You take the good (a 1970s Toys 'R' Us 'returns') and you take the bad (a 1970s McDonald's will be bulldozed) | Retrologist News Update
And there you have the facts of life along the American road -- just rolling with the punches. Read on for more headlines, too.
I knew this day would come. The bell tolls for every mansard McDonald’s. I hear it pealing now for one of the finest left in New Jersey, the store in Middletown that features a golf theme.
According to the Asbury Park Press, the township has blessed demolition of the store, built in 1971, and replacement with a smaller restaurant featuring two drive-thru lanes.
This reflects a stark shift in fast-food architecture toward more “driving thru” and less dining in, with the restaurant design moving from iconic to utilitarian, from quirky structures unique to each brand to bland boxes that could serve any brand.
"The main objective here is customer experience, getting people in and out of the drive through as fast and as efficiently as possible," project manager Amin Sharifi to the Asbury Park Press.
That about says it all.
A McDonald's get McBoxed, but a classic sign (and Ronald) survive; the roadside gems of New Haven; a pay phone sign becomes a subway museum piece
Back in March 2022, I brought you the news on my Instagram page that the old-school McDonald’s in Milford, Connecticut, was about to be demolished. As I wrote last year, “We’ll see how this looks when it’s done. I hope they preserve the sign, and maybe keep a few of the characters for old-time’s sake. But it will never be the same.”
We saw this play out in the reconstruction of the Milford, Connecticut, McDonald’s, above, a gorgeous red roofer that featured what was billed as the largest PlayPlace in New England.
Today, it’s a smaller store with expanded drive-thru service. The 1960s Skinny M and a Ronald McDonald’s statue inside (relaxing on a slatted bench that’s Design Within Reach ready) were preserved, as a weak saving grace.
In Middletown, the franchisee advocated for the changes, and he had been pushing McDonald’s to green-light upgrades since 2005, the APP reported.
McDonald’s was reportedly not sold on the store’s future because of its awkward location at the center of a divided highway. However, the owner/operator, Kenneth Hollings, successfully lobbied for the renovation, and the township’s Zoning Board of Adjustment signed off on McDonald’s application, the paper reported.
It’s often corporate pushing the changes, not the other way around, so this was an interesting twist.
These changes are fascinating and suggest a curious return to the old days of McDonald’s, when the buildings were simple and sensationally decorated walk-up structures, and you were encouraged to pick up your food and leave. Unlike the old “red and white” building flanked with golden arches, the new buildings don’t call much attention to themselves.
Dining rooms — often wildly decorated — later became a central part of the McDonald’s experience, along with PlayPlaces, which appealed to families. McDonald’s did not even introduce drive-thrus until 1975, well after other chains did, like Wendy’s, with its “Pick Up Windows.”
Now, the drive-thru is king. The dining room? It’s there for whoever needs it, a practical space but not exactly one where you are incentivized to linger.
I wrote a profile of this store — with plenty of photos and history uncovered from newspaper archives — last year.
Here’s a taste:
This McDonald's, at 925 Route 35 in Middletown, New Jersey, was the 157th store in the chain and the fifth in New Jersey, having opened on Sept. 15, 1960. On that day, local resident Billy Hayer became the first person here to bite into a burger, according to newspaper archives. The introduction of the Filet-O-Fish here, in early 1965, just in time for Lent, was headline news. (The menu in 1960 was simple: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, shakes, soda, coffee, milk, root beer and orangeade.)
This building here is likely the second on the site, having replaced the original “red-and-white” walk-up McDonald's, which featured "neon-lighted rainbow arches." The small building had a 400-square-foot kitchen, enclosed in a 900-square-foot perimeter of quarter-inch plate glass, allowing customers to ensure the “preparation of his food is quick and clean,” the Daily Record reported in 1960.
Read the rest of my piece here:
A historic McDonald's, one of the earliest in New Jersey, avoids McBoxing and remains a red-roofed mansard (with quirky golf-related decorations)
The other day, on a jaunt to Long Branch, New Jersey, to photograph a recently uncovered early 20th-century Coca-Cola mural (post coming soon!) I stumbled upon this untouched mansard McDonald's. This is not your usual McDonald's, I'd like to point out, at least what passes for usual these days. Aside from having escaped (for now) architectural steriliza…
Sadly, as I prepared to send this newsletter, I saw on the Instagram account explore.evermore that another mansard in New Jersey, this one a green-roofed affair in Somerset, is doomed. The restaurant is moving to a new location, presumably dooming this building.
Below are photos from my visit last summer:
You don’t have to grow up at this faux Toys ‘R’ Us in Burbank!
If there’s one roadside regret that bugs me like a pebble in my boot on a long hike, it’s that I didn’t photograph all the remaining classic Toys “R” Us stores before the chain closed in the United States in 2018.
I did get to the Durham, North Carolina, store in 2016, and the Horseheads, New York, shop in 2018. I JUST MISSED a vintage beauty featuring the giraffe mascot Geoffrey that escaped my detection in Clay, New York.
Every so often, I’ll find a trace of one of these stores, but it’s JUST NOT THE SAME.
Leave it to Hollywood to work its magic and build a time machine to a place where IT’S THE SAME.
A former Kmart in Burbank, California, has been converted into a stunning simulation of 1970s-80s “Toys “R” Us. [Map]
It’s a True TRU, except it’s not. It’s for a movie production— KCBS/KCAL is reporting the TRU redux was built for a Michael Jackson biographical film.
The point is, this beauty — something I thought we’d never see the likes of again — is back in the world and for a limited time. If you’re anywhere nearby, please go and send me pictures, as I’m not sure I’ll be able to fly across the country to shoot this. (For those who know, and you probably know me pretty well if you follow me here, I haven’t ruled out making the trip!)
The wonderful Caldor Rainbow features a design evolution timeline of Toys “R” Us storefronts.
BTW, none of the articles about this Burbank TRU acknowledge that Toys “R” Us is actually back in the United States, with two standalone stores and hundreds of more toy boutiques in Macy’s department stores. It’s not the same, yes, but it’s better than nothing.
Toys “R” Us NEVER left Canada — I had the good fortune of visiting a store similar to the one recreated for the film. It’s in Montreal, and you can see it below.
More TRU coverage below:
The Retrologist's Notebook: Ghosts of Toys 'R' Us in New York City
On Sunday, I hit the road, not going very far from my home in Queens, New York, but definitely traveling back in time. Toys “R” Us, at least as we knew it for decades, went out of business in the United States back in 2018. The brand, in new hands, is now in its second comeback attempt, affiliating itself with hundreds of Macy’s stores and operating a si…
Ghosts of Black Friday past: Toys 'R' Us, Ames, Bradlees, Kmart, Two Guys | Rolando's Roadside Roundup
I’m a pretty nostalgic fellow, you may have figured out by now, but the nostalgia goes on warp speed over the holidays, and Thanksgiving weekend is one of those signature moments. Today is the much-vaunted Black Friday, as consumers are (allegedly) mobbing stores in search of deals. Of course, in recent years, Black Friday hasn’t quite lived up to the le…
Duly Noted, eclipse-chasing edition
Calling all eclipse chasers! Orbaker’s Drive-in Restaurant in Williamson, New York, near Lake Ontario, will be staying open for 85 hours straight to meet the demands of eclipse tourists expected to descend on the area. Will you be chasing the eclipse, set for the afternoon of April 8? Let me know! Maybe I should put together a roadside Americana guide along the path of totality?
It’s not too late to weigh in on the threatened conversion of a beloved neon sign to LED. A hearing will be held April 3 in San Francisco to review the fate of the scaffold sign for the Palace Hotel, reports SF Neon. Sign up for the SF Neon mailing list here to stay informed on news and tours.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill that could make it easier to demolish historic buildings near the coast in the Sunshine State. Supporters say the flexibility to demolish old buildings is needed to bring sites up to code in flood-prone areas. Preservationists are alarmed about how the law could impact architecturally notable buildings outside protected areas, like the iconic Ocean Drive or St. Augustine.
Staunton Coca-Cola Works has been added to Virginia’s Landmarks Register.
If you’re nearby, visit the wonderful Wright’s Dairy-Rite, where I grabbed a bite in 2022.
Relight the Night is working to restore the Cowboy Oil Co. neon sign in Pocatello, Idaho. Learn more about the group’s work here.
The historic Lincoln Theater in Baton Rouge is becoming a museum celebrating Black Louisiana history and culture.
J. Huston Tavern, Missouri’s oldest restaurant, has closed. The state is looking for a new concessionaire for the Federal-style structure in Arrow Rock, but running the place has its challenges. Arrow Rock is a seasonal community whose population swells in the summer and dwindles to a few dozen residents the rest of the year. That does not make for a sturdy foundation for a restaurant’s bottom line.
Northern Kentucky honky tonk Bobby Mackey’s Music World has closed, will be demolished and will reopen in a new structure in 2026. Mackey’s opened in Wilder in 1978. It’s called “the most haunted nightclub in America” — whither the ghosts now?
So sad: The Tasty Nut Shop and Soda Bar, a soda-fountain gem in White Pigeon, Michigan, is being demolished despite a preservationist push. The building was supposedly too far gone to save. I told you about the struggle to save it in 2022.
I'm so confused as to why the franchisee in Middletown would want to McBox. A Mansard is such a rare find. So strange. AND SINCE 2005 they have been pushing for it? It took McDonald's corp nearly 20 years to realize they were gonna stay in business?!
Thank you so much for countering the bad news about the McDonald’s in Middletown (one I visited often in my childhood 😥) to the pop-up Toys R Us in Burbank (which I’m close enough to go see!). Boy, the demolition of these old buildings, like the Nut Shop) gut me. Thank you so very much for documenting all of this! Great work, as always!