Classic Arby's closes in Virginia but whither the sign? Plus, McDonald's exits New York Thruway after 30 years | Rolando's Roadside Roundup
Also inside: A celebration of an Old Florida standby; a 1980s-movie-themed BK in D.C. reaches it last frame; and a bittersweet Tastee-Freez milestone in Florida, among the headlines
When I visited the Arby’s at 5900 W. Broad St. in Richmond, Virginia, in May 2021, I was stunned to see it was still there. Richmond BizSense had reported in October 2019 that the ever-expanding Wawa convenience store chain had filed plans to build a shop there. I assumed, when I stopped by on a whim, that the Arby’s would be long gone.
But as the pandemic raged in its earliest stages, the Arby’s stayed open.
Sure enough, I was told by a store employee that Wawa’s plans had changed, and that meant the date with the wrecking ball had been postponed.
Well, the demolition crew finally showed up this week. The images below, courtesy of WTVR, show the destruction’s aftermath. The style of this building — rolled out around 1976 — was the immediate successor to the original chuckwagon design dating to the chain’s launch in 1964. The fact that the restroom was accessible from outside, in the back of the building, was another clue that this was originally a chuckwagon-style building.
The sign, as you can see from the WTVR images, has been spared, and it had been reported earlier that Wawa wants to preserve it. Will they shoehorn the words WAWA in there while restoring the sign? It wouldn’t be the first time an Arby’s sign has found a new use, but those transformations are usually inelegant, as you can see on Debra Jane Seltzer’s Arby’s section on roadarch.com. Of course, the worst outcome is destruction, as we’ve seen too many times, though I did share the story with you of the salvage of a sign in Wisconsin recently.
Wawa has shown a flair for the retro in signage, I’ll point out. Its sign in Wildwood, New Jersey, below, is a real treat, so maybe they’ll do something interesting in Richmond.
The earliest newspaper mention of this Arby’s I could find is from August 1968, when the operator published a help-wanted ad in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Below are two display ads, the first from 1969 and the second from 1976, advertising deals at this and other Richmond-area Arby’s stores.
So … back to the sign. What fate awaits it? I’ll report back once I get word. Stay tuned!
Golden Arches exit New York State Thruway after 31 years
The story of chain restaurants in America is closely tied to our toll roads. Howard Johnson’s growth was fueled by becoming the exclusive concessionaire at the rest areas of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey turnpikes, among the most famous examples of the kind of business arrangement that impacts millions of travelers a day.
These deals are usually long-term contracts — they can last a generation or longer — and so the restaurants hang around for decades, becoming familiar to travelers, associated with vacations, weekend getaways, holidays, trips to see family and friends and so on.
The restaurants grow old with you, and adopt quirky personalities in the ways human-built places only can. You can visit one as a child, and visit the exact same one with your own child, 30 years on.
McDonald’s was until a few days ago a reliable stop on the New York State Thruway, much like, once upon a time, Marriott’s Hot Shoppe restaurants were on these 570 miles of road.
But the Mickey D’s contract with the New York State Thruway Authority ended on Dec. 31, and the Golden Arches rang in the new year by shutting the restaurants forever. It was the last of three long-term concessionaire contracts (HMS Host and Delaware North were the two other operators) to expire, and thus the final to depart the Thruway. McDonald’s was still in operation at 11 locations: Angola East, DeWitt, Guilderland, Malden, Modena, Mohawk, Ontario, Port Byron, Ramapo (seen above and below), Schuyler and Warners.
The end of McDonald’s on the Thruway comes amid overhauls of the 27 rest stops in the system. The Adirondack-style buildings (in the gallery below) from the 1990s are being demolished in favor of slick-looking structures that will be operated by the new concessionaire, Ireland-based Applegreen, which has hundreds of operations in the United States and whose New York Thruway contract runs through 2053.
Their so-called “C-Stores” (that’s Convenience to you and me) will offer the usual range of service-plaza fare, including healthy grab-and-go alternatives to fast food, as well as provide a retail outpost for the Taste New York program, which sells food and drink that’s made in the Empire State.
Chain restaurants will still be available, of course, including Popeye’s, Panda Express and Shake Shack, the latter a decided upgrade over McDonald’s (Ronald’s fries ARE better), though the restaurant mix will vary from plaza to plaza. Indeed, the first full-time Shake Shake in upstate New York is located at the newly reopened Junius Ponds Service Area in Seneca County. I wonder whether locals up there are paying the toll to get on the Thruway just to snack on one of restaurateur Danny Meyer’s creations, a sort of redux of the sensation the burger shack created — when it was just an actual single shack, not a chain — in Manhattan’s Madison Square Park 20 years ago. I remember. I was there. On line. Waiting.)
I have yet to visit one of the new plazas, but some of the reviews I’ve read online are ominous, complaining that the buildings feel cramped and are easily choked with lines of grumpy people, and are vulnerable to being overrun by weary travelers unloaded from tour buses. The gripes reminded me of the complaints about overcrowding at rest areas in this must-read, delightfully snooty 1970 article in the New York Times about Thruway concessions. Though in 2020, when the latest upgrade project was announced, people were griping about the old buildings and services, with their heavy emphasis on fast food, and about there being too much space that goes unused in the dining areas. Which goes to show, people will always find a reason to complain!
