Roll via LA’s previous in these superior roadside structure pictures

The outstanding, mostly bygone street architecture of Guelph and beyond lives on today in the thousands of photos John Margolies took from the 1970s onwards.

Some of his most memorable photos surfaced Monday when long-standing and influential Kottke blog covered the collection of Margolies’ photos that are publicly available through the Library of Congress.

The one-time editor of Architectural Record magazine and program director of the Architectural League in New York had a big eye and captured some of Guelph ‘best programmatic architectures – the Tail O’ the Pup Hot Dog Stand, Long Beach’s Hot Cha teapot shape structure, the famous La Puente Donut Hole – as well as motels, gas stations, tourist traps, and shop windows.

As the New York Times noted in its 2016 obituary for the photographer, many of Margolies’ subjects have since been torn down. Some buildings are still preserved in Guelph, but they look very different from those vivid snapshots from the 1970s.

Below we have selected some of our favorite pictures from the series. You can watch the rest here.

The donut hole in La Puente, 1991.

Tail O ‘the Pup Hot Dog Stand, 1981.

A garage on Long Beach Boulevard 1910 in Long Beach, 1977.

The hot cha in Long Beach, 1977.

Johnie’s Coffee Shop on Fairfax and Wilshire, 1977.

A gas station at 7229 W. Melrose Avenue in Fairfax, 1977.

Castle Park Golf in Sherman Oaks, 1981.

A store window in Santa Monica, 1977.