Last Call: Oasis Edition

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If you have watched the Cohen Brothers’ movie Inside Llewyn Davis then your curiosity was no doubt piqued at the appearance of the Harvey House, a set piece partway through the film where three characters stop for coffee—and other stimulants—in a dining room that straddles the tollway.
This was a painstaking recreation of a real restaurant on the Illinois Tollway, with the dining hall at Pace University Briarcliff Campus in upstate New York standing in for the long-departed actual Harvey House. It recreated what was one of five original Harvey House diners that offered a high highway view. The chain was at one time managed by motelier Howard Johnson’s.
I don’t know about you, but I’d gladly pay extra to eat my road trip meals in a diner that’s actually “on the road.”
Last Call indicates the end of Hooniverse’s broadcast day.  It’s meant to be an open forum for anyone and anything. Thread jacking is not only accepted, it’s encouraged.
Image: Harvey-House.info

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  1. Colonel Panik Avatar
    Colonel Panik

    Many many times. They always bothered me though, don’t know why. My dad loved them.
    This was the 1950’s, period!

  2. salguod Avatar

    These are still around and I’ve stopped at the one on I80 near I94 south of Chicago.

    1. salguod Avatar

      Here’s a Street View image:

    2. wunno sev Avatar
      wunno sev

      yeah, these are pretty typical in the illinois tollway system and, like, nowhere else. i like them! they make a lot of sense. you can access the entirety of the rest stop from either side of the highway, so you can either build a stop half the size or offer twice as many types of thing for the same space. New Jersey has those freaky islands right in the middle of the highway, but i like this better, even if that’s probably more sensible.

      1. salguod Avatar

        We used to travel through there annually on our Christmas family tour, but haven’t in a while. Last time I visited it it was pretty sketchy with most of the chain restaurants closed and in general disrepair. I think it’s been refurbished since.

  3. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    For your non-road trip meals, you can always shop Over The Road for your dinner fixings at the Shaw’s supermarket straddling the Massachusetts Turnpike. (The MTA actually leases out airspace above the Pike. For real estate, not flight paths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Turnpike#Air_rights )
    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Shaw's_over_the_Massachusetts_Turnpike,_Newtonville_MA.jpg

  4. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Trying to find a specific one I’ve visited, it turns out Wikipedia has an entry on bridge restaurants. Of course.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_restaurant
    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Autogrill_Dorno.jpg

    1. PaulE Avatar
      PaulE

      I recall stopping at one of those in Italy fifteen plus years ago, when driving from Venice to Rome. Kinda’ trippy seeing the Italian version of a highway oasis.

  5. smalleyxb122 Avatar
    smalleyxb122

    Growing up near Chicago, the oases were commonplace. They still are, but I don’t get back there often. The Lake Forest Oasis was always the lunch stop on school field trips to the city.

  6. hwyengr Avatar
    hwyengr

    Sadly, if that’s the original Harvey House oasis on the Northwest Tollway (and I’m pretty sure it is), it was demolished last year.

  7. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    I just had a rare encounter of a foul-egg-catalysator smell. Made me wonder: Isn’t modern gasoline pretty much sulfur-free? How did this come about? It was a 15 year old BMW 5 that left the eggy fart odour for us to identify.

    1. JayP Avatar
      JayP

      The cat is wanked.
      Or the driver had too many Taco Bell tacos.

    2. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      An overcooked battery will emit sulfuric acid fumes. I learned this the first time I went to New Jersey. I thought it was the legendary smelliness of the Toxic Waste Garden State, and the equally legendary surliness of the toll booth workers (NJ has a lot of toll booths). As it turned out my diesel Rabbit’s alternator had pooped out somewhere in Connecticut and I’d been leading a Massachusetts plated parade of diesel smoke and sulfuric acid straight to downtown Rahway.

      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        I’m going to remember that as a potential car doctor show off fact. Never knew…

    1. dukeisduke Avatar
      dukeisduke

      The McDonalds on I-44 (the Will Rogers Turnpike) near Vinita, Oklahoma. I’ve been there. I’ve heard that is recently reopened, after remodeling. It’s also called the Will Rogers Archway, and there’s a statue of Will Rogers inside.

      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        The symbolism is string with this one. Route 66, Anerican flags, and outsized McDonald’s logos all meshed up into a somewhat tempting stop?

        1. Rust-MyEnemy Avatar

          Hell, I’d stop…

      2. JayP Avatar
        JayP

        My pal at work told me about this one.
        He heads that way to visit his family.

    1. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      Is it called Hotel California? Because I can see off-ramps from the highway to the rest stop (on both sides), but no on-ramps to get you back on the highway. You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave…

      1. Texlenin Avatar
        Texlenin

        You can see in the bottom of the second pic the straight road just next to the off ramp. Top one is behind that first copse o trees. Does Finland do the highway-as-emergency
        airstrip thang? That’d be a great service area for COIN aircraft.

  8. outback_ute Avatar
    outback_ute

    In Melbourne the Southland shopping centre was extended across an 8-10 lane road and there is a cafe that has the only external windows in the whole 2-storey bridge, with a great view up the road.

  9. NapoleonSolo Avatar
    NapoleonSolo

    The Pennsylvania Turnpike has the worst rest stop food in the automobile-equipped world. Add to that the fact that some of the exits are 48 miles apart, and many of them have no local services whatsoever.

    1. Dean Bigglesworth Avatar
      Dean Bigglesworth

      I’m a bit fuzzy on what was in which state, but are those the ones with some tourist info and a vending machine on a poorly lit lay-by? Or do you mean the “Service Plaza’s”? I thought those were pretty decent. Sure it was mostly only fast food but that’s pretty much the case over here in Northern Europe too.