Roadhouse (facility)
Encyclopedia
A roadhouse is a commercial establishment typically built on a major road or highway, to service passing travellers. Its meaning varies slightly by country.
or restaurant
, the "roadhouse" or "road house" commonly serves meals, especially in the evenings, has a bar serving beer or hard liquor, and features music and dancing for entertainment, and often gambling. Most roadhouses are located along highways or roads in rural areas or on the outskirts of towns. Early roadhouses provided lodging for travelers, but, with the advent of motels in the early 20th century, few now have rooms available. Roadhouses have a slightly disreputable image similar to honky tonk
s.
Roadhouses were portrayed in movies including The Wild One
, Easy Rider
and Road House
.
s, or dog sled
ders); horse-driven sled
s; and people on snowshoe
s, ski
s, or walking would stop overnight for shelter and a hot meal. Remains of a roadhouse can be seen today south of Carmacks, Yukon
along the Klondike Highway
.
A roadhouse is a service station
in a rural area specifically aimed to service passing traffic on a major intercity route. A roadhouse sells fuel and provides maintenance and repairs for cars, but also has an attached "restaurant" (more like a café) serving hot food to travellers. Roadhouses usually serve as truck stop
s—with space to park semi-trailer truck
s and buses—as well as cars. In remote areas such as the Nullarbor Plain
, a roadhouse also offers motel
-style accommodation and camping facilities.
USA
A local innINN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
or restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
, the "roadhouse" or "road house" commonly serves meals, especially in the evenings, has a bar serving beer or hard liquor, and features music and dancing for entertainment, and often gambling. Most roadhouses are located along highways or roads in rural areas or on the outskirts of towns. Early roadhouses provided lodging for travelers, but, with the advent of motels in the early 20th century, few now have rooms available. Roadhouses have a slightly disreputable image similar to honky tonk
Honky tonk
A honky-tonk is a type of bar that provides musical entertainment to its patrons...
s.
Roadhouses were portrayed in movies including The Wild One
The Wild One
The Wild One is a 1953 outlaw biker film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. It is famed for Marlon Brando's iconic portrayal of the gang leader Johnny Strabler.-Basis:...
, Easy Rider
Easy Rider
Easy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South with the aim of achieving freedom...
and Road House
Road House (1989 film)
Road House is a 1989 American action film partially based on the life of Norman "Storm" Cantwell, directed by Rowdy Herrington and starring Patrick Swayze as a bouncer at a newly-refurbished roadside bar who protects a small town in Missouri from a corrupt businessman. Sam Elliot also plays a...
.
Alaska and the Yukon
From the 1890s, roadhouses were checkpoints where dog drivers (musherMushing
Mushing is a general term for a sport or transport method powered by dogs, and includes carting, pulka, scootering, sled dog racing, skijoring, freighting, and weight pulling. More specifically, it implies the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled on snow or a rig on dry land...
s, or dog sled
Dog sled
A dog sled is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing.-History:...
ders); horse-driven sled
Sled
A sled, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle with a smooth underside or possessing a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners that travels by sliding across a surface. Most sleds are used on surfaces with low friction, such as snow or ice. In some cases,...
s; and people on snowshoe
Snowshoe
A snowshoe is footwear for walking over the snow. Snowshoes work by distributing the weight of the person over a larger area so that the person's foot does not sink completely into the snow, a quality called "flotation"....
s, ski
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
s, or walking would stop overnight for shelter and a hot meal. Remains of a roadhouse can be seen today south of Carmacks, Yukon
Carmacks, Yukon
-History:The community consists of the Village of Carmacks and the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation and was named after George Washington Carmack, who found coal near Tantalus Butte in 1893. Carmack built a trading post and traded with locals near the present site of Carmacks and also started a...
along the Klondike Highway
Klondike Highway
The Klondike Highway links the Alaskan coastal town of Skagway to Yukon's Dawson City and its route somewhat parallels that used by prospectors in the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush....
.
Australia
Filling station
A filling station, also known as a fueling station, garage, gasbar , gas station , petrol bunk , petrol pump , petrol garage, petrol kiosk , petrol station "'servo"' in Australia or service station, is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants...
in a rural area specifically aimed to service passing traffic on a major intercity route. A roadhouse sells fuel and provides maintenance and repairs for cars, but also has an attached "restaurant" (more like a café) serving hot food to travellers. Roadhouses usually serve as truck stop
Truck stop
A truck stop is a commercial facility predicated on providing fuel, parking, and often food and other services to motorists and truck drivers...
s—with space to park semi-trailer truck
Semi-trailer truck
A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semi, tractor-trailer, or articulated truck or articulated lorry, is an articulated vehicle consisting of a towing engine , and a semi-trailer A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semi, tractor-trailer, or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) articulated truck...
s and buses—as well as cars. In remote areas such as the Nullarbor Plain
Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about...
, a roadhouse also offers motel
Motel
A motor hotel, or motel for short, is a hotel designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles...
-style accommodation and camping facilities.
See also
- RoadhouseRoadhouseRoadhouse may refer to:* Roadhouse * Texas Roadhouse, a western theme restaurant chain* Logan's Roadhouse, western theme steakhouse* Receiving house, a type of theatre venue- Film :* Road House ,...
(disambiguation page) - Charging stationCharging stationAn electric vehicle charging station, also called EV charging station, electric recharging point, charging point and EVSE , is an element in an infrastructure that supplies electric energy for the recharging of electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric-gasoline vehicles) or semi-static and mobile...
- Fast food restaurantFast food restaurantA fast food restaurant, also known as a Quick Service Restaurant or QSR within the industry itself, is a specific type of restaurant characterized both by its fast food cuisine and by minimal table service...
- Black Rapids RoadhouseBlack rapids roadhouseThe Black Rapids Roadhouse is a historic Alaskan structure along the Richardson Highway in east-central Alaska. It was built in 1902. Construction of the Alaska Railroad led to a decline in the 1920s, but the original roadhouse continued to operate until 1993...
, an old Alaskan roadhouse.