SOCIETY FOR COMMERCIAL ARCHEOLOGY MEETS IN COLUMUS, OHIO, AUGUST 19-21

Do meals seem to taste better to you in a 1950s diner?  Would you drive a
few more miles to fill up at a vintage gas station or stay in a cozy
tourist cabin?  Do you love the colors and buzz of an old neon sign?  If
so, the Society for Commercial Archeology's annual conference has been
planned with you in mind.

A national organization devoted to vintage commercial architecture --
drive-ins, motels, diners, gas stations, highways, and neon signs -- the
Society for Commercial Archeology (SCA) will bring its annual conference
to the Westin Great Southern Hotel in Columbus, Ohio, August 19-21, 1999,
in cooperation with the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, National Signs
of the Times Museum, and the Columbus Landmarks Foundation.

The conference, entitled MADE IN OHIO:  ENAMELED EATERIES, DURABLE
DOMICILES, AND FAST FOOD, will feature sessions on White Castle, one of
the nation's oldest fast food chains; Lustron porcelain enameled steel
houses (1999 is the 50th anniversary of the Lustron era); Isaly's,
originator of the Klondike Bar; and Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers, all
of which began in Ohio.  Featured speakers include Philip Langdon, author
of the book ORANGE ROOFS, GOLDEN ARCHES:  THE ARCHITECTURE OF AMERICAN
CHAIN RESTAURANTS.

The original Wendy's, which opened on E. Broad St. in Columbus in 1969,
will host a reception for conference participants on Thursday, August 19.
 The restaurant features an extensive collection of Wendy's memorabilia.

Conference sessions on Friday will be followed by a banquet at The Kahiki,
"the world's most beatuiful Polynesian supper club."  Opened in 1961, The
Kahiki was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.  Its
exotic atmosphere, like the movie palaces of the 1920s, is designed to
transport patrons to another world.  Guests dine in bamboo huts, or beside
a tropical rain forest where thunder rumbles, lightning flashes, and rain
falls on cue.

The conference concludes with a bus tour on Saturday, featuring vintage
tourist courts, motels, gas stations, and signs along the old National
Road, a stop at White Castle corporate headquarters, a look inside a
Lustron house, and a trip to the Longaberger Basket Company's new
seven-story basket-shaped office building in Newark, Ohio.

For details and a registration form, write Ohio Historic Preservation
Office, 567 E. Hudson St., Columbus, OH  43211-1030, call (614-297-2470,
or fax (614) 297-2496.  A complete program description and registration
information/form is also available on the SCA's web site,
www.sca-roadside.org.

The SCA is the oldest national organization devoted to the commercial
built environment.  SCA's goal is to promote public awareness and
understanding of the artifacts, structures, signs, and symbols of the
American commercial process, encompassing the celebrated and anonymous
work of America's best designers, with a particular emphasis on the impact
the automobile had on the shaping of our culture.

The Ohio Historic Preservation Office, housed at the Ohio Historical
Society, is the official historic preservation agency of the state of
Ohio.