Now you've seen a mall: the retro-tastic Southgate Shopping Center of Lakeland, Florida

There's a shopping plaza in the central Florida town of Lakeland that's celebrating its 60th birthday this November, and it doesn't look a day over the Eisenhower administration. The Southgate Shopping Center on South Florida Avenue was the brainchild of George Jenkins, founder of the Publix grocery store chain. He figured a plaza with many stores would attract more customers than just a free-standing supermarket, a rather "no duh" idea by today's standards, but revolutionary at the time. The beauty of this location is the fact that that the stupendous parabolic arch with its mid-century modern lettering and style hasn't been updated to something more current and, in most cases of older places being "modernized," made bland. Say what you will about Southgate, bland it ain't. Director Tim Burton thought as much, and he chose the Southgate as a location for his 1990 movie "Edward Scissorhands." It's where Edward, played by Johnny Depp, has his hair salon.

Bravo to the Publix grocery store chain for keeping the retro vibe alive in Lakeland. It's Fat city,  the place to make the scene Daddy-O, and we dig it the most.

Keeping it reel: The Ruskin Family Drive-In of Ruskin, Florida

How cool would it be to live in that mobile home next to the drive-in?

 Keeping it alive...we like the sound of that.

 They're proud of their 2000 square-foot screen, and who can blame them?

 Thank you, and please come again.

 I believe this is clue that Paul is dead.

All this and a Beloved Drive-In Theatre Cat, too? We liked this place before, but now we love it.

I had a ModBetty moment while driving down the Tamiami Trail (Route 41) in the western part of my new home state of Florida recently. She's the hostess with the mostess of fun retro places to visit at her groovy website Retro Roadmap and the Ruskin Family Drive-In theater has her name written all over it. It's a place that's been around since 1952 (the first movie they screened was "Singin' in the Rain", for crying out loud) and they're still open year round, rain or shine, hot or cold, including holidays. If that isn't dedication to the glorious retro tradition of drive-in movie theaters, we'll eat our pork pie hats. Here's a little something from their website (a website for a drive-in?, now that's a paradox):

"We call it the “Last family drive-in” in the U.S.A. because families, dating couples, single parents with children and everyone else young and old can come and visit.  We had family values when family values were the rule.  We still have family values although by some we’re not considered cool."

Not considered cool? What are you, nuts?...nothing could be cooler. Movie memorabilia fans should take note of the fact that they sell off their old movie posters at the bargain price of $5, so if you're in the market for a "Hunger Games," "Madea Christmas" or "Wolverine" placard, check them out. This money and the snack bar profits go to support their digital projector, a rarity among drive-ins.

Thank you, Ruskin Family Drive-In, for keeping the flame, or flick in this case, burning brightly in the great state of Florida.

Long, long on retro laughs: Lucy and Desi in "The Long, Long Trailer"

Lucille Ball would have turned 100 the other day and Turner Classic Movies, the best channel on TV, showed an absolute delight for eccentric roadside fans, "The Long, Long Trailer" in her honor. We'd seen it before, but this time marvelled and what a great, retro roadtrip of a flick it is. If you like the 1950s, "TLLT" has got it all: big cars (a gorgeous yellow 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible), great trailers (the 1953 40-foot yellow two-tone New Moon), great duds, fabulous scenery, and best of all, Desi Arnaz. For my money, Desi was always much funnier than Lucy, with his exaggerated expressions and reactions. Made on their hiatus from "I Love Lucy" in 1954 and directed by notable auteur Vincente Minelli, "TLLT" is basically Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (they're Tacy and Nicky Collini here) in a beautiful technicolor feature-length comedy. Newly married and at Tacy's insistence, a reluctant Nicky agrees to buy a trailer home that's too expensive, too big, too everything. They have to travel cross-country and encounter one disaster after another, including city traffic, nosy trailer park neighbors, getting stuck in the mud, and smashing up Tacy's relatives' house. Worst of all, Nicky has to drive the monstrosity up a treacherous winding Colorado mountain road. Lucy does her usual slapstick, but, really, it's all about Desi suffering. His eyes bulge, he mops his brow nervously, gets covered in muck and rain, and has post traumatic stress disorder-like flashbacks ("TRAILER BRAKE FIRST! TRAILER BREAK FIRST! AHHHHGGHH!!"). They did some gorgeous filming in Yosemite National Park and that nerve-racking mountain road scene was filmed on Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada mountains. And I think the movie is actually much funnier than "I Love Lucy" and it's in color!

So, if you're a fan of both Desilu and roadtrips like we are, watch out for "The Long, Long Trailer" on TCM or get it from Netflix. Otherwise, you'll have some splainin' to do.