Real Men Never Ask for Directions--Bryan F.

I was always hesitant to stop for directions and sometimes wound up very lost. Mostly, because I didn't usually understand the service station attendant's instructions. "Go up this here road until you get to the blue farmhouse with the red mailbox and turn left, or is that right, anyway keep going until you pass the old graveyard", and ...so on. I was never good with directions and envied friends that could find there way back from an unfamiliar location even in the dark.

I always took maps on planned trips and planned my route carefully. I loved to travel to places I'd never been to before and almost always alone. 

My first trips to San Francisco in the 1970s included not only maps but a Gay travel guild, as well. A Bob Dameron Guild to be specific which gave me a way to find the gay motels, restaurants,  clubs, and other gay community resources. 

I don't have any of my own Dameron Guilds left to share from those days. Too many moves caused many of my book friends to transition to new ownership or, and I hate to think of it, the trash. If you've read many of my posts here you know that I have an affinity for paper, especially the kind that doesn't usually last. The throwaways, ads, etc,  known as ephemera. I also favor most paper items such as magazines and books that are not technically ephemera. 

My favorite era to collect these items is the 40s, 50s, and 60s and some early 70s. I collected a few 60's Sears catalogs and one 1954 Sears Christmas catalog but foolishly sold them just as the midcentury modern craze hit and priced me out of the market. 

I also love architectural floor plans, mostly residential. I collect those on Pinterest and the Sears Catalog House kits are some of my favorites. Back in the day, you could order a whole house in a Sears catalog. It would be shipped in pieces to your closest rail station and you hauled it to your chosen lot and had it built or for some built it yourself. The catalogs had the floor plan included in the description and these are the ones I love. The diversity and breadth of sizes were amazing. When I was a kid, while other kids were drawing their favorite cartoon character I was drawing floor plans including outdoor features. I was thrilled when I got a T square in junior high school when I took a drafting class. Before that, I used whatever was handy including the edge of a book to get a straight line. 

Look for my blog about Sears Housing kits and my love of architecture next week, maybe. Check some out on my Pinterest page on the link below in the meantime.
https://www.pinterest.com/franksbryan/architecture-floor-plans/

I've included some maps that I own below. Some I carried in my own car and some I collected online. 

The Bob Damron Guilds are downloaded from Goggle images.

I hope you enjoy them.

This is a map of California I carried in my car in the 1970s. It is attached to a hard cardboard cover which is unusual. It is a promotional handout from my Insurance agent that I was with from age 16 into my late 40s. Maps were often given out free of charge with business logos and contact and location information as a cheap advertisement. Think matchbooks. I have some of those too, that I must share someday soon.

This map is likely from the 1950s. The end of World War II caused housing storages as troops returned home and needed new housing to start their families. Many ended up in attic spaces or living with relatives or in tiny apartments as housing construction worked to catch up. As these new families moved into there new homes moving companies grew as well and this company was one of the larger ones. 
Notice the design of the moving truck. 

Thrifty Drugs was the only drug store in our neighborhood so it holds a lot of memories for me. I passed it on my way to junior high school and sometimes on weekends I'd get an ice cream cone if I had the cash. Mint chocolate chip was my favorite.

Their ice cream was so loved that when Rite Aid Drugs swallowed them up in the 90s, I think, Rite Aid kept the ice cream, maintaining the recipe and name. It's still worth the trip to pick up a half-gallon and it tastes the same as it did fifty years ago. You can't say that about many things. Think McDonald's, that once was pretty good. 

Notice all the "T's" on the map indicating locations of Thrifty locations. Very clever tactic.

My detective mind notes the numbers written on the map that are in my Grandmother's hand indicates that this was in my Grandma's things and probably circa the 60s or 70s.

  

These Damron Guild examples are downloaded from the internet. Notice the covers are discreetly plain. The images of the interior from the 80s show examples of gay businesses listed for the Gay traveler visiting Houston, Texas.