Howdy! I’m Mod Betty (in real life Beth Lennon) a gal with a passion for finding and photographing cool old places and things from the past. I created Retro Roadmap, and The Retro Roadmap Maps to make it easy to visit these vintage places, whether they’re down the street – across the country!
If you hang around Retro Roadmap a while you’ll meet the cast of characters who accompany me on many of my adventures:
Retro Roadhusband
My loveable Retro Roadhusband, always ready to help try out a new roadside food stand or vintage eatery (even if it means waiting ’til I take a photo of it!)
The Retro Roadkids
The rambunctious Retro Roadkids – my nieces and nephew, who know when I come to visit that we’ll probably eat in a diner, have pancakes for lunch, go candlepin bowling and maybe have an ice cream too!
And lastly Retro Roaddog, who keeps me company back at Retro Roadmap HQ as I type up my notes on the cool old places I want to share with you!
Retro Roadmap is my labor of love, my way of doing my part in celebrating these authentic places that have managed to survive and keep their original charm.It is my dream to have tons of locations listed in every state and beyond, so there’s always a resource handy to find the recommended authentic and vintage alternatives to the chains out there!
I hope that by making it easy to find these unique and independent places it will help them survive a bit longer, so everyone can enjoy this slice of American history.
Thanks for swinging by Retro Roadmap! And if you ever want to get in touch, it’s modbetty AT retroroadmap DOT com 
Helium Design
I’m so glad I stumbled upon your site! I love it and am so excited to visit these cool historical places!!
Thank you!
Aw, Melly – all I can say is Thanks! Have fun checking out the Retro Roadmap worthy places we’ve been able to get to so far, and keep your eyes peeled for ones that can be added to the maps!
I am so glad I stumbled upon your website. We must have lived and traveled in a lot of the same places as I’m familiar with many of the places you’ve listed. I’m from PA, but I lived in the Boston area for many years including a few years in Hull! I will definitely be checking out the places I didn’t know about before.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Jessica- I’m so glad you stumbled upon Retro Roadmap too! Glad that I’ve hit some of the spots familiar to you – if you know of any others that fit in, feel free to share the wealth!
I’m having trouble getting your email link to work, but I’ll keep trying. In the meantime, I wanted to tell you how great I think RetroRoadmap is. I’m sure we’ll plan many trips with information from your site.
I have a great hamburger joint for your list, as well as a couple of spots to see Isamu Noguchi sculptures in Fort Worth, TX. My son-in-law also owns a mid-century store in Dallas, TX, but he’s moving to a new location in a couple of weeks, so I’ll hold off sending information about it till the move is complete.
Hope you’ll stop by my blog!
Dana McGill-Perez
Mid2Mod
Dana- thanks so much for swinging by Retro Roadmap and “oh crap!” and “so sorry!” about the email troubles you encountered. I’ve emailed you separately about ‘em and do apologize as that’s probably not a good first impression to make. In any case, I’m totally looking forward to hearing what you have to share – hard to believe it’s coming up on 1 year since Retro Roadhusband and I made our TX trek to Austin!
Hi Mod Betty,
It is great to have found your site – love it! It doesn’t look like you’ve featured anything in Utah yet and we’d love to invite you to our wonderful and beautiful part of the worlds in Southern Utah – Kanab – and welcome you to check out the Quail Park Lodge – I believe it and the town are the perfect fit for your readers! Thanks – Matt, Owner, Quail Park Lodge and Bob Bon Inn.
Matt! Thanks for swinging by Retro Roadmap and we’ll definitely put your little motel on our list of places to check out – it looks adorable!
Greetings from across the pond! I got super excited when I discovered your site. I am heading across the great pond in October and my American chums have asked what kind of things do I want to see/eat/drink/do whilst I am over. Your site just about covers it
Toodle Pip
Claire! Welcome to (my version of) America! I hope that Retro Roadmap will be a resource for travelers from all over the place – I mean if I was in another country I’d so much rather see authentic cool stuff like this, than boring chain stores and faux attractions. Will you be on the east coast at all? Let me know your plans and I’d be happy to make some recommendations!
Hello! Totally agree with you, authentic and cool is definitely the way to go. It is the quirky every day stuff that I love, will hold my hands up and say that I am probably influenced by TV shows and Movies as well
I live near Liverpool in the UK and having played tour guide a few times now has influenced the things I want to see etc when I am travelling to new places.
East Coast will be the main playground for my trip, so that would be cool! Flying in and out of Boston and travelling all over the place. Luckily have a cool tour guide who loves the history side of things, but I stumped her with my soda fountain, cool diners and weird roadside attractions requests. Should be booking flights soon and firming out itinerary so hopefully it would be okay to pester you then?
Claire! You’re in luck, as I grew up just outside of Boston and know more “Retro Roadmap worthy places in that area than anyplace around. It would not be a pester, it would be a Pleasure to help you find some “off the beaten international tourist trail” places to visit when you’re in the states – can’t wait!!!!
Oh thank you so much, even more excited about my trip now!!
Hello it is me again! Finally booked my flights and put together a rough itinerary http://crpitt.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/crossing-pond-again.html, as you can see I am all over the place, but lots of road travel (no idea what actual roads)., so hopefully there are some cool places to stop at along the way