If You Know, You Know: The Hometown Landmarks We Photographed and Never Forgot.
From giant roadside attractions to neighborhood restaurants that disappeared decades ago, old photographs can bring back the places everyone knew growing up.
Every town had that one place where everybody took pictures. Maybe it was a fountain outside the shopping center, the local ice cream stand, or some strange landmark nobody outside your town would recognize. These old hometown landmarks often meant more to the people who grew up around them than anyone visiting could understand.
Your parents probably made you stand there for a photograph. You might even have complained about it. Now imagine finding that picture 40 or 50 years later. Is the place still there? Would you recognize it? How many other families have almost the exact same photograph, taken years before or after yours?
I’ve been thinking about how many of these places existed across America. Some are still famous. Others disappeared so long ago that younger residents have probably never heard of them. And some were wonderfully ridiculous.
The Hometown Landmarks Everybody Photographed
Take Catoosa, Oklahoma. An enormous blue whale sits beside a pond along Route 66. Hugh Davis built it in the early 1970s, and families spent years going there to swim, picnic, and take pictures. Imagine having a giant blue whale as one of your childhood hangouts.
Then there’s Cawker City, Kansas, where Frank Stoeber started winding leftover twine into a ball in 1953. It eventually became a local attraction. People still add twine to it. An entire town became known for a ball of string. How great is that?
Collinsville, Illinois, has a 170-foot water tower shaped like a Brooks Catsup bottle. Built in 1949, it was nearly demolished before residents organized to save it. In Jamestown, North Dakota, there’s a giant concrete buffalo dating back to 1959. Gaffney, South Carolina, has a peach-shaped water tower. Bangor, Maine, has a towering Paul Bunyan statue.
Douglas, Wyoming, became famous for its jackalope, a mythical rabbit with antelope horns. Casey, Illinois, has a giant rocking chair. La Crosse, Wisconsin, has six enormous brewery tanks resembling a six-pack.
I keep imagining the family albums from these towns. Different decades, different hairstyles, different cars parked nearby. But there’s that same enormous buffalo, giant peach, or catsup bottle in the background. How many children stood in the exact same spot for a photograph without ever knowing one another?
When a Familiar Landmark Disappears
Closer to my home, the original Giant Wheel at Irvine Spectrum Center opened in 2002. Just imagine all the birthday outings, dates, family visits, and photos captured there before it closed in January 2026. The new Spectrum SunWheel opened that September. For some, an old photo beneath the original wheel might bring back memories of a first date. For others, it could be a picture of their children when they were little. And that’s just one attraction in one city.
What about the restaurant where everybody celebrated birthdays? The miniature golf course that closed in 1982? The enormous fiberglass animal outside a gas station? Maybe it was the old movie theater with the marquee everybody recognized, or a hamburger stand where teenagers gathered after football games. Perhaps your town had something so peculiar that visitors always asked why anyone would want a picture taken there. You knew why.
What if a photograph you haven’t seen in 40 years brings back a place you thought you’d forgotten? Have your old photos scanned at ScanMyPhotos.com and discover what memories resurface.
What Old Hometown Landmarks Reveal in Photographs
At ScanMyPhotos, we’ve spent decades helping people rediscover photographs they haven’t seen in years. One thing I’ve come to appreciate is just how much of a story can be tucked away in the background: an old storefront, a familiar street corner, or a restaurant that closed before your children were born. Someone recognizes the building and remembers the owner’s name. Another person recalls working there during high school. And someone else spots a childhood friend standing near the entrance.
Sometimes the background of an old photograph brings back as many memories as the people standing in front of the camera. And I wonder how many of those pictures are sitting in homes across America right now.
Imagine Finding Your Childhood in Someone Else’s Photograph
Here’s where this could get really interesting.
Imagine someone in California sharing a photo of an Ohio restaurant where they celebrated their tenth birthday. They haven’t thought about the place in fifty years. Then someone who grew up in the same town spots the picture, recognizes it right away, and shares one of their own. Soon, an old classmate joins the conversation, and before long, people who haven’t spoken since high school are warmly reminiscing about that restaurant, its owner, and maybe even the same summer.
Now imagine two families who happened to photograph their children at the same hometown landmark on the same afternoon in 1976. Fifty years later, both pictures turn up online. Maybe the children are standing just a few feet apart in the backgrounds of each other’s photographs. Wouldn’t it be something if those pictures found each other?
Let’s Find America’s Forgotten Hometown Places
So I have an idea. What if people from every hometown in America started sharing photographs of that one place everybody remembers? Not necessarily the most famous attraction. Just the place that meant something when you were growing up.
Find an old photograph—maybe from 1955, 1978, 1992, or another year — and share it on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, or wherever you like to post pictures. Add your hometown, the place where it was taken, roughly when it was taken, and anything you remember about it. Use #IfYouKnowYouKnow and #MyHometownPhoto so others can find the photos, and tag someone who grew up there. Better yet, tag someone who’s actually in the picture!
I’d especially enjoy seeing places that no longer exist. Maybe someone will recognize a restaurant they haven’t thought about in decades. Maybe they’ll spot an old friend. Maybe they’ll discover a photograph of themselves they’ve never seen before. Which hometowns might participate? That’s part of the fun.
What Was THAT Place in Your Hometown?
The one everybody knew. The one where somebody always seemed to be taking pictures. Tell me your hometown and the place you remember. And if you have an old photograph of it, I’d really like to see it.
#IfYouKnowYouKnow #MyHometownPhoto
Revised on November 13, 2026
