American Road Magazine Winter 2020 Back Issue

This issue of American Road is decidedly nostalgic in style. Through its pages, we turn our attentions back to the tube of the 1960s and the 1970s. We start with a visit from Anson Williams, an actor forever famous for playing the part of “Potsie”on the halcyon sitcom Happy Days. Williams tells us, in his own words, how he began his career singing and dancing in that now-famous 1971 McDonald’s commercial—and soon found himself hanging out at Arnold’s with the Fonz. Today, he’s a veteran television director, an entrepreneur, and inventor who has made it his mission to fight drowsy driving. Tune in to hear what he says.

Motor vehicles have always played a large role on the TV landscape, from the Mercury truck in Sanford and Son to the chopped jalopy in The Beverly Hillbillies . We celebrate those wheels—and others that drove up the Nielsen ratings—in “TV Cars,” a feature that takes a spin in everything from Herman and Lily’s Munster Koach to Starsky and Hutch’s Gran Torino. After that, we pause for station identification and announce the winners of our “Don’t Touch that Dial” photo contest. Chances are you’ll find something there prettier than the NBC peacock.

Our road departments follow our television theme as we drop by The Brady Bunch house, hike into the mountains of M*A*S*H , and revisit the Queen Anne Cottage at the Los Angeles Arboretum where Tattoo climbed the tower to ring the bell and call attention to arriving planes on Fantasy Island. We end with a visit to one particular New York motel that lets guests check into and stay in scenes from Charlie’s Angels, Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie.