Rolando Pujol: The Great American Retro Road Trip

Join us for an in-person event with award-winning journalist Rolando Pujol for a discussion of his new book The Great American Retro Road Trip. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

Can’t make the event?

ACCESSIBILITY:

Strand Book Store is an ADA compliant venue. The event space is accessible via elevator. Please ask a Strand employee upon arrival for directions to accessible seating if preferred.

ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our events team at ZXZlbnRzIHwgc3RyYW5kYm9va3MgISBjb20= by 6/18 to request.

For further information on accessibility in this space, or to make a request, please contact .

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Celebrate the nostalgic pleasures of America's vintage signs, quirky roadside attractions, and offbeat fast food relics in this irresistible retro road trip across the country.

The Great American Retro Road Trip is a coast-to-coast journey chronicling retro roadside America. Discover classic giant roadside attractions, from The Coffee Pot and The Big Duck to the World’s Largest Paint Can and the Haines Shoe House. Or iconic signage, like the dazzling Yoken’s neon sign, and the classic Moon Motel sign. Still-standing vintage locations of America’s favorite chain restaurants, from Pizza Hut to McDonald’s to Taco Bell. Through author Rolando Pujol’s anecdotes and clever narrative, readers will come away with a sweeping sense of roadside charm that still exists, as well as a desire to see it all for themselves.

These lingering traces of America’s past are an archive of disappearing roadside signage and architecture, and they tell a story of American ingenuity, creativity, and community. Whether you pick up this book for the nostalgia-inducing photos, the heartwarming stories, or as a reference for planning your own trip, you’ll be encouraged to, as Pujol says, “Let your curiosity guide you.”

Rolando Pujol has been an award-winning journalist in the newsrooms of several newspapers and television stations in New York City for over three decades.

Fueled by a passion for storytelling and a love of the American roadside, Rolando often leaves the traffic-choked streets of Manhattan to explore the bucolic roads of the Heartland. This is all thanks to his long-term project, The Retrologist, where he shares captivating stories and photos from the American roadside. Across platforms, including a Substack newsletter, he has over 100,000 followers who keep up with his nostalgic travelogues. 

When he’s not on the road, Pujol is the executive producer of digital content, innovation, and strategy at WABC-TV Channel 7, the flagship station of the ABC television network.

His most recent Emmy award, for a profile of a New York sign-manufacturing shop, emerged from his love of roadside Americana.

He lives in New York.

Also check out other Trips & Adventurous Activities in New York, Arts events in New York, Literary Art events in New York.