Kowloon, an icon of roadside kitsch, appears doomed; meet Carvel's forgotten mascot Freezy and Wise Potato Chips' revived Peppy the Owl
Plus, over a dozen more headlines from "The Great American Retro Road Trip."
We’ve known for years that the existential threat of demolition and redevelopment has hovered over the last great bastion of Route 1 architectural whimsy in Saugus, Massachusetts — Kowloon. This beloved, family-run Chinese restaurant is a feast for the eyes and belly of the roadside cognoscenti.
Kowloon is so wonderful, I featured it in my book (grab your copy here!) and talk it up with enthusiasm whenever I’m asked to name my favorite vintage stops in New England.
Fresh off celebrating Kowloon’s 75th anniversary, the owners unveiled architectural renderings earlier this month for the redeveloped property, and I was troubled by how much of a departure the plans are from the beloved original building.
As long suspected, the massive Polynesian-themed complex with its bold A-frame facade and its dizzyingly evocative warren of dining rooms and cocktail lounges will be demolished. In exchange, we’ll see go up the complex shown below, a mixed-use development that surely will be a nice, lovely place to work, live, and shop. But it should go without saying that this plan is not even remotely the kind of successor the original Kowloon deserves, a true icon of American architectural quirk.
Below is one of two buildings that would rise on the 7-acre property — see the new Kowloon tucked in on the right.
And this is just a taste of what we’d be losing:
I respect the desire and obvious rights of the owner — the Wong family — to do as they see fit with their land, and it’s a comfort that they are not closing Kowloon for good. But replacing an icon like Kowloon requires a deft hand and vivid imagination, all while building something that meets the family’s interests. In other words, this is a very difficult thing to pull off, and it has not been pulled off here.
Of course, nobody expects an icon to replace another icon, but it’s reasonable to expect a replacement that makes a grand gesture, a bold tip of the hat, to what has been lost. I’m not seeing that here.
Look, the only thing that’s going to make most people happy (myself included) is to keep Kowloon as is, and no matter what you do with it, even if it were a modest alteration rather than this annihilation, not everyone is going to be satisfied.
But, unquestionably, I’d like to think a great deal more could still be done with these designs to avoid building another example of today’s sleepily sterile, if servicable, commercial architecture. This complex could be built in Saugus, Massachusetts, or anywhere else in America, for that matter. Kowloon is the exact opposite of this kind of architecture, which is why this plan hurts so much. Kowloon for so many IS Saugus.
Don’t let me make the argument alone. I’ll enlist Murray Whyte of the Boston Globe to frame the significance of what is happening:
Let’s start with the obvious: If the Kowloon Restaurant, an unabashed icon of mid-20th century anti-architecture, is to be cratered — and it will be, with proposed plans just revealed — building almost 200 apartments in its place is a good thing. Greater Boston desperately needs housing, and fast. And Route 1, a plain of parking lots littered with rundown, low-slung, mostly commercial buildings, is a problem in need of solving.
But does it have to be like this? Last week, architects for the Wong family, who owns the Kowloon, made the redevelopment plan public: In place of its landmark A-frame and hip-roof style building, a pair of boxy six-story apartment blocks would rise.
The contrast is jarring.
Indeed, it is, but this is a familiar story playing out across the country. There isn't much of that old-time kitschy charm left along Route 1, for which this stretch of the greater Boston area was once fabled. My book mentions some of the other survivors, including the Orange Dinosaur (a leftover of a vanished mini golf course) and the Leaning Tower of Pizza at Prince Pizzeria. We also still have the massive sign, shaped like a cactus, for the defunct Hilltop Steak House, repurposed to promote a strip mall.
My disappointment is about more than just old-time charm and nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake or a curmudgeonly resistance to change or “progress.” Places like Kowloon lend character and, most importantly, a sense of place to their communities. They enrich our lives in ways that the replacements, no matter how well-intentioned, never do.
It is truly the “last of the Mohicans,” as Cheryl Damore of Saugus told CBS Boston. Cheryl praised the Wong family for all they have done for Saugus — the restaurant was long run by Madeline and Bill Wong, who made it the institution it is today, carried on by their children. This Wicked Local piece explains why this move is a sensible one for the Wong family.
Owner Stan Wong told CBS Boston: “Growing up and seeing this place as it is today and knowing that in the near future it will no longer be here is bittersweet.”
But landmarks, whether they are officially designated or not, matter. They have a way of becoming bigger than all of us, including the owners. That’s usually not enough to save them, mind you, but it’s a fact, a painful one, that we need to address here.
There is nothing wrong, again, with a mixed-use development or an iconic property being reimagined, and this design is surely one practical way to maximize the site’s economic potential. Still, I so wish the solution had something in it to stir the soul, like Kowloon has been doing all these years, something that honors in a grand way what is being destroyed.
