"Websites direct visitors to places that are "authentic." People pay to FedEx pieces of a former life to themselves. I've done that more times than I count. Books are devoted to the grease palaces of the American roadside. Television shows visit and beam nostalgia to orbiting satellites. The producers don't expect people watching to actually visit. That's not what they are selling. They expect you to watch and remember longingly a past that perhaps you never had at all. They are selling you a vision of what a simpler life might be." →
If you get a minute, you should read Wright Thompson’s essay on Pete’s Famous over at Grantland (which has been killing it lately). I’m glad to say that I’ve been there once — the place was delicious.