Let's visit a unique McDonald's that found its 'Classic' essence again after a tragedy
This location reminds us there's always more than meets the eye along the road.
When my pal Yanis Carreto (@hopelessnostalgic on Instagram) and I took a drive through southern New Jersey last Saturday, we came across so much interesting roadside history. (Check out our adventure in my Substack chat for my patrons, and Yanis’ photos and a condensed version of this writeup on Instagram.)
This particular site, a McDonald’s in Mount Ephraim, New Jersey, has more layers – some joyful, some tragic – than meet the eye.
For starters, it’s easy to look at this McDonald’s and think it was built this way back in the 1960s. And it was – sort of.
Let me explain.
This McDonald's, known as a “Classic,” was constructed in 2003, designed to resemble the first-generation walk-up red-and-white-tiled McDonald’s restaurants that had mostly vanished by the early 2000s.
But in fact, the first McDonald’s on this property opened in September 1962, and was the original version of the style that would inspire the Classics. This was one of the first McDonald’s to open in South Jersey, and served 15-cent hamburgers when the number of Golden Arches numbered around 400, making the opening of one a novelty across much of the country.
That old 1962 building, built by David Campbell, was remodeled almost a dozen times until it was demolished in March 1990, a brand new mansard-roofed McDonald’s pressed into service right behind it. (The concealed old red-and-white tile turned up in the demolition.) A PlayPlace was added in 1992.
That successor building was razed in 2002 after a wrenching tragedy here – the death of three employees killed in May of that year when the driver of a Cadillac slammed his car into the restaurant. He would go to prison and die behind bars.
The decision was made to rebuild on the property, with a memorial garden honoring the victims, and a berm offering more protection from the road. The McDonald’s reopened on Jan. 9, 2004, at 12:01 a.m. with Ronald McDonald visiting the next afternoon.
The $2 million reconstruction of the corporate-owned restaurant capped a sorrowful period in the community; the same year as the McDonald’s tragedy, two borough firefighters were killed in the line of duty.
The reopening was a homecoming, a symbol of renewal tinged with sadness.
“It shows the endurance of the people of Mount Ephraim,” Mayor Michael Reader told the Courier-Post in 2004. “We may bend, but we don’t break. It shows our willingness to keep fighting.”
The vintage exuberance of the Mount Ephraim Classic was toned down in recent years, the red-and-white tiles now gray, the red trim now dark, a Chef Speedee logo removed from the facade, the dining room modernized.
That’s not to say there aren’t gems lurking inside. The PlayPlace features little hamburger seating, and a Big Mac surrounded by statues of Ronald, the Hamburglar and Grimace. The restaurant’s numbered table tents feature McDonaldland characters, too.
Yanis and I did not have the freedom to explore the PlayPlace as it was closed for the evening and being cleaned, but I’m told a handful of Setmakers McDonaldland character wall panels adorn the birthday-party room, which is a remarkable rarity, perhaps the last of these displays “in the wild.” I’ll have to go back for those photos!
That tip came from Christopher Bower of @setsstreetsandeats. Check out his awesome tour of the Mount Ephraim McDonald’s, below,
Finally, I have to applaud the massive single-arch sign, whose neon still glows warmly, a welcome sight along Black Horse Pike at a McDonald’s that in its 63 years has seen more history than most.
New Jersey has a “real” single-arch sign, an original from 1962, in Magnolia. It’s been moved and the restaurant is modern, but the sign deserves landmark protection. (More of these over at roadarch.com.)
Did you hear I wrote a book? If you enjoy this Substack, there’s plenty more like this in 320 pages jam-packed with gorgeous roadside America. Preorder it here.
There is a similar McDonald’s on Milwaukee Ave. in Libertyville, IL. But unlike this one, it still has its red and white tiles. When McDonald’s announced that it wanted to replace this restaurant with a gray block around 2017, people in Libertyville fought to keep that plan from happening.