{"title":"Cool Stuff Sold","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"new-jersey-turnpike-mid-century-decorative-plate-highlighting-the-route-s-prominent-features-made-for-howard-johnsons","title":"New Jersey Turnpike Mid-Century Decorative Plate Highlighting The Route’s Prominent Features (Made For Howard Johnson's)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMID-ATLANTIC. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHome Decor \/ Kitchen Decor, Decorative Plate, Souvenir, c. 1950s.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCommemorating the 1951 completion of the New Jersey Turnpike, this plate was specially commissioned by Howard Johnson’s, a restaurant chain with gift shops located all along the route. It was produced by California’s Vernon Kilns, U.S.A., using illustrations designed by artist Paul L. Davidson, whose humble small signature can barely be seen at the bottom below the Pulaski Skyway Underpass. This version of the plate is rendered in blue tones, giving it a feel of Delft pottery. Included in the design are the aforementioned Pulaski Skyway Underpass, the Garden State Parkway Interchange, the Lincoln Tunnel, the George Washington Bridge, cloverleaf interchanges at Swedesboro-Chester and at South Camden-Woodbury, the Delaware Memorial Bridge, and the Tollbooth at that bridge, which of course is the illustration around which all the rest revolve. The entire 118 mile length of the route, with a complete absence of traffic lights, is laid out on the plate rim. A detailed description of how the New Jersey Turnpike System was conceived as a model of modern express highway engineering is on the back of the plate. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: Used Very Good. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTravel Related. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions: 10.25\" diameter\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Regionals","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45909337145601,"sku":"C1MANEW00110","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0723\/3264\/0513\/files\/new-jersey-turnpike-hojo-decorative-plate-01-0349.jpg?v=1735067808"},{"product_id":"boston-massachusetts-hexagonal-trinket-dish","title":"Boston Massachusetts Hexagonal Trinket Dish","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNORTHEAST. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHome Decor \/ Kitchen Decor, Decorative Dish, Souvenir, c. 1960s. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeaturing the U.S.S. Constitution in its center, this attractive bowl was made in Japan to serve as a souvenir of a visit to historic Boston, Massachusetts. The condition is generally good, the worst wear being to the caption for the Swan Boats Public Garden in Boston Commons. And it is clear this is because mostly right-handed people have been picking it up. Many admirers’ thumbs have rubbed the blue lettering to the fading point. And there’s so much to be appreciated here, from the lovely floral scrolling around “Old Ironsides” to images of Beantown’s iconic cultural, historical, and civic sites. The dish is a hexagonal shape, and each of its six sides has a destination point shown in striking blue tones. Aside from the ones already mentioned, there is the Bunker Hill Monument, the State House, Paul Revere’s House, the Prudential Center, and Faneuil Hall. For decoration only—do not use for clam chowder no matter how tempting. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: Used Very Good. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLocal \/ Regional Areas. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions: 6” diameter x 1.25” deep \/ 7 oz\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Regionals","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45949814145281,"sku":"C1NEBOS00017","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0723\/3264\/0513\/files\/boston-massachusetts-hexagonal-trinket-dish-01-0645.jpg?v=1736633188"},{"product_id":"klondike-lost-a-decade-of-photographs-by-kinsey-kinsey","title":"Klondike Lost: A Decade of Photographs by Kinsey \u0026 Kinsey","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCANADA. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePhotographic History \/ Documentary. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll the great 19th century North American gold rush events occurred within a similar frame: a few intrepid, innovative, or just plain lucky souls discover a major gold vein, there is a huge rush of enterprising risk-takers and an even larger substrate of the naive get-rich-quick types susceptible to utopian advertising and cons—plus those who would do the conniving. These frontier points were swarmed by a tsunami of all of the above, with camps of the adventurous swelling overnight into semi-lawless town-like hubs. Out of this would then gel something like a functioning municipality, eventually electing sheriffs, mayors, and judges (who may or may not be on the up). They would attract hoteliers and saloon-keepers, newsmen and the brothels, as well as whole families and the church-going. If lucky (for posterity’s sake), they would also attract photographers. The farther west that these strikes occurred, it seemed the more hearty those required to take them on. And Klondike (just south of today’s Dawson City) in the Yukon Territory of western Canada was the farthest west of them all—the last great frontier gold strike on the continent. Indeed, this gold rush would attract the list mentioned above; but luckily it also brought forth the Kinsey brothers, Clarence and Clarke (Clarence also attracted by the actual gold in the ground). Researched by Norm Bolotin in the 1970s and published by The Alaska Geographic Society in 1980, this wonderful book of photographs holds witness to the boom and bust of the central hub of the Klondike Gold Rush, Grand Forks, as told through the lenses and glass plate negatives of the Kinsey brothers. Paying particular attention to the rapid construction of both the town and the mining industry, as well as those brave souls who ventured to this forbidding far-flung place, these frames trace a decade of extraordinary ups and downs. At its peak in the first few years of the 1900s, over 10,000 residents had landed in Grand Forks, holding holiday celebrations and parades, all with the hopes of striking it rich. But by the end of that decade, almost all but the most intrepid were gone. Such would be the same for a fascinating chapter in continental frontier history but for the works of Clarence and Clarke Kinsey, whose images of a town now lost to time (few structures or even the ruins of structures still exist at the site of Grand Forks) are preserved here, ethereal if once a very real place. [Condition: At 40+ years old, this horizontal-layout softcover is in good shape. There is the normal shelf-wear and creasing on its spine edges, with both front and back covers having been bent at one point. The interior pages are in excellent shape.] \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: Used Good. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNonfiction \/ History. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNorm Bolotin. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Alaska Geographic Society, 1980. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOversized Softcover, 128 pgs, 11 x 8\" \/ 1 lb\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Regionals","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46165693530369,"sku":"B1PNKLO00053","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0723\/3264\/0513\/files\/klondike-yukon-photographs-kinsey-01-1215.jpg?v=1743002638"},{"product_id":"the-cumberland-rivers-of-america-series","title":"The Cumberland \/ Rivers of America Series","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTHE SOUTH. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHistory \/ Natural History. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeginning in 1937 during a period when full volume travel-touring documentary books were appearing on American bookshelves en masse, this unique sweeping series continued on until 1974. Volume 63 appeared towards the end of the run, adding a river as old-and-wise-seeming as the Appalachia and Cumberland Plateau regions through which it flows, trundling across northern Tennessee before emptying into the Ohio River. The origin of the series idea and its first editor, Candace Skinner, purposefully sought out not historians, but writers, stating: “This is to be a literary and not a historical series. The authors of these books will be novelists and poets” … James McCague was a prolific 20th century writer. He ranged across American themes, if settling in mostly with 19th century subjects: white settler expansion west, the railroads, the steamboat era on The Mississippi—and Cumberland—rivers, the tragic 1863 New York City Draft Riots, plus a volume on the great and influential Shawnee chief, Tecumseh. To his credit, McCague does not start The Cumberland with Daniel Boone, as so many other regional histories had done prior to the aperture of American history storytelling opening more fully. He gives the earliest inhabitants of the region their due in vital chapters, prior to the essential story of Boone, the flatboat settlers in his wake, and the resulting explosive growth of Nashville along The Cumberland’s banks. With superb illustrations by Charles Walker, this first edition is a wonderful addition for the series collector, or anyone who (like us) feels drawn to this magnificent region of the country. A final description is taken from the inner dust jacket: \"The Cumberland River flows mainly through Tennessee, but it begins and ends in Kentucky. The surrounding area is one of the richest and most interesting—both physically and historically—in the mid-American heartland. James McCague describes not only the natural beauty but also the history of the river that became a vital artery of America's westward expansion.\" [Condition: A first edition in very good shape. The dust jacket has the slight evidence of age, a minor tear and edge shelf wear. The volume itself is in near mint condition, with only minor age-related “foxing” noticeable on outside page edges.] \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: Used Very Good. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTravel \/ Touring. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJames McCague. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHolt Rhinehart Winston, 1973. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHardcover (First Edition), 225 pgs, 5.5 x 8\" \/ 1 lb\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Regionals","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46208755532033,"sku":"B1SOCUM00033","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0723\/3264\/0513\/files\/cumberland-rivers-of-america-01-1307.jpg?v=1744416657"},{"product_id":"a-naturalists-blue-ridge-parkway","title":"A Naturalist's Blue Ridge Parkway","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eATLANTIC SOUTH \/ THE SOUTH. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNatural History. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnyone who has taken a few trips down the engineering-marvel that is the Blue Ridge Parkway knows that it is so much more than a road. It is a thruway fit snug within an outdoor natural museum. The soft rolling views, often spooling out like rounded waves to the horizon, are there to remind travelers that these are some of the oldest mountain formations on the globe, peaks that once soared like the Rockies when Pangea was still a thing. That rich geological note is at a glance around every bend. But so is the amazing diversity of flora and fauna. David T. Catlin, a naturalist for the National Park Service, assembled this expertly rendered appreciation \/ guide in the 1980s, giving deep context to that natural bounty and adding a necessary addition to the literature of this treasured roadway. The back cover description is spot-on: “Winding over the crests and through the valleys of the southern Appalachian highlands … the Blue Ridge Parkway offers the traveler a natural spectacle unsurpassed for complexity and grandeur. This book is a lively and compact on-the-spot guide to the region’s features, geological history, and natural inhabitants—from its plants, insects, and fish to its reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals.” Want to see a cove forest? Covered. Golden Eagles? Covered. A wall of rhododendron like you will see nowhere else? Definitely covered. Context is the foundation for appreciation and wonder when you step out into nature. This rich volume puts you there, urging all to go and take this drive, one like nowhere else, and stop—often—along the way! [Condition: Aside from the slightest of corner cover nicks, this book is in like new condition, even at 40+ years of age; there is not even a single spine crease, only slight age discoloration on the inside back cover. Its interior, including a collection of black \u0026amp; white illustrations and photos, is in mint condition.] \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: Used Very Good. