1956 Azalea Week in Norfolk Pamphlet

A little background history from the Norkfolk NATO Festival (Azalea Festival) website:

Norfolk NATO Festival is the longest continuously running Festival in the Hampton Roads region, and the only one of its kind in the United States which honors the NATO Alliance and its member nations.

In 1951, the Women’s Club of Norfolk and a number of Norfolk’s garden clubs embraced an idea espoused by Fred Heutte, the city’s Superintendant of Parks and Forestry, to promote the city’s floral beauty through an annual Festival. Named the Norfolk Crape Myrtle Festival, it took place in Stone Park, located at the north end of The Hague, in the heat of the August sun. However, after the 1952 Festival, city business leaders from the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, the 21st Street Business Area Association, and the Retail Merchants Association revised the Festival’s theme and season, choosing a springtime Azalea Festival to highlight the beauty of the one-hundred acre Norfolk Azalea Gardens (now called Norfolk Botanical Gardens). The Festival was operated and financed as a Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with the City of Norfolk, from 1953 to 1998.

In 1953, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) established its first and only Command in North America, Supreme Allied Command, Atlantic, in Norfolk, Virginia. America, Supreme Allied Command, Atlantic, in Norfolk, Virginia. Aligning the city’s Azalea Festival with the newly formed NATO command helped it to stand out from the multitude of other azalea festivals in nearly every state south of Mason-Dixon line. One year after NATO’s arrival, Norfolk city leaders renamed this event the International Azalea Festival, which served the dual purposes of a salute to the allied forces and celebrating the beauty of the city’s gardens.

Today, the Norfolk-based NATO command is known as Allied Command Transformation (ACT), and serves as the think tank or futures organization for the Alliance. In 2009, NATO celebrated its 60th Anniversary, with 28 full member nations and 22 Partnership for Peace nations as part of the Alliance, providing an ever-increasing and dynamic international community here in Hampton Roads.

Motel Monday: Colonial Times

co·lo·ni·al  (k-ln-l)

adj.

1. Of, relating to, possessing, or inhabiting a colony or colonies.

2. often Colonial

a. Of or relating to the 13 British colonies that became the original United States of America.

b. Of or relating to the colonial period in the United States.

3. often Colonial Of, relating to, or being a style of architecture and furniture prevalent in the American colonies just before and during the Revolution

These motels mainly center around the architectural meaning. While not flashy, these really scream "down home" and I bet that's what the moteliers were trying to convey.

Colonial Statler Hilton Inn - Wakefield,  Massachusetts

Colonial Motel - St. Augustine, Florida

Adolph B. Rice Studio Collection

A description from the Library of Virginia Archives:
The Adolph B. Rice Studio Collection constitutes a unique photographic record of life in Richmond, Virginia from 1949 to 1961. The collection consists of more than 16,000 4 x 5 inch film negatives from the commercial studio of Adolph B. Rice.

Adolph B. Rice Sr. (1909-1960) opened his first photo studio in Richmond in 1949. The studio remained on North Auburn Avenue until it ceased operation in 1961. Rice was an active member of the Virginia Professional Photographer Association and the Virginia Press Photographers Association. With a reputation for quality commercial work, his clients included businesses, industry, and state and local government. Photo assignments ranged from studio portraits, to aerial views to advertising shots for local department stores. After his death in 1960, the studio was owned and operated by his son Adolph B. Rice, Jr. (1937-1974). The collection was later donated to the Library of Virginia.

These just represent some of the images in the collection. Clicking on the images will take you to the flickr stream featuring a description/information.

Fizzies Store Display

Fundo Colorforms Store Display

Valentine Dance

Easter Bunny

Lowes of Richmond

Smiley's Motor Sales, Inc.

Nurse

Campbell's Fruit Soups Display

Listerine Store Display

Puss 'n Boot Store Display

Underwood Typewriter Display

Jack and Giant

Beauty and the Beast

Harvey Hudson

Boy's Bicycle

Doll

Clown

Motel Monday: Sands Across America

This week's Motel Monday theme is motels either called the Sands or featuring Sands in the title. The Sands name appears all over the country after the Sands Hotel opens in late 1952 in Las Vegas, Nevada. I guess that owners felt that if they named their motels after the famous casino/hotel that travelers would think they had landed someplace classy and extravagant.
See all the selection by clicking on the read more button below.

Sands of Tempe Motor Hotel - Tempe, Arizona

Sands Motel - Sacramento, California