This just in from McDonaldland: Uncle O'Grimacey's Shamrock Shake comeback -- and farewell to a green-roofed mansard McDonald's
Plus, woes at Denny's, Sam Goody's last stand, a Big Boy battle and more headlines from the American roadside.
Let’s begin by pouring a Shamrock Shake out for another McDonald’s mansard building. Their kind must be down to a few dozen — if that — amid the great march of the McBox across the country. Once a favorite survivor of mine, the McDonald’s in Somerset, New Jersey, has closed, and a new version of modern design is being constructed across the street.
The Caldor Rainbow reports this restaurant, located at 1065 Easton Ave. in the Village Plaza shopping center, dates to about 1975. That’s also when the first references to this location appear in newspaper archives.
Retrologist tipster Matthew Telyczka sent along this photo of the shuttered mansard, shorn of its green roof:
Behold some of my photos of the Somerset store taken back in August 2023, including a McDonaldland mirror in the dining room that I hope somebody saved. Enjoy the tour:
1.) The roof
2.) The panel
3.) The booth
4.) The mirror
5.) The corner
There’s another McDonald’s nearby, in Montebello, New York, which is also a green-roofed mansard and is still with us.
Since we’re on the subject of McDonald’s (and the color green), let me share the news (if you haven’t stumbled upon it already) that McDonald’s has brought back a seasonal McDonaldland character that has not been seen for more than 40 years — Uncle O’Grimacey.
Shake-loving Grimace’s Irish uncle has been called back to active service from his longtime banishment to the Discarded Mascots of Madison Avenue Retirement Community to tout Shamrock Shakes anew. In the aughts, the shakes became scarce until McDonald’s brought back the St. Patrick’s Day treat nationally in 2012. Before their widespread return, the shakes persisted regionally. I was among those leading the online charge for the return of the shakes to at least the New York market, and there was even a website in the 2000s devoted to this Quixotian campaign, and message boards teeming with memories.
By 2009, I’d reached the point when I thought I’d never sip from another Shamrock Shake again. But happily, that same year, I finally spotted one “in the wild” in upstate New York near the Canadian border. The beverage had returned to Canada after being retired there in 2002.
O’Grimacey appeared in television ads for the shake in the 1970s, above in 1978, and, as a 1977 newspaper ad demonstrates, below, the mascot even appeared at restaurants.
Local restaurants also gave away Uncle O’Grimacey plastic hand puppets (see commercial below), rings and other swag. With the character’s return in 2025, McDonald’s has rolled out new Uncle O'Grimacey merch, which, at this writing, is sold out.
Got nothing else to do? Print out this 1976 newspaper ad and color in O’Grimacey. I can’t promise you a free box of McDonaldland Cookies (if only they brought those back) like in the ad, but, hey, you might be able to soothe your inner child.
Before the introduction of Uncle O’Grimacey, McDonald's used various leprechaun characters to pitch the drink, like in the ad, below, that appeared in the Bakersfield Californian in 1975. That’s the year McDonald’s Uncle O’Grimacey is said to have been born, but he did not appear in any newspaper ads I could find until the subsequent year.
Below is the television ad purported to be the first commercial for O’Grimacey, which is said to be from 1975.
The McDonald’s Shamrock Shake was invented in 1966 or 1967 — reports vary — by Harold “Hal” Rosen, a McDonald’s operator in Enfield, Connecticut, who had experience in dairy manufacturing.
“It takes a guy with a name like Rosen to think up an Irish drink,” Rosen told Ray Kroc, the self-proclaimed “founder” of McDonald’s, in his enjoyable 1977 book “Grinding It Out.”
Rosen, who died in 1990, did get help from Bridie Flannery in creating the shake. Rosen would go on to own multiple McDonald’s restaurants, and his accolades included becoming Enfield’s Man of the Year in 1969 for his community service, not his Shamrock Shake innovations.
The shake reminds us that some key McDonald’s menu items — say, the Egg McMuffin (Herb Peterson, Santa Barbara, California) and the Big Mac (Jim Delligatti, Irwin, Pennsylvania) came from franchisees, not corporate executives.
Starting in 1970, the Shamrock Shake began to appear nationally, according to McDonald’s. While I found no mention of the Shamrock Shake in newspapers until the subsequent year, I did turn up an ad for a McDonald’s in North Adams, Massachusetts, promoting the “Minty,” McDonald’s St. Patrick’s green shake, below, in March 1970, so I’ll take that as confirmation.
In 1974, the boom in Shamrock Shake sales helped fund the first Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia. A quarter of every sale this year will go to your local RMH.
The flavoring of the shake has varied over the years. Rosen’s shake was mint-flavored. In the early 1970s, a curious lime-flavored concoction was reportedly sold in parts of the country. Then, many accounts go, a plain version with only green dye was available until the minty flavor returned. (Reports are so mixed here that I included details on the flavor evolution with some hesitation, and I certainly have avoided any timeline. If you have insights, please share them in the comments.)
Interestingly, McDonald’s historian Mike Bullington (talk about a dream job!) says the shake did not truly go national until 2012 — meaning it was finally available at all restaurants — which is a revelation to me, as I assumed they were in every store “back in the day.” Check out his fun video on Shamrock Shake history, below.
Are you a fan of the Shamrock Shake? Are there quirky McDonald’s items for which you yearn? Let me know in the comments.
Sign Highlight: Tom and Jerry’s in Minnesota
The 85th anniversary of the debut of “Tom and Jerry” cartoons recently passed. You can toast the ever-dueling duo (save for the curious TV version when they were friends) by raising a glass to their health and happiness at Tom and Jerry’s Bar and Lounge in Chisholm, Minnesota.
