing up was Al Green's Famous Food, a drive-in on the east side of Indianapolis on US 40. By the time the early 1980's rolled around, Al's had seen it's far better days. It was one of "the" places to see and be seen during the Indianapolis cruising scene in the 1950's, according to my mom & dad. Not only was it a drive-in, but they also showed B-movies in the parking lot. But as time wore on, Al started slowing down and eventually before closing in 1984, it was just Al and his sister Belle working there. Al made the food, and Belle took the orders. Gone were the car hops.....the neon was broken......the bohemeth sign was a shadow of its former self. This is the Al Green's I remember, since I was still in grade school in the late 1970's. However, if I begged enough, I got to tag along with some of my older brothers on a Friday or Saturday night. I'd be in the back in the kitchen area where Al had an Asteroids arcade where I'd kill time. Al loved IU basketball and Bobby Knight. You'd never find a bigger supporter of either than Al was. Belle was nothing less than a riot....very outgoing and never afraid to tell you what's on her mind. They were really good to me and my five older brothers. Often times, Belle would greet us by our sequence number of our birth in the Bremer clan. When she'd see me walk in with one of my brothers, she'd yell out, "Hey Al, look! Number 6 is here"! It went a little further than that, as she introduced my brother Scott (Number 2) to his future wife, Jane. In 1986, a couple years after they closed, they even showed their support to us by showing up to my mom's funeral.

     

    In the later years, Al's was not only known for its still great food, but for the slow service. How slow? Well, when you placed your order with Belle, it could easily be another 3 hours before it'd be ready on a busy night! That's just the way it was. Al would cook it one order at a time. And it was the best burger-food I've ever had....nothing will ever come close. The burgers were served with, as best can be described, a condensed golden mushroom soup on top of the burger. They were best consumed with a side of tater tots and a jumbo cherry Coke. Whatever ratio Belle used with the cherry syrup to Coke have yet to be duplicated according to my taste buds.

     

    After they closed in '84, Al and Belle continued to live in the basement of the restaurant until the early 1990's when the board of health ordered them out. They later sold the land to a car dealer and Al Green's became a memory. Al passed away in the late 1990's and Belle passed away in 2005.

     

    For those of you who might have a copy of Karl Raitz' "A Guide to The National Road", there are two photos and some text about Al Green's on page 243. I'd love to find pictures of Al's from its heyday. Just glad I was able to experience what I did.

  2. Speaking of TV, tonight's Rams/Colts preseason game is blacked out locally because the Dome wasn't sold out by the designated time. And still isn't, even though the Rams are on an "I believe" kick to garner stronger local team support for the new coaches and "new" team. Probably just as well that we local fans can't see the game because it will probably be ugly. But how about a big frosty one on the results anyway, Pat?....Bliss

     

    It'll be on TV here, if you want to make the 4 hour drive past the Dome and up to Indy to watch the game with us. :lol:

  3. I don't know if this will be showing on all PBS stations, but Thursday night the Indy PBS station will be showing "The Mother Road" at 10pm Eastern. The description from the WFYI web site describes it as follows:

     

    Mother Road

    This film celebrates Route 66, from Chicago to Los Angeles, where the filmmaker, Lauren Cardillo along with her 80 year old mother, Irene take the roadtrip of their lives in a Mustang convertible. Shot over three weeks, the program spans eight states, three time zones, and more than 2400 miles, discovering fascinating people along the way, while capturing the nostalgia of the infamous highway. Viewers will see the start of Route 66 in Chicago; Ted Drewes' ice cream stand and the Red Cedar Inn in Missouri; the Ribbon Road, the Blue Whale and the Coleman Theatre in Oklahoma; the Cadillac Ranch in Texas; the Jackalope and Tucumcari in New Mexico; the Jack Rabbit Trading Post, Oatman and the Grand Canyon in Arizona; and the end of the pavement on the California coast in Santa Monica.

     

    Pat B.

  4. For those of you familiar with the 40 foot tall clock atop the Colgate-Palmolive plant in Clarksville, IN along the Ohio River, it looks like it's staying put. C-P announced a few months ago they were moving operations to a plant in Tennessee and wanted to take the clock with them. However, C-P said they realize it's a strong community symbol in the Clarksville/Louisville area and chose to leave it. The clock was placed on this year's Top 10 Endangered list by Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. For those of you crossing over the Ohio River northbound on US 31 will know what an impressive sight the clock is, especially at night. Here's an article from the Indy Star:

    Saved!

     

    and here is a good night shot:

    Neon

     

    and a day shot:

    Colgate Clock

  5. http://www.route6tour.com/ is the Route 6 Tourist Association site.

     

    I've personally only been on US-6 between Mansfield & Warren, PA. That is a very nice drive and, judging from the squiggly path east of Mansfield, that should be pretty nice, too. And then there's all those other states it goes through.

     

    We took 6 across a good portion of PA last weekend on our way home from Connecticut. We picked it up in Scranton and followed it also to Warren, before heading south on US 62 along the river. I told Jennifer 6 in PA is now my favorite US highway. There are a slew of clean mom & pop motels along that entire section, many with cafes in front, great little towns, and fantastic scenery. We're really looking forward to exploring it at a more leisurely pace.

     

    Pat B.

  6. My first post on the new forum, so I thought I'd post it here. Why? In 5 minutes, I'm heading 3 blocks south and turning left at the light to get a pizza. The street I'll then be on? Crawfordsville Road, aka The Dixie Highway western alignment, aka formerly US 136. Let's see if I did this right...this was only a test. :unsure:

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