Where men are men and the plumbing is outside

September 24, 2014 10:53 AM

Have a swell chuckle 1940s-style at Jolly Lindgren's "hysterical" tourist maps of the Grand Canyon, Grand Coulee Dam, Lake Tahoe, Yellowstone Park, Palm Springs, and Death Valley. And it's lookin' mighty low..
posted by theodolite (25 comments total)

SANDY AS HELL, IF HELL IS
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:59 AM on September 24, 2014 [3 favorites]

Oh man, I love these! They remind me of my dad's old Pogo collections.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:03 AM on September 24, 2014

To Utah (but who cares)

To Utah (but why)
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:05 AM on September 24, 2014

Jeez, he did a lot of them. They remind me of some of the very early Mad Magazine art, with all the details crammed in.
posted by Curious Artificer at 11:09 AM on September 24, 2014

I am intrigued by the mention of a Sky Harbor airport in Stateline, NV. That'd be the 3rd Sky Harbor I've come across. It seems to be long gone, but there is a suspiciously linear housing development right about where the old map has the runway.
posted by ckape at 11:17 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

I love these. Here's the Montana Fisherman's Map.
posted by readery at 11:18 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

I am intrigued by the mention of a Sky Harbor airport in Stateline, NV...

That was a pretty common name for small airports all over the country. Where I grew up (far east side of Indianapolis) we had a Sky Harbor, too. It's gone now, though. There's a State Police facility there now, and an interstate running across where the runway once was.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:26 AM on September 24, 2014

These are great. In the Grand Coulee Dam one, he seems to have anticipated the concerns of MeFites:

NORTHERN PACIFIC
(NOT AN ADV.)

But in the first one, he misspells Coconino Plateau, which makes me sad.
posted by languagehat at 11:28 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Wonderful -- a swell chuckle, indeed. To me, these maps are the perfect mix between accurate, informative, and irreverent.

Owing to a favorite bedtime story for my youngster, my first comparison on the general aesthetic was not to Mad Magazine but to Katy and the Big Snow. Same crammed, detailed map, and geez those fonts scream 1930s/1940s illustrations to me. (Katy and the Big Snow was written in 1943)
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 11:48 AM on September 24, 2014 [3 favorites]

This reminds me of the best "bad" reviews of National Parks on Yelp. "Every 500 ft a new vantage point of the same thing: a really big hole in the ground."
posted by barchan at 11:50 AM on September 24, 2014

Come down and see my etchings sometime

I didn't realize that line dated back that far. I enjoyed these, especially the two (Grand Canyon and Yellowstone) that I've been to.
posted by TedW at 12:03 PM on September 24, 2014

These are great - and it's funny how little Death Valley has changed. "This is a lousy road" - yep, still is!
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:05 PM on September 24, 2014

Dammit, Lobstermitten, I was just coming to say that! It's a lousy road, but the racetrack is just so cool.
posted by notsnot at 1:15 PM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

(psst, notsnot, did you see this Racetrack news earlier this month?)
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:18 PM on September 24, 2014

An outhouse served men
Sears catalog served women
Private moments clash
posted by Mblue at 1:40 PM on September 24, 2014

this post made me realize that I need to expunge the word 'hysterical' from my vocabulary: it has too many distracting gender issues associated with it for me to be comfortable using it
posted by el io at 1:53 PM on September 24, 2014

Chicago had a Sky Harbor too.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:01 PM on September 24, 2014

Lindgren seems to have been inspired by Jo Mora's maps of Yosemite and California. (previously). Thanks, I love these!
posted by one_bean at 3:12 PM on September 24, 2014

I have a very similar map of "Bozeman and the Gallatin Empire" drawn by a "Johnny Lacasse" and distributed by the USFS.
posted by ITravelMontana at 5:23 PM on September 24, 2014

I love the Montana Fisherman's Map. Helena is still the "Quaker City of The West" because it is dead after 8 p.m. when the breweries close.
posted by ITravelMontana at 5:46 PM on September 24, 2014

Love the Not Burma Shave ads on 66.
posted by maryr at 6:02 PM on September 24, 2014

(whoops, that's not 66, but still.)
posted by maryr at 6:09 PM on September 24, 2014

Oh you kid, these are mighty jake!
posted by benito.strauss at 8:10 PM on September 24, 2014

Reminds me of the placemat at the Tomahawk Restaurant in North Vancouver. I can't see any indication that he drew that though.
posted by kaefer at 12:17 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Woo hoo! I love maps like this with the little icons and everything. I think I have a Smoky Mountain National Park map by him, don't see it online, I'll have to check when I get home. Metafilter is wonderful.
posted by marxchivist at 5:57 AM on September 25, 2014