Gary's Ice Cream on N. Main Street in Jacksonville, Florida

by John Margolies

Step back to the colorful and sunny days of the roadside culture of the 1970s with this fantastic fine art photograph by architectural documentarian John Margolies. This amazing photograph from 1979 depicts Gary’s Ice Cream on N. Main Street in Jacksonville, Florida, an iconic building that was first opened back in 1950.

A master in shooting lowbrow architecture and its vernacular features, Margolies has captured the unique ice cream parlor against the background of bright blue skies with the double giant soft-serve ice cream cones that can be seen above the roof of the shop, the unique retro fonts used in its sign, and its dark-tiled facade. Stored as a part of the famous John Margolies Roadside America Photograph Archive at the Library of Congress, this is an absolutely amazing photograph of the lost era of the American mom and pop roadside culture.