Book Review: ‘The Great American Retro Road Trip’

There is something about Americana many of us find solace in, whether or not we recognize it overtly. This is especially true when it comes to hitting the road and seeing the sights. As we marvel at those relics of the past, they offer us a slice of a much larger story. They spark our curiosity as simply observing tells us something about the place we found them and the happenings that occurred there before we arrived. We feel that sense of ease in the moment, but it often fades as we quickly turn our attention back to the present.

Rolando Pujol is an exception.

“The Great American Retro Road Trip: A Celebration of Roadside Americana”

The author and journalist documents these intriguing insights on America’s past as a lifelong passion and key part of his work.

As Pujol notes in the introduction of his new book, “The Great American Retro Road Trip: A Celebration of Roadside Americana,” the pursuit emerged in childhood as he marveled at the eccentricities surrounding him. The memories were profound and persistent, especially as those staples of his upbringing slowly faded to pave way for the emerging modern era.

“I began to appreciate how significant these places were, how almost criminally underappreciated they were by much of society,” Pujol writes.

This realization pushed him to explore and share the unique landmarks that survived, first in newspapers and then on news websites, social media, and eventually his ongoing blog and newsletter, The Retrologist. Now, anyone interested in a closer look can hold Pujol’s account of nostalgic American history and culture in their hands.

Pujol spent the last several years compiling his explorations from The Retrologist and beyond into the new book, published earlier this week on June 24. He called the book a “wonderful next step in this journey, a blessing in life that lays a strong, new foundation in my quest to explore and celebrate roadside Americana.”

A Lifelong Retrologist

The origin of “The Great American Retro Road Trip” begins with Pujol’s first family road trip to Miami Beach in 1977, when he was just 4 years old. Even at such a young age, he found the journey more exciting than the destination.

In 1998, he took his first solo road trip at age 25. Having full control of the itinerary, Pujol centered his debut expedition around the roadside Americana he’d see along the way. But it wasn’t until the new millennium that he truly tackled this passion in a public-facing way. His earliest professional writing on the topic was in 2005, reporting about New York City preservation issues for amNewYork as managing editor.

As he began posting a mix of more random content on Tumblr and Instagram in 2012 under The Retrologist, he found that people were especially drawn to the nostalgic stops he recounted online. Sensing an opportunity to share something he loved with an appreciative audience, his focus shifted toward the vintage remnants of America’s past. His Instagram page gained traction in 2019, and the pandemic yearning of 2020 created an even more aggressive hunger for nostalgia-related travel content.

By the tail-end of 2022, a publisher took interest in his work and Pujol knew he had to go for it.

Retrologist defined: “A practitioner or expert in the ‘retro’ — really, it’s vintage, though ‘Vintagologist’ doesn’t sound quite as nice.”

Structuring “The Great American Retro Road Trip”

The book is divided into 10 regions (The Northeast, New England, The Mid-Atlantic, The Southeast, South Central, The Midwest, The Heartland, The Desert Southwest, The Mountain West, The Pacific Northwest, and California).

Each region includes categories to contain distinct elements of roadside Americana:

• Roadside Quirks: those one-off, often quirky, marvels you won’t find elsewhere
• Roadside Eats: classic culinary stops
• Mainstay of Main Street: places you’d find in an American downtown or strip mall
• On with the Show: theaters and entertainment
• Sweet Stops: candy stores, ice cream stands, and other sweet spots
• Cheers!: bars, taverns, and liquor stores

Pujol also includes sidebars throughout, featuring restaurants and unique places meriting a deeper dive.

Design and Visuals

While the book’s contents are expansive and detailed, “The Great American Retro Road Trip” doesn’t feel bloated. The regional sections and repeating categories within help, but pairing them with clean and functional design provides an even smoother experience.

Every region is accompanied by its own color, lining about a fourth-inch at the top of each page. When the book is closed, you’ll see the sequence of colors from the side and top illustrating each regional section. As you make your way inside, this simple but effective code acts as an easy reference point. Once you get a feel for the book, it’s a quick visual cue to seamlessly guide you to each specific region.

Every page is decorated with abundant visuals, which feels non-negotiable for this topic. Each photo is paired with a number tied to an in-text reference, so you can quickly learn more after looking at a photo or otherwise find corresponding visuals while reading Pujol’s written explanations. The first mention of every new place and attraction is bolded, creating even more ease and ensuring you never get lost in the text.

Putting the “Retro Road Trip” on Paper

It’s evident as you turn through the pages that “The Great American Retro Road Trip” came from decades of travel and tireless documentation, from the pen of someone who is truly passionate and committed to these cultural wonders.

Even so, I couldn’t quite fathom that these experiences all came from the same person. (When I asked Pujol if everything in the book came from his experiences and travel alone, he confirmed the answer is indeed “yes.”)

Chunks of “The Great American Retro Road Trip” came from his past work for The Retrologist. However, Pujol realized that he wanted the book to have a more comprehensive approach as he began writing. So, he hit the road to fill in the gaps.

“I managed to get to every state in the lower 48 in an increasingly mad-dash whirl of hectic weekend getaways as the deadline neared,” Pujol said. “It was important to me to have that geographic swath of representation. Apologies to Alaska and Hawaii — I’ll get there if there’s a next book, and I hope there will be because I’ve enjoyed this one so much.”

Writing and Storytelling

It’s simply a gorgeous book. I found myself losing time flipping through and looking at all of the pictures, with those especially catching my eye prompting me to learn more via the in-text reference number alongside it. And Pujol’s writing is just as engaging.

