DennyG Posted March 30, 2008 Report Share Posted March 30, 2008 I recently "won" a couple of map/brochure collections on eBay and they arrived yesterday. I'm guessing they are from an estate auction or something similar. I've only done a fairly quick scan through the items but have seen dates ranging from 1923 through 1993. Like most collections of this sort, it contains a number of quite mundane items, such as a 1993 Illinois Highway Map, but my quick scan indicates that there's a lot more gold than gravel here. The item that triggered this particular post is a folded gas-station style map with "Follow the PIKES PEAK OCEAN TO OCEAN HIGHWAY" on the front. Inside, one panel invites you to the 1939 New York World's Fair and to the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. (A web search revealed that the GGIE ran from Feb 19 through Oct 29 of 1939 and the NYWF was open in the summers of both 1939 & 1940.) and another gives some "history" of the route. Curiously, that history doesn't even mention the PPOO of the teens & twenties but claims the Pikes Peak Express Route (apparently a stage or pony route) as an ancestor. It seems to be completely on US routes and lists 22, 40, 24, & 50 (no 36!) and claims that a third of the US population lives within 75 miles of the highway. The unfolded map is maybe 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 feet. One side is a map of the US with the route marked by a red line. The other has some pictures of Colorado scenery and a map of the state with US-24 marked in red. In the corner of the US map is a paragraph that begins "The Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway Association Inc. came into being on Feb. 2nd. 1939, a non-profit organization designed to promote and induce travel on this transcontinental highway." Although US-36 is missing from the 1939 version of the PPOO, it isn't missing entirely from the collection. An eight page brochure, which I believe is from 1949 or '50, contains the slogan "Travel the Perfect 36" with an illustration of another "perfect 36". I've posted a scan in our gallery here, but you may want to check it out quickly before Becky censors it. The brochure ignores that fact that Thirty-Six existed east of Indianapolis and sends folks off on US-40 and other roads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire Posted March 30, 2008 Report Share Posted March 30, 2008 I recently "won" a couple of map/brochure collections on eBay and they arrived yesterday. I'm guessing they are from an estate auction or something similar. I've only done a fairly quick scan through the items but have seen dates ranging from 1923 through 1993. Like most collections of this sort, it contains a number of quite mundane items, such as a 1993 Illinois Highway Map, but my quick scan indicates that there's a lot more gold than gravel here. The item that triggered this particular post is a folded gas-station style map with "Follow the PIKES PEAK OCEAN TO OCEAN HIGHWAY" on the front. Inside, one panel invites you to the 1939 New York World's Fair and to the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. (A web search revealed that the GGIE ran from Feb 19 through Oct 29 of 1939 and the NYWF was open in the summers of both 1939 & 1940.) and another gives some "history" of the route. Curiously, that history doesn't even mention the PPOO of the teens & twenties but claims the Pikes Peak Express Route (apparently a stage or pony route) as an ancestor. It seems to be completely on US routes and lists 22, 40, 24, & 50 (no 36!) and claims that a third of the US population lives within 75 miles of the highway. The unfolded map is maybe 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 feet. One side is a map of the US with the route marked by a red line. The other has some pictures of Colorado scenery and a map of the state with US-24 marked in red. In the corner of the US map is a paragraph that begins "The Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway Association Inc. came into being on Feb. 2nd. 1939, a non-profit organization designed to promote and induce travel on this transcontinental highway." Although US-36 is missing from the 1939 version of the PPOO, it isn't missing entirely from the collection. An eight page brochure, which I believe is from 1949 or '50, contains the slogan "Travel the Perfect 36" with an illustration of another "perfect 36". I've posted a scan in our gallery here, but you may want to check it out quickly before Becky censors it. The brochure ignores that fact that Thirty-Six existed east of Indianapolis and sends folks off on US-40 and other roads. Certainly an interesting post which spurred me into familiarizing myself a bit with the PPOO. Lots of stuff on the web concerning it, and it appears from its initial beginnings in 1914 there was a constant problem with the Association figuring out just exactly what was the route from one year to the next so to speak. I'm sure you are familiar with the main web site but for those who aren't it can be found at: Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Rowland Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 An eight page brochure, which I believe is from 1949 or '50, contains the slogan "Travel the Perfect 36" with an illustration of another "perfect 36". Gotta wonder whether that marketing technique brought more traffic, or whether it was a bust. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beckyrepp Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 I recently "won" a couple of map/brochure collections on eBay and they arrived yesterday. I'm guessing they are from an estate auction or something similar. Although US-36 is missing from the 1939 version of the PPOO, it isn't missing entirely from the collection. An eight page brochure, which I believe is from 1949 or '50, contains the slogan "Travel the Perfect 36" with an illustration of another "perfect 36". I've posted a scan in our gallery here, but you may want to check it out quickly before Becky censors it. The brochure ignores that fact that Thirty-Six existed east of Indianapolis and sends folks off on US-40 and other roads. Denny, I won't censor that bit of road nostalgia. . . not unless we get complaints! I haven't heard any yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennyG Posted March 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Denny, I won't censor that bit of road nostalgia. . . not unless we get complaints! Whew!! That's a relief. Seems the basics of advertising haven't changed all that much in fifty years. Gotta wonder whether that marketing technique brought more traffic, or whether it was a bust. Chris, thou art the essence of subtlety. Lots of stuff on the web concerning it, and it appears from its initial beginnings in 1914 there was a constant problem with the Association figuring out just exactly what was the route from one year to the next so to speak. As you may have discovered in your web research, one of the nicknames the original PPOO earned was "a highway that couldn't make up its mind". While I kind of doubt that the PPOO Association of 1939 had any connection with the earlier one, I don't know that. I have yet to find any reference at all to the 1939 association other than the map. There are a couple of threads in this forum concerning the PPOO including a fairly lengthy one here. Rick Martin, owner of the website you mentioned, participated in that one and I've dropped him a note to see if he knows anything about the second coming of the PPOO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keep the Show on the Road! Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Denny, et al, Interesting piece! I guess it is kind of like RCA, where the name lives on, and has commercial value, even when the organization associated with it is long gone. I will follow the PPOO in Kansas (along the famed Hypotenuse Trail) in a couple of weeks using my 1926 PPOO guide. I’m hoping to spot at least one roadside artifact in the guide. Oh, and Starfire, you are coming in here like gangbusters with good stuff! Keep it coming! BTW, if the weather up north looks sour in a couple of weeks, I may reroute the Hypotenuse and swing through Texas on a revised southern route, and may need some on-the-road advice. Oh, and Chris, I suppose the whole idea was a bust! Keep the Show on the Road! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Rowland Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Chris, thou art the essence of subtlety. Oh, and Chris, I suppose the whole idea was a bust! Obviously I was referring to "Pikes Peak or Bust"... I'm not sure what you guys could have been referring to?!? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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