Just as the Victorians made moose out of stone, apparently people from space made the rest stops along the 401 in the 1960s. They bled the local landscape for materials but applied their off planet design. What I really like is that the Ontario historic events plaque seems to have been installed on the facility the day it was built, thus confirming the confidence of the people from space in their importance to the future. I also really like that in the 1960s people were waiting to help you at these places when you had car problems. Real mechanics with garages and tools. Not just cheese eating schoolboys or their dropout friends with 1-800 numbers and not much else.
Comments
Hans - June 23, 2009 10:07 AM
Those were the days. When Canada had confidence and the highways had much less traffic.
seanie - June 23, 2009 4:43 PM
Ha ha! I think I have a photo at home I took of the same stop from the same angle from 1998 :)
Stumack - June 23, 2009 9:30 PM
The service centres were originally divvied up between Imperial (Esso) and Texaco. One called the restaurant "Canadiana 1867" and the other was "Voyageur", although I can't remember which was which. This design originally had a pointed spire (that looked more like an antenna) that was intended to make the building look like an small home oil can.
mr plumber - December 31, 2011 1:27 AM
Domes such as the one in the pics were Texaco, eventually became Esso.
Red Hat Voyaguer was Esso and had a pointy red hat
Shell was Shell 1867, the log cabin/saloonish looking buildings.