So enough talk: How do these new service plazas look? Check out some pictures in this story from the Indian Castle travel plaza, which has opened for business, and this older article has renderings.
A point of clarification: I am not bemoaning the loss of McDonald’s, though as a roadside archaeologist, I did appreciate the older designs that survived in some of the Thruway buildings, a reminder that McDonald’s had been operating here since 1991, and the ones I saw looked it.
My main disappointment with these overhauls has been the loss of the Adirondack lodge-style buildings, which I think were appropriate for New York state, home to this majestic mountain range. They fit perfectly with the natural scenery the farther north you went. The buildings were not THAT old, and it seems they could have been renovated rather than demolished, and at considerable less cost than the almost half-a-billion dollars being shelled out. For what it’s worth, the authority says the upgrades have been paid by a public-private partnership, and that taxpayers are not footing the bill. The new complexes will offer space for dog walkers, outdoor dining, farmers markets and food trucks.
Their replacements lean into the sterile boxy look that has overtaken retail architecture in the past decade, though this “Thruway Bauhausism,” to coin a phrase, is somewhat relieved by a larger A-frame structure in the design. Before I render a verdict, I’d like to visit a handful of the new plazas to help me gain a nuanced sense of the experience.
One plaza that I pass weekly, the stop in Ardsley, has been closed for almost two years, which is an outrageous amount of time to be out of commission, though the overall project has reportedly fallen victim to supply-chain woes and other problems that come with getting anything done these days.
At least no two consecutive plazas are ever closed, a relief for the hungry motorist, or the motorist who needs restroom relief. And gasoline pumps remain in service despite the building demolitions, a gift for those with one eye on the exit sign and the other on the gas gauge. At Ardsley, there finally appears to be significant progress on the building, and hopefully, the plaza will be ready for a Retrologist inspection soon.
Have you visited any of the new Thruway rest stops? What are your thoughts? Please leave them in the comments.
Notes from the Road
“While “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” used it as a backdrop for criminal activity, the real Dog House is a throwback to a more innocent time.” Here’s a nice profile of Albuquerque’s iconic Dog House Drive In. [ABQJournal]
Washington D.C.’s last “publicly accessible” Burger King, which had a treasure trove of 1980s/1990s film memorabilia, has closed. The location had opened in 1980. I had been tipped off to its wonders, and somehow never added it to my “must-shoot” list. Le sigh. [DCist]
A nice profile of one of my favorite examples of “Old Florida,” the Orange Shop in the appropriately named Citra! [Spectrum News]
Wegman’s is coming to Manhattan, and my supermarket dreams have come true. I once lived in a city (Allentown, Pennsylvania) that had a Wegman’s and I immediately grasped why people from upstate New York so proudly sing this Rochester-based supermarket’s praises. [6sqft]
If you’ve been to a Bed Bath & Beyond lately, you’ve likely suspected it will soon be rechristened Bed Bath in the Great Beyond. The company confirmed today that its future is very much in doubt. This pains me, as I really like shopping there, at least when stores are fully stocked, and I haven’t seen that in a while. [ABC7NY]
Will New Jersey’s Cherry Hill Diner make way for a car wash? [70and73]
Here are the latest Macy’s stores that are slated for closure as part of a “transformation strategy” announced in 2020. [Axios]
The “DiFara and Juicy Lucia collaboration concept” has ended on Staten Island, but pizza will still be served at what will now be called D’Lucia. [Staten Island Advance]
What was Florida’s last Tastee-Freez is changing hands and will abandon the cherished brand. The previous owner was the son of the man who bought the rights to the Tastee-Freez franchise in the Panhandle. [Tastee Freez/Big Family Restaurant via Retail of Today and Yesterday]
The Sacramento area’s last remaining Claim Jumper restaurant has closed. I visited a location in Southern California a decade ago, and only learned about this chain when a New York City coffee cart served me some joe in a Claim Jumper cup. That sparked my curiosity! [Bizjournals/paywall]
Meet the Massachusetts man who has put together an astonishing collection of McDonald’s memorabilia. [Boston Globe/paywall]
Follow collector Bobby Beauchesne on Instagram, below!
The iconic Jim’s Steaks in Philadelphia reports progress in its efforts to reopen after a fire. [KYW Newsradio 1060]
Madison, Wisconsin’s “happiest corner” gets its neon sign back! [Wisconsin State Journal]
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I'm sad about McDonald's leaving the Thruway - I have small tradition of stopping at the Angola East plaza when driving to/from upstate NY and getting food at McDonald's, which I typically don't eat. But I learned something new about these restaurant partnerships, so thanks for that! Makes me wonder about how much longer Roy Rogers will be a fixture on the PA Turnpike.
I always enjoy your posts and research. I live in Akron and as long as I can remember the closest Arbys had that hat sign. I haven’t been there since before Covid, I’ll have to see if it’s still there