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNature \/ Outdoors. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDavid T. Catlin. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUniversity of Tennessee Press, 1984. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSoftcover (First Edition), 208 pgs, 6 x 8.5\" \/ 14 oz\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Regionals","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46208756285697,"sku":"B1ASBLU00016","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0723\/3264\/0513\/files\/naturalists-blue-ridge-parkway-01-1327.jpg?v=1744417045"},{"product_id":"a-short-history-of-canada-by-desmond-morton","title":"A Short History of Canada, by Desmond Morton","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCANADA. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHistory. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe take issue with the “short” in this book’s title, for this seems as definitive a single volume of the timeline of America’s polite robust neighbor to the north as could be. It is short, only by a purely academic measure; as it covers ALL of the not surprisingly rich and raucous history of Canada. Following a brief intro that hovers over Canada’s official recognition as an actual country: Dominion Day, July 1, 1867, (actual full independence from the United Kingdom not arriving until 1982, a fact that would surprise most, us too!) Morton resets to the very beginning. He does well by the First Nations, who were estimated at near half a million individuals across today’s Canada at first contact with Europeans: from the Abenaki in the east, Ottawa and Wyandot in modern Ontario, Ojibwa and Blackfoot on the plains, and the many coastal First Nations along the Pacific coast. As with natives across the Americas, their numbers plummeted mostly as a result of disease, but also conflict and land loss, as Europeans moved in. Morton moves his narrative into the Canada of fur traders, logging, and commercial fisheries unequaled in their raw resource capability; Canada (like America) boasting a long agrarian tradition too. There is the Canada navigating French and English Canadians living side-by-side in the wake of their respective homelands fighting bitter wars, Morton bringing this unease up to the modern era attempts at Quebec’s independence. There is the Canada leery of its ever-questing ever-unsettled southern neighbor, using this as a source of irritation to swell its own independent growth, development, and national pride. And finally, there is Morton landing on a curious question: was the 20th century the American—or Canadian—century? We will leave off with this from Morton himself: “In each generation, Canadians have had to learn how to live with each other in this big, rich land. It has never been easy. If we ignore history, we make it doubly difficult.” [Condition: Used Good. At first glance, this book looked brand new. And so, we were upset to find pen \/ highlighter markings across the first few chapters. Luckily, the pen-wielding reader seemed to have only read or at least marked up to page 60, the majority of the book left unmarked. Put aside the markings and we could have listed the book “Like New.”] \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: Used Good. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNonfiction \/ History. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDesmond Morton. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMcClelland \u0026amp; Stewart Ltd., 2001 (original © 1983). \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSoftcover, 395 pgs, 5.5 x 8.5 \" \/ 1 lb 2 oz\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Regionals","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46208757825793,"sku":"B1CACAN00159","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0723\/3264\/0513\/files\/short-history-canada-desmond-morton-01-1370.jpg?v=1744417472"},{"product_id":"puerto-rico-decorative-ceramic-wall-plate-souvenir-of-capilla-del-cristo","title":"Puerto Rico Decorative Ceramic Wall Plate, Souvenir of Capilla Del Cristo","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eATLANTIC SOUTH. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHome Decor \/ Kitchen Decor, Decorative Plate, Souvenir, c. 1960s. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis little Puerto Rico dish showing one of its capital city’s most popular tourist attractions was manufactured by the Hutschenreuther porcelain company in northern Bavaria, Germany. Numbered as 69, it was produced exclusively for a distributor, Bared \u0026amp; Sons, with a jewelry shop located in San Juan. Certainly this is a gem of a piece, and it features an image of a chapel honoring the ‘Christ of Miracles’ rendered in deep sapphire blue. There is a legend surrounding the historic church connected to the city’s patron Saint, John the Baptist. Early in the 1730s, at festivities held celebrating John, Cristo Street was host to a horse race that resulted in a participant falling from his mount and off a cliff. Secretary of the Government Don Tomás Mateo Prats is said to have invoked Christ the Savior (in Spanish Santo Cristo de la Salud) to save the unfortunate young man. Here things get a bit murkier, as later reports claimed the rider died, but a good story won’t be denied, and the accepted version became that he was miraculously kept from death. A church built on the site of the ‘miracle’ to give thanks was dedicated as The Chapel of Christ the Savior. This chapel (capilla) has been a popular destination in San Juan since at least the year 1780, and it eventually became the subject of the decorative souvenir plate offered here. [Condition: Like New.] \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: Like New. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLocal \/ Regional Attractions. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions: 6.25” diameter x 0.75” deep \/ 7 oz\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Regionals","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46329122423041,"sku":"C1ASCAP00219","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0723\/3264\/0513\/files\/capilla-del-cristo-puerto-rico-plate-01-1479.jpg?v=1748389069"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0723\/3264\/0513\/collections\/hawaii-souvenir-metal-serving-tray-10-9804.jpg?v=1773768150","url":"https:\/\/theregionals.store\/collections\/cool-stuff-sold.oembed","provider":"The Regionals","version":"1.0","type":"link"}