What are your thoughts?
RELATED: In case you missed it, see the wonderful profile of The Retrologist and my book that Christopher Muther wrote for The Boston Globe’s travel section back in July.
The long-lost Carvel mascot
If money were no object, I’d be hustling to scoop up this vintage Carvel sign, below. It features a rare sight — an early Carvel ice cream cone character — and the early name “Carvel Dari-Freeze,” which was used well into the 1960s, according to a quick scan of newspaper articles.
Here’s the listing, which is asking $3,000 for the sign. Even with a massive price chop, this beauty is too rich for my blood. (Heck, I’m not sure where I’d put it.)
The sign dates to about 1950, and signs like it may have been used for a time at Carvel locations as the chain expanded. This notion is not pure speculation. This EXACT SIGN appears in a Carvel newspaper ad published on Aug. 12, 1950, announcing the opening of a Carvel in Newport News, Virginia. The ad tells readers to look for this sign “wherever you go,” so there must have been quite a number at some point, or at least plans for distribution of them.
The Carvel building itself was the signature pitched-roof, wall-of-glass box - an ad for it is below — with the classic Carvel script already in use. It was next to Bill’s Bar-B-Que, which closed in 1999. As an aside, behold how beautiful Bill’s looked in its heyday.
I’m not sure if this 1950 cone character had a name, but by the next year, Carvel had enlisted the services of a different mascot named Freezy, below. He’s a human, not a creature with soft serve for brains and a waffle cone for a torso, though he has a predilection for small hats and big bow ties.
The book Images of America: Carvel Ice Cream has an intriguing tidbit about Freezy. The book states that Freezy at one point was a clown and appeared in person on a short-lived children’s program on WPIX-TV in 1951, “Junior Charades,” and was the first clown to serve in fast-food promotion. (Sorry, Ronald and Willard Scott.)
The book offers a picture as evidence, which I also dug up here in this December 1951 issue of the Brooklyn Eagle and show below. As you can see, the real-life Freezy is quite similar to the sketch show above.
But Freezy changed later in the decade, below, once again resembling the initial soft-serve mascot. Freezy seems to have hung on for a few more years, but never made it to icon status.
I may well have to do some research among the Tom Carvel papers at the Smithsonian to learn more about Freezy. As the former digital director and archivist of WPIX, I had never heard of Freezy’s role on Channel 11, though Carvel ads were a staple of the station for decades. Watch a bunch I digitized here.)
The ice cream cakes like Cookie Puss and Fudgie the Whale are the true mascots of Carvel, and they were decades away from emerging. And heck, Carvel did not need a mascot when they had Tom Carvel himself, the founder and owner, who was the chain’s pitchman from 1955 to 1989.
His commercials, on radio and television, were part of the background noise of the second half of the 20th century for anybody living in a Carvel market, particularly in the New York City area, where Carvel was founded and based.
See what I’m talking about, below, in this piece that aired in 1981 on WABC-TV’s Eyewitness News and was published by me from the station archives. You may recognize another icon of New York, if you are of a certain age, Roger Grimsby, introducing the report.
Supermarket Sweep: Retro Doritos and Peppy the Wise Owl
I always love it when retro Taco Flavor Doritos bags make an appearance at the supermarket. The chips always hit better when they come in this vintage-style packaging. I spotted this one at a New York City area supermarket recently.
Like McDonald’s bringing back the McRib from time to time, I love it when Doritos trots out this classic design, though it seems to be consistently available these days if you know where to look for it.
Below, admire another retro-packaging Doritos variant I ran across at a gas station in Montreal back in 2021. These were Doritos flavored with ketchup, and I did let curiosity get the better of me and try them. Not too shabby!
Meanwhile, the supermarket shelves displayed another surprise: The return of the Wise Potato Chips mascot!
Bags have long shown an owl’s eye, and Wise, founded in 1921 in Pennsylvania and distributed mainly on the East Coast, had long used an owl for its mascot. But a friendlier-looking owl character named Peppy was roled out in 1956 — and is now back, below, with a 2025 makeover.
Below is on old-school Wise owl (not necessarily Peppy) atop a distribution facility in New Hyde Park, New York. Wise liked to point out in ads in the 1940s and 1950s that its chips would “pep up” meals, and I assume the linkage led to the nickname in 1956.
And, below, a version of Peppy at the same location:
By March 1956, “Peppy the Owl” was turning up by name as the face of a new campaign undertaken by Wise to promote its chips. Billboards, Sunday ad supplements, radio ads and signs featuring Peppy and the words “ look who-o-o has new look!” were part of the campaign.
To wit, this ad that appeared in the Boston Globe in March 1956. The ad notes the iconic turquoise and golden look for the bags was introduced at this time.
