matchbook

The host stand has a bowl of custom matchbooks; the check arrives with a hand-illustrated postcard they’ll mail for a dollar.

Maybe it’s nostalgia — maybe it’s trendy aesthetics — or perhaps just old-school marketing, but restaurants across the country are bringing back the beloved matchbook.

Collectors say motel matchbooks are a connection to the not-so-distant past.

She has specialties now, like matchbooks with animals on them or matchbooks that advertise radio and TV stations, but she says her biggest collection by far is books from Southern California, including vintage motel matchbooks.

Embers the size of matchbooks smacked into their windshield.