John Margolies Lecture at Seattle Art Museum (SAM) About the Evolution of the American Movie Theatre
JOHN MARGOLIES, an author and photographer who immortalizes American roadside culture and vernacular architecture, spoken on the evolution of the American movie theatre at the Seattle Art Museum.
Movie theatres, with giant awnings and larger-than-life marquis, once dominated Main Street. John Margolies discussed their beginnings as ramshackle storefronts that transformed into grandiose buildings that offered the magic and fantasy of film. The demise of these pleasure palaces became inevitable as the concept of Main Street withered away.
John Margolies is an author, photographer and lecturer fascinated by the dying culture of teapot-shaped gas stations and themed resort getaways. His images capture nearly extinct commercial architecture and designs that sprung up along Main Street and highways and paved a new landscape catering to the automobile culture. Roadside lodging, drive-ins, gas stations and miniature golf courses enticed drivers with kitschy designs and flashy lights.
He has traveled approximately 100,000 miles over the past 30 years while gathering his extensive collection of photos. His prolific body of work includes images of over 15,000 buildings, signs and other forms of commercial construction, which document the demise of the individualistic “mom and pop” tradition. He has authored 10 books, including See the USA (2000) Chronicle Books, which he co-authored with Eric Baker, and Fun Along the Road (1998) Bulfinch Press. He has also taught at the Universities of California at Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, the California Institute of the Arts and Pratt Institute.
Seattle Art Museum
On September 18, 2003
