Do these places look familiar? All are from the website, Not Fooling Anybody, "a chronicle of bad conversions and storefronts past."
I'm thinkin' Arby's
"House," I can accept. "Palace" is pushing it.
"Original" Pancake House.. originally a Ponderosa.
Get a bucket o' flattened, chicken-like meat product
I love this one. Pizza Hut in the old Burger King. I wonder if the pizza crust tastes like day-old Whaler buns.
Gee, I wonder what this used to be?
Make a run for the (Canadian) border.
One can only hope that this is an ice cream place now.
This one's in Atlanta. I've seen it. Which reminds me.. I need my car back.
No, the "T" didn't fall off. It was pushed. Sheer brilliance! Who needs new signs when you can just lop off the first letter of the old ones? I wonder if the same owners have other stations called "Hell" or "Moco" or "P"?
If DQ can't make it here, why bother?
That's one way to get teenagers to take test SAT prep classes. Move into an old Pizza Hut.
Want your egg roll regular or extra crispy?
Welcome to Dairy K. Would you like to try a Snowstorm?
A cop station in an old Pizza Hut. They couldn't find an empty Dunkin' Donuts?
Somehow the architecture and the palm trees just don't say Boston to me.
"Can I get a different car? This one smells like -- I dunno -- like fried clam strips."
Long John Gyro's, home of railing and concrete. Must be next door to a nursing home.
Wok-o Bell
There's nothing American about this deli.
Another one here in ATL, and a former Baskin Robbins. Maybe they thought "Basket Rabbit" was close enough to fool the unobservant.
Yeah, that looks just like Philly.
All these empty Taco Bells, and John picks a Wendy's?
An addition from The Courteous Chihuahua.
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I'd rather them use up exisiting buildings than to have them sit empty while new ones are being built. I hate urban sprawl.
ReplyDeletewe've got a burger king in town that used to be a funeral home. they say 'flame broiled'. i think 'cremated'.
ReplyDeletePizza Hut conversions always crack me up. You can call it an insurance company all you want, but you're still at the Hut, yo.
ReplyDeleteAlso, "Basket Rabbit?" Really? LMAO!
Those are hysterical. I especially liked Wok-o Bell.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, that's not the only Check Advance Bell I've seen, we had a few in WI - must be the perfect multi-purpose layout.
ReplyDeleteYou almost have to wonder if PepsiCo decided years ago that it was cheaper to abandon the old stores when they changed their design than to rehab what they had - with the number of places inhabiting former Pizza Huts and Taco Bells, it's almost a shock to see one still using the original building.
LOL, that "Boston" Grill is on the corner of Fowler and Florida, in the ugly dregs of Central Tampa.
ReplyDeletehttp://maps.google.com/maps?f=s&ie=UTF8&ll=28.054844,-82.459339&spn=0,359.997589&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=28.054697,-82.459345&panoid=PgePewPMrHZ33-jFsHY0FQ&cbp=12,33.41,,0,-2.08
We've got an old taco bell here that is now a dentist office. It cracks me up every time I drive by.
ReplyDeleteanonymous - now I have to take the long (LONG) way home tonight after work, just to see that. What's an extra 10 miles out of the way?
ReplyDeleteThat last one is in Indianapolis. I've seen it. I don't think it's a conversion. I think it's just coincidental. But I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteWe have a Long John Silver's that was converted into a vet clinic. I'd think the smell would drive the cats crazy. And we passed a Mexican restaurant over the weekend that was clearly a former IHOP.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see a McDonald's or Pizza Hut converted into a Jenny Craig.
ReplyDeleteWe had a former McDonald's that was converted into a Curves for Women (exercise/workout place) for a while. Then the Curves business moved out and now the place is a Jumping Beans coffee shop.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, a Wendy's that was across the street from the above, built a new building right next