Roadside Revisits
What Do You Think You're Looking At? #86
For today’s entry I’m revisiting two items from Flemington, New Jersey that I’ve previously featured here, because there are a couple of neat new things to say.
I should have recognized it, but after the deli closed, and the sign was removed, it turns out it was this all along!
I had really hoped that the sign would be restored rather than covered over again or removed. These are highly collectable, and they’re old enough that they serve as landmarks of a sort despite being commercial detritus.
So I was very pleased to see this on my last trip to Flemington!
The restaurant is open again under a new name (I’m not sure if it’s different management or not.) I hope the sign is now a permanent part of their signage.
The next update is on this former diner, now being rebuilt into an urgent care clinic:
The site now:
An astute observer in a Flemington Facebook group noticed, however, that the building had not always been a diner (before Country Griddle, it was a different diner too).
It was a car dealership long before it was a restaurant!
This faint imprint of an old sign on the side of the building is a vintage GMC logo!
I ended my initial post there, but when I photographed the site myself, I noticed, next to the GMC logo, this:
I’ve edited the image to make it easier to see. Look very closely at the top right. It’s a retro Chevrolet logo!
I will never get tired of finding out the past lives of ordinary buildings like this. As always, if you have an example like this where you live, let me know!
Related Reading:
Pecan Log Rolls and Hotel Rooms
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Great Substack! I love all of this stuff. NOVA is such a challenge because most of the spots just get bulldozed eventually. I remember some examples at Rolling Valley Mall a few years ago when the One Life Fitness was built. For a time you could see the original sign of Crown Books; which was in the Haft family and also included Trak Auto, Dart Drug, and Shoppers. Burke Center has a number of different establishments that have just been flipped into new retail but some of the original bones exist. I also like to track fast food. There was a long dead Red Barn fast food restaurant by the old Fairfax High School and the building was just torn down. I'm told that building hadn't operated as a Red Barn since the early 80s but was repurposed. The chain no longer exists.
There's an upgrade slated for the Route 7 McDonald's in Annandale. The current building has been there since '99. Not really notable other than it shares the address of the very first Roy Rogers restaurant: https://annandaletoday.com/upgrade-slated-for-route-7-mcdonalds/
I've started tracking some of this stuff on my YouTube channel. There's always the site of the Ebola Monkey House in Reston: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53egtBZ7x2k
Keep up the great work!