By the early 1980s, Peppy made a marketing comeback, below. (This same inflatable owl is up for auction on eBay.)
And the 1950s Peppy briefly made a comeback earlier this decade on bags before the newly designed Peppy rolled out in 2025.
Food Chain magazine spoke to Milton Mattus, Wise’s chief executive officer, who shared some of the Peppy history I detailed above and said:
Now, we are bringing him back with a more playful personality, reminiscent of an all-American high schooler, making him relatable to kids and families. We have already received very positive feedback from both retailers and consumers, as Peppy is part of our heritage. For a long time, our logo featured only Peppy’s eye, which older generations recognized, but younger audiences simply saw it as just an owl. With Peppy’s return, newer generations can now connect with the character more personally. Our main focus is to provide high-quality products, and we hope that with Peppy’s help, we can encourage more trials of our products and foster a deeper love for the brand among consumers,” he enthuses.
Dateline America: Roadside Headlines
Devastating: A fire destroyed part of the collection of the Ignite Sign Art Museum sign in Tucson, Arizona. Owner Jude Cook estimated “about 500 pieces had been destroyed, including small replicas of neon signs throughout the city, soda and beer signs and dozens of advertising clocks,” reports the Tucson Sentinel.
Atlanta’s beloved “Piano in the Sky” along I-85 is coming down later this month after 41 years now that Cooper Piano in Brookhaven is moving. A few years ago, I passed the piano, which towers 55 feet in the sky, and I wish I’d taken a moment to get a photo. Roadarch.com reports the sign will not go up at the store’s new home, alas. Regrets, I’ve had a few … [AJC/paywall]
Buc-ee’s keeps chomping into new territory in the Midwest and plans to open a massive 73,000-square-foot store in Wisconsin, along 1-94 south of Milwaukee. This puts it within 100 miles of Chicago. [WMAQ]
Dubbed the Castle of Tomorrow, a new prototype White Castle that’s big on tech has opened in Columbus, Ohio. What do you think? [Restaurant Dive]
Johnny Johnson, the owner of Camp Washington Chili in Cincinnati, has died at age 90. His uncle opened the business in 1940, and Johnson took full control of it in 1977. My picture of Camp Washington Chili is on Page 143 of my book. [WLWT]
Voodoo Doughnut, incubated in Portland, Oregon, is coming to Manhattan. Voodoo has been expanding around the country, with a shop also coming to Miami. [Eater New York]
The city of Lebanon, Missouri, is assuming control of the iconic sign for the Munger Moss Motel. The motel’s longtime owner died two years ago ago, and the future of the building itself is unknown. I had the pleasure of stopping there for some pictures in 2013 on my Route 66 road trip from Chicago to Santa Monica. The Munger Moss appears on Page 235 of my book. [KY3]
The gorgeous neon sign for the shuttered Clairmount Laundry Cleaners in Berkley, Michigan, has landed on Facebook Marketplace. They are asking $13,000.
Calling all Mr. Peanut fans! A terrific auction of collectibles featuring the Planters mascot is up for auction. Details here.
Sam’s Bar and Restaurant in East Hampton is an old-school haunt, classy but not Hamptons fancy, and a mainstay since 1947. The grandson of the restaurant’s founders sold the building that houses it. The sale could imperil the restaurant when its lease expires in two years, but the new landlord has a reputation for being civic-minded. [East Hampton Star]
“There was a hole in the downtown. We want this back, we need this back, and it’s come back and we’re so happy that that’s happened:” Joy in Florence, Alabama, as the beloved Shoals Community Theatre sign is restored and returned to its longtime home. [WHNT]
Chris’ Famous Hotdogs in Montgomery, Alabama, has been sold for the first time in its 108-year history. [AL.com]
Boston’s iconic Citgo sign is moving, but fear not. It’s moving only a little. [Hoodline]
Jumboland, a Branchville, New Jersey, diner that opened in 1955, is up for sale. [NJ.com]
Spurlock’s Malt Shop in Anna, Texas, a fixture since 1951, is closing because the landlord sold the building. The last day will be Nov. 1. [Culture Map Dallas]
IKEA is pushing into Manhattan, with plans afoot for two stores, including one in SoHo. Nearby in SoHo, REI, the outdoor retailer with a 14-year presence in the Puck Building (and a most reliable public restroom) is closing next year.
The REI store as seen this past weekend, which I’d never really thought to shoot before. (Puck, of course, is a different story and has been my Flickr avatar forever.) (Rolando Pujol)
The restaurant may just as well close for good since they are destroying the main reason folks went there. The food was average but the ambiance was everything. This is so misguided and the new develmont is looking like warehouse living.
Wow, a post about two New England institutions, Kowloon and Wise Chips! Great stuff.