A new photo exhibit opens at the Irvington Historical Society’s Bona Thompson Center on Sat., April 16 and runs through May 28. Jenny McGinnis presents vivid images of the scenes and commercial structures found along the more than two thousand miles of Route 66 through eight states. From Chicago’s hard neon and exploding architecture to the mills of St. Louis, then down to the Kansas Kan-O-Tex gas station named Cars on the Route; the prairies and plains of Oklahoma to the dusty ranches and sprawling country of the Texas Panhandle; the mountain towns of Flagstaff and Williams in Arizona, the bustling Central Avenue of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and finally the beaches and Googie architecture and car culture of Los Angeles and Santa Monica, the journeys you can have are as colorful and different as from one day to the next. Prints of these iconic images of commercial architecture will be available for purchase.
Jenny McGinnis is an Indianapolis native who has spent the last five years photographing and documenting Route 66 and its structures. She resides in Indianapolis.
On Saturday, April 16, the Bona Thompson Memorial Center will extend its hours from 5-7 p.m. for an opening reception.
On May 1 at 1 p.m., urban explorer and photographer, Jenny McGinnis and architectural historian Paul Diebold will take you on a “Road Trip: Looking at America’s Roadside Architecture” as they walk through the current Bona Thompson Center’s exhibits explaining what draws Jenny to the roadside neon of America’s early auto years and what the preservation community is doing to preserve these resources. This presentation will precede the IHS Annual Membership meeting.