While I was stunned this was all his doing, I’d be hard-pressed to believe that such detailed and immersive prose came from someone who hadn’t actually been on the road and lived these experiences firsthand. It’s written as if you are on this journey with Pujol, including personal musings, his ongoing “travelogue” throughout the trek, some history, and (in Pujol’s words) “all heart.” He told me, “A lot of myself goes into this work,” and it shows.

As soon as you start reading, it’s clear you’re in good hands. His accounts are engaging and fun to read, but Pujol’s decades of experience as a journalist also shine through. The storytelling is strong, and each pit stop lasts as long as it should. Every highlight comes with ample information to spark curiosity and provide needed context. Though it never feels like you’re overstaying, as Pujol swiftly has you back on the road and onto the next destination.

More Than Just a Travel Book

Candidly, I wasn’t aware of Pujol’s work until I pursued this review and interview. As the editor of Road Trips for Families, I’m always looking for relevant stories to share with our audience. When I first learned about this upcoming release in early May, it was an obvious fit. I didn’t think much about the topic or how I felt about it. Then I got my hands on the book and started thinking deeper about my relationship to the retro relics around me.

An Angeleno of five years living in Hollywood, I still feel like an LA baby (maybe I’ve made it to toddler status). I often take extra time to marvel at the signs and structures that were clearly here long before I was alive, let alone living among them. As I find myself experiencing the new chapters of Los Angeles in real time, I confront those completed passages that laid the ground work. It’s humbling to think of the countless stories that came before my own, in good times and bad.

It’s similar when I return home, spying ’90s remnants in Northern Colorado that promptly transport me back to my childhood and everything I’ve experienced since. Even in new places, the echoes of the past stick with me most. It’s a similar grounding feeling, even though I’m witnessing these things for the first time in a place I’ve never visited.

This feeling is most obvious in my daily Los Angeles life; wherever it happens, it’s not always a totally conscious experience. I didn’t realize until I opened the book that these seemingly distinct exercises are essentially the same — looking toward the past to put the present into perspective. Really, the location and context-specific applications to my life are the only differences.

(And That’s What “The Great American Retro Road Trip” is Going For)

After I shared this with Pujol, he affirmed this sensation “gets to the heart of what I hope to do with The Retrologist.” Its earliest manifestations had him sharing the small things he’d see walking around New York or during his travels, coming together to tell a more significant story.

“It’s a form of everyday archaeology, mining the recent past, a way of stopping and smelling the roses without risking a sneezing fit,” he said, as every observation comes with a complex yarn to unravel. “… The Retrologist outlook on life gives you a lens by which to evaluate your surroundings in a fresh way, to find little history lessons or hidden qualities that add meaning and value to your travels, whether it be in your hometown or half a continent away.”

More than “appreciation for the sake of appreciation,” he said, the approach adds richness and awareness which can effectively drive positive change; it helps us appreciate the ecosystem of the built environment around us. To Pujol, the “spectacular effort that went into cultivating experiences that would amuse, entertain, and, of course, get you to fork over a few bucks,” is what makes roadside Americana so special.

“There’s something distinctly American about this: It’s a form of cultural expression that peaked in the mid-20th century, riding the wave of widespread car ownership, a booming economy, and a pre-jet age sense of liberation, but as we get farther away from that period, and live more in our digital and social bubbles, the allure of a tangible piece of American marketing grit holds more allure than ever.”

The Verdict

So, should you pick up this book? My vote is yes. As someone who doesn’t travel nearly as much as they’d like, I’ve already gotten something magical out of it.

Could “The Great American Retro Road Trip” make for a fun coffee table book? Well, sure. Although, placing this rich collection of experiences and cultural insights inside that box alone feels like a reductive slight to the work that created it and everything it might inspire once you see what’s inside.

If you find yourself hitting the road or traveling to new places frequently, this book feels all the more practical to add to your collection. While there’s something to be said for those popular attractions — the places you’ll find Googling “what to do while visiting [whatever place]” — “The Great American Retro Road Trip” invites you to explore the hidden gems you might otherwise miss. And that’s what Pujol is after: creating a new frame for travelers and even folks like me, who are most often traversing the place they call home in their day-to-day adventures.

“You will begin to see things about the world around you that you never noticed before, and that could make your life just so much richer and more interesting, or so I’d like to think. You’ll start asking questions and learning things. You’ll become a Retrologist, too.”

Rolando Pujol’s Message to Readers

Pujol hopes readers can visit as many of these places, and those like them, as possible, calling the book “just a hearty serving of a larger meal.” He also urged readers to support these places so they live to see another day. Pujol shared a more solemn element of the writing process as we wrapped up: Many places he mentioned have since closed, and it happens rapidly. He alluded to several spots that were up and running in December 2024 but have since shut their doors for good as of June 2025.

“This book is as much a celebration as it is an elegy,” Pujol closed. “Visiting and supporting these places can put off the elegy a little longer.”

“The Great American Retro Road Trip: A Celebration of Roadside Americana” is available now in hardcover and eBook formats.

To keep up with Rolando Pujol’s travels and ongoing quest to document America’s nostalgic pleasures, find him on Instagram.

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About the Author: Keegan Williams is a freelance editor and writer based in Los Angeles. They have written for publications including HuffPost, LGBTQ Nation, and High Times. Keegan has a passion for fitness, and they are heavily immersed in LA’s underground dance scene with a love for techno and other high-energy electronic music genres.

You can find them at keeganmwilliams.com or on Instagram @promwitch.