Reviving the spirit of a historic Philadelphia skating rink
Back in 2022, I stumbled upon the former site of the Carman Gardens skating rink in Philadelphia and was intrigued. The signage was still intact. Oh, if only I could have gone inside, but I was three years too late. The rink was a historic Black-owned skating rink that opened in 1932, as a conversion of a theater whose traces could be found inside, and closed in 2019. The North 10 community center recently held a skating night at the Lenfest Center in Hunting Park, saluting the history of Carman and honoring its longtime owner, the 77-year-old Roger Lloyd. As a 12-year-old boy, he resolved he would buy the rink one day, and in the mid-1970s, he did, and it enjoyed a grand run under his leadership. North 10 will continue to hold yearly skating nights to honor Carman, while the original site is set to become a community health center.
Retrologist Roadside News Ticker
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Who stole this wondrous New Jersey road sign from the 1930s? The theft of this guidepost in Pennsville, which has shaken up residents, is an act of astonishing selfishness and cruelty. And, not to mention, dear thief, I wish thee luck trying to sell it or hide it at home, where only you and you alone can enjoy it. Shameful.
The wonderful Original Pantry Cafe in Los Angeles, which recently celebrated its 100th birthday, is poised to close on March 2. Back in 1981, Richard Riordan, who would go on to serve as the mayor of Los Angeles, saved the restaurant as part of a larger real-estate deal. After his death in 2023, a trust in Riordan’s name took control, and the restaurant is closing amid a labor dispute, reportedly because the trust will not meet demands by the workers’ union to ensure job security and representation in the event of an ownership change, KNX reports. It would be tragic to see this place close. As LA Taco puts it, “The Riordan Trust has the right to do what it wishes with its property. But maybe the law isn’t all that matters in shaping what makes a city and a culture like Los Angeles what it is.”
A Big Boy battle is brewing in Ohio. The successor company to Frisch’s Big Boy is suing a separate Big Boy restaurant group based in Michigan. The Michigan Big Boy is looking to take over former Frisch’s locations that closed after a nasty rent dispute last year. Frisch’s says it, and only it has the right to run Big Boy-branded restaurants in this market. Read more about the trouble that almost killed all Frisch’s Big Boy locations here.
In my most recent roundup newsletter, I discussed the debate surrounding the fate of the historic “fancy” McDonald’s at the Biltmore Village in Asheville, North Carolina. My friend Gary He, the author of McAtlas, traveled there to attend a public meeting where designs to replace the Hurricane Helene-damaged building were approved, but not without some controversy.
Since we’re on the subject of Asheville, check out this roundup of quirky roadside attractions in the area.
This replica In-N-Out honors the original store in Baldwin Park, which opened in 1948. (Rolando Pujol) In-N-Out Burger is consolidating its headquarters back in Baldwin Park, where the chain began in 1948.
Del Taco is expanding to Indiana. The California-based taco chain has already established a beachhead in the Midwest, with locations in Michigan and Ohio.
Bojangles, meanwhile, is bringing its fried chicken to New Jersey, with the first location set to open in Neptune.
It’s not unusual for a Burger King to show up in this column. It is unusual for a Burger King to show up that abuts a New England cemetery, where the mortal remains of writer Ted Anthony’s great-great-great-great-great aunt, Jane Adelaid Anthony Vaughan, forever rest in a kind of “burgatory.” Enjoy this enchanting read that somehow made me feel better about the inevitability of my own demise.
Denny’s is closing an additional 30 restaurants on top of the 150 announced late last year. Here’s one I pray never goes … this beauty (and its gorgeous vintage sign) in San Clemente, California. See more at roadarch.com.
Stephanie Stuckey shares the story of the pecan log roll, a piece of roadside Americana you can eat!
Here are nine iconic restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth that have recently closed.
Carmel, California’s dreamlike Forge restaurant is no more after 53 years.
The Grill & Skillet, an 80-year-old diner in Columbus Ohio, is closing March 2 after 80 years.
City Café in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, has closed after 124 years.
I’m always looking for spots to photograph in Hawaii, and the Tip Top Motel and Cafe in Kauai has been added to my list.
The modernist Church of the Transfiguration in Maspeth, Queens, is imperiled.
A classic Stag Beer mural has been restored in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
The old-school Sea Dip in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has closed. I sadly never shot the beautiful sign, a rare and treasured “diving lady.”
A signature trolley in the former Spaghetti Warehouse building in Columbus, Ohio, has been saved. The 134-year-old structure itself is being demolished. Spaghetti Warehouse locations often occupied old warehouse buildings, and the addition of a dine-in trolley car was a central feature. The chain was once widespread but is now down to five locations — four in Ohio and one in upstate New York.
The Ford Eagle neon sign returns to its original location in the City of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
The Bridgeport Flyer Diner in Connecticut has closed after 85 years.
The first co-branded Applebee’s and IHOP has opened in Seguin, Texas.
And finally, the Sam Goody in St. Clairsville, Ohio, has closed, leaving only one more store in what was a vast and popular music chain only a few decades ago. You can visit the final holdout in Medford, Oregon.
Great stuff! Do you know if there’s any in SoCal with green roofs?
Pour one out for the Somerset McD's, which survived being McBoxed for many years more than its contemporaries. That was my McD's growing up. I ate many a extra value meal in this location. It has now moved across Easton Ave to the former Burger King (itself having mostly survived modernization efforts) and is a boring McBox now.