Brave New World The images above portray an amazing new world, which seems on the brink of becoming reality. The motorcycle (top left) is actually a piece of 'concept art' from an earlier time, offering an eerily accurate premonition of futuristic styling. But the new cars are real. You can drive around in one yourself. Meanwhile, newly-available international air travel offers another path into the shining new future. For the time being, Americans brush past occasional vague hints of a possible nuclear holocaust, which may also be an element of the future.

	It's Real At home, American children eagerly await Walt Disney's weekly TV show, which opens with a sparkling animated fairyland castle, complete with Tinkerbell. But the castle actually exists, at Disneyland, which seems to perfectly capture the exciting mood of the times. There, you can peer into a fantastic undersea world through portholes of the weirdly exotic Nautilus submarine. You can also experience the present and past, in the somewhat less-magical Frontierland, where you can still be surprised by hippos rising from the water on a jungle cruise, or ride through a recreation of America's wild west. On the whole, however, it seems that Americans prefer the futuristic rides.
	Tailfins and Chrome Americans seem to find these fantastic expressions of dynamism both manly and sexy. Under the hood, massive V8 engines deliver equally exciting, gas-guzzling performance. The tailfin phase is already peaking, but the preference for 'muscle cars' and big engines will continue until the price of a gallon of gasoline triples, by 1980. While it lasts, however, it's an intoxicating period for America, which is at the top of its game. As a popular song has it, She'll have fun, fun, fun, 'till her daddy takes the T-Bird away.
	See the USA Just as Americans are getting their hands on the new breed of road machines, a spanking-new, high-speed road system is unfolding in front of their very eyes. Construction of this expansive network is still in the early stages, but soon there will be few places you can't visit, in your hot new wheels. Traffic congestion, the bane of city travel, barely exists outside the beltways that conveniently skirt urban centers. The top is down, and the radio on.
	Convenient Parking The first Holiday Inn 'hotel court' appears on the scene just in time to welcome America's first class of road warriors, in 1952. Soon, Ramada Inns, Travelodges and Howard Johnsons are nearly everywhere you need them, when you're on the road. They're handy, low-cost, and road-ready. There's usually a place to grab an inexpensive meal right next door, or across the road, while gas stations seem to be conveniently located near every entrance and exit ramp.
	Remember Where you Parked The shopping mall seems like an obvious solution to the problem of how to accommodate large masses of consumers, but it takes a while to develop. The first recognizable mall is built outside Detroit in the mid-1950s, but doesn't yet have a food court, or even a fully-enclosed entrance area for the shops ringing the exterior. These will come soon enough, but the real mall-building frenzy won't begin until about 1970.