16″ X 20″ – Page 4 – Larry Johnston, Nostalgic Artist

White Castle

January 1, 2015February 22, 2021 Admin

White Castle

Chicago, Illinois

The White Castle Restaurants started in 1927, as the first one opened in Cincinnati, Ohio. The first White Castle in Chicago was located at Wabash and Cermak, in 1930. The restaurant chain offered small hamburgers that sold for 5 cents until the 1940s. The American term for a small sandwich 3 inches across or smaller was called a “Slider”, which became a common term for a White Castle Burger.

The original Chicago building has become a landmark, as the building has been restored to the original design but is no longer a White Castle restaurant.

The painting was done in my early years, when I started exhibiting at the Chicago area shows. It was a popular item, especially in the Midwest area. It was also included in my set of 4 Chicago prints, along with Billy Goat Tavern, Superdawg and Hot Diggity Dogs, which were horizontal paintings. I added the Chicago Cubs panting later, but it was a vertical painting.

Hot Diggity Dog’s

January 1, 2015February 22, 2021 Admin

“Hot Diggity Dogs”

Chicago, Illinois

When you go to Chicago, everybody knows where North Michigan Street is located. Next to the Chicago River is the Wrigley Building, a Chicago landmark in itself, but across the street to the north and one level down stood a landmark of its own. Hot Diggity Dogs was a small building that sat in the midst of a huge parking area at 251 E. Ohio Street near the corner of Ohio St and Fairbanks. I am not sure when the business opened, but they had one of the best Chicago Hot Dogs around.

While exhibiting at a show across from the Wrigley Building at street level, I went down to the small building and took photos of it, front and back. Later I was at Navy Pier, just a short walk away and found the old Pepsi truck, where I couldn’t help but take photos of it. I used the back of the building as a subject and added the Pepsi truck.

“Hot Diggity Dogs” has since been torn down, but I heard that on the last day it was open, they had a line of people several blocks long waiting to be served their last famous hot dog.

Rumor has it, they since opened at a different location..

Mustard & Ketchup

January 1, 2015February 22, 2021 Admin

The year was 2003 and the Number One Art Festival in the Country was the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Miami, Florida. I had exhibited there once before. When I was accepted for this show, I was asked if I wanted to demonstrate my work at one of the schools in the Miami area.

Gov. Joe Frank Harris’ Home

January 1, 2015February 22, 2021 Admin

Joe Frank Harris, Former Governor’s Home

Cartersville, Georgia

When we first moved to the State of Georgia, we moved to Cartersville, north of Atlanta. I had painted several homes on commission for several years. When I found out that the current Governor’s personal home was located, in Cartersville, I thought it to be a nice gesture to paint his home and present it to him.

I did not know that it would be such a big event at the time. It was on the front page of the local paper with a photograph of the presentation at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta.

Prints:

Germantown Depot

January 1, 2015February 22, 2021 Admin

Germantown Train Depot

Germantown, Ohio

While on my way from an Art Festival in Ripley, West Virginia to another in downtown, Detroit, Michigan, we had some extra time, so we started sightseeing some of the back roads to find some great subject matter to paint.

During that time, Train Depots were on my to do list, when we came upon the one in Germantown, Ohio. I took several photos of the building and later painted it. There were four Railroad Depots that were in my “Depot Set”, with Germantown being one of them. The other three were, the depot in Whistle Stop Depot, Juliette, GA, Cartersville, GA and the Depot in Hope Arkansas. I have since painted the Elkhart, IN Depot.

around the sides of the wood.

11″ x 14″Black Edge………. $148.82

11″ x 14″ White Edge………. $148.82

11″ x 14″ Wrapped Edge………. $148.82

16″ x 20″ Black Edge ………. $204.72

16″ x 20″ White Edge………. $204.72

16″ x 20″ Wrapped Edge………. $204.72

16″ x 20″ ………. $375.00 original painting on stretched canvas not available.

Concord Covered Bridge

January 1, 2015February 22, 2021 Admin

Links to other covered bridge paintings I have done can be found here:

Mecca Covered Bridge

Neet Covered Bridge

Bridgeton Covered Bridge

Beeson Covered Bridge

Euharlee Covered Bridge

Euharlee Covered Bridge-Spring

Concord Covered Bridge

Poole’s Mill Covered Bridge

Pepsi Covered Brid

Bradford’s Store

January 1, 2015February 22, 2021 Admin

Bradford’s Store.

Pine Log, Georgia

Bradford’s Store, located on the corner of Calico Valley Road and Pine Log Road was the areas general store, which housed the Post Office from 1833 until 1979. The area was called Pine Log by the Cherokee Indians prior to 1785 (Georgia Hwy 140, three miles east of US Hwy 411) In 1906 the L & N Railroad was completed and ran from Cartersville, GA to Knoxville, TN and a depot was built and the community became “Rydal”. The station is gone, but the Post office, built in 1908, still exists.

I had exhibited in a local art festival, called the “Pine Log Arts & Crafts Festival” for several years, so the painting of Bradford’s became very popular in many towns around the area. The last I heard was, the store was purchased and restored after being vacant for a number of years. The Art Festival has been held at the United Methodist Church Campground, in Rydal.

Whistle Stop Depot

December 31, 2014February 22, 2021 Admin

Whistle Stop Depot

Juliette, GA

from the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes”

While traveling and exhibiting in Art shows and festivals, I had done several shows in and around Atlanta, Georgia. When the movie came out “Fried Green Tomatoes, we found that the movie was filmed in Georgia and that you could actually eat at the Whistle Stop Cafe’. One weekend, we decided to visit the restaurant and cafe.

When we arrived, we found the quaint little one street town called Juliette. It is located 8 miles east of Forsyth, GA. If you cross the RR tracks, you just missed the town as it was a street just before the tracks on the right. As I remember, the cafe had already closed for the day, but we walked around and took pictures of the town.

I painted a set of 4 paintings from the town, one of them being the Whistle Stop Depot. They had purchased the depot for one dollar, as it had been sitting in a field for many years. It now sits on the main street of town because of regulations as to sitting along-side the tracks.

Whistle Stop Cafefried

December 31, 2014February 22, 2021 Admin

The Movie “Fried Green Tomatoes” became a classic and was filmed during a time when I lived in Georgia. Last week in History of a painting, I highlighted the Whistle Stop Depot. This week I’m showing you the painting I did of the Whistle Stop Cafe, in Juliette, Georgia, the location where the movie, “Fried Green Tomatoes” was filmed. The painting is acrylic on stretched canvas. The owner of the restaurant purchased the panting and then had me paint another one without the gas pumps. The pumps were movie props and went back to the movie lot, when the film was completed. If you visit the Whistle stop cafe, you get fried green tomatoes with every meal. They’re pretty good to. I painted four paintings related to the movies, then put prints of them in a frame as a set of 4 matted and framed prints. The print sets were very popular, especially in the Atlanta area. One of my favorite shows was just east of Atlanta at Stone Mountain, called the “Yellow Daisy Festival”. It ranked in the top for shows in the country and several times #1.

Here are links to the other 3 paintings from the town of Juliette. (That is the town of Whistle Stop.) Whistle Stop Depot, Fried Green Tomatoes Church, Fried Green Tomatoes (Threadgood) House.

“Fried Green Tomatoes” Threadgood House

December 31, 2014February 22, 2021 Admin

Fried Green Tomatoes, Threadgood House

Senoia, Georgia House