Rt 8, over by Etna? I know that one. But if course it could be a completely different BK. IIRC there was a time in the early 2000s when there weren’t any Burger Kings in the Pittsburgh area because the guy who owned all the franchises went bankrupt or some such.
Not a disappearing Mickey D, but an appearing one.
There’s an area near Los Angeles called the City Of Commerce, which is so aptly named. Last I checked there were fewer than 1,200 actual full time residents. The place us one huge industrial park in the middle of (at least when they built it) nowhere.
Corporate at Mickey D chose this nearly abandoned spot to build a top to bottom sham restaurant. Perfect in every detail down to the last rivet. The place was never intended to open at all. It became their standing location for commercial shoots.
Before that time it would cost them a bunch of dough to close and convert an actual restaurant into a movie set.
Thing is, as crazy abandoned as this area was, people started flocking to the new McDonald’s only to be outraged to learn it was fake.
Mickey chose the easy way out. The built an identical working restaurant literally next to the sham one.
I really don’t know if they are both still there, but they were LA legend for years.
And hey, I use the term restaurant loosely here.
Here’s at least one reference. Wouldn’t be hard to dig up more.
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Same here. Instantly knew where that was.
It was indeed always weird having all these amazing food stores full of incredible world foods, niche everything (The Strip District is a Pittsburgh treasure) and then, a McDonalds. So out of place. But when you wanted food late at night in the strip after getting loaded and thrashed at a metal concert at Altar Bar next door (a converted church turned into live venue, one of several here) or Rosebud or Metropol or 31st Street pub or (tons of live venues) it was the only place open for miles
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Missed opportunity. The Farmhouse in Burlington VT is an old McDonald’s, but one of the best true farm to table establishments I’ve ever been to. Also the first place I tasted Hill Farmstead beer, the inspiration for what has now become known as the New England IPA.
I only realized it was an old McDonald’s because of the tiles; otherwise you’d never know.
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There’s a pho place on the main north/south drag through Spokane that used to be a Pizza Hut. The windows, exterior roof, and flooring are the giveaways there, too.
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I could definitely write a slashfic in the Snowcrash universe where the protagonist is an Uncle Enzo who turns up 5 minutes after the last burger comes out of inventory in the burgerator machine, concordant the the burger licence DRM being revoked by the Burger mainframe. With extreme prejudice the entire building is razed to the ground while workers are forced into changing trucks, their uniforms exchanged for white tyvek jumpsuits and all branded apps and data removed from their phone before they are sent home.
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I wish municipalities would pay attention to this. It’s really frustrating seeing new box stores with massive pavement islands being built right next to empty malls, chain restaurants and strip malls. They should only be approving new commercial buildings if nothing else appropriate exists locally.
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You’re dating yourself. All those venues have closed. Hell, Altar Bar is back to being an actual church.
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Heresy! In reverse! Bring back my rampant hedonism 
Yeah, I know they’re all closed. But that McDonalds has been there forever for aftershows. I did NOT know though they turned Altar Bar back into a church- joke’s on those choir boys- the acoustics in there suck hard, and if they knew what had gone on in there, they’d never worhship there again hahaha
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I think Cory D. already did that. See: Unauthorized Bread
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It was pretty surprising to see that it was going to be a church again. So many churches around here become hookah bars, or brewpubs, or concert venues, or photography studios, or event spaces, anything but actual churches. For a while there was a charter school in a former synagogue.
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We joke about the price of a burger jumping from $1.99 to $19.99 in the spot.
Good beer selection though.
Back in the 60s, there was a McD knock-off chain called Wetson’s on Long Island. This was in the “burger stand” era, where there was no indoor seating, just a narrow order area. Maybe a couple of tables outside.
Growing up, Wetson’s was the “original” to us, and McDonald’s the arrogant interloper!
Eventually, McD franchises invaded, and Wetson’s swiftly disappeared.
There was a Wetson’s on Jericho Turnpike in (as I recall) East Meadow that was repurposed as a record store. The place was still recognizeably a repurposed hamburger stand for decades. It was there in the 1990s. Now, who knows?
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It would be hilarious if they guy with the camera who McDowell chased off in that scene was an actual representative of the McDonald’s corporation who happened to show up at the same time they were expecting the extra for that scene.
Captain’s log, supplemental. We have arrived at the edge of the Neutral Zone, where we will now have an opportunity to learn firsthand what happened to our distant outpost.
[Bridge]
DATA: Captain, there is nothing left of Outpost Delta Zero Five.
LAFORGE: Must have been one hell of an explosion.
DATA: Sensors indicate no evidence of conventional attack.
PICARD: Can you determine what happened?
WORF: The outpost was not just destroyed, it’s as though some great force just scooped it off the face of the planet.
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Yeah- its one of the thjngs I love most about my city- lots of beautiful churches not full of more irrational people believing in an imaginary god- and turning into all kinds of awesome things. My favorite is the Church Brew Works.
Don’t get me wrong- I’m cool with good religious people- but by that, I mean not the judging kind, the holier than thou types- the people who actually use their belief for the good of humanity as a whole, like shelters, kitchens, and help for the homeless. People who actually help others and do real good for their communities without damning everyone around them.
There is a good community of compassionate religious in the city who do lots of good- I’m ok with them.
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Sounds great, but you said slash so I am wondering who humps who in this scenario?
We had the Boing Boing meetup there many years ago. I spilled a beer all over the table with my wild gesticulations. It’s been a while since my last visit (too many breweries closer to me.)
In the Chicago area, we of sufficient age can pick out former Dog n Suds locations by their distinctive architecture. They used to be all over the place throughout Chicagoland, but there are now only three remaining in the far northwest suburbs, one in southern Illinois, and some scattered in other states. They often have ended up repurposed as used car lots, but a variety of other uses have been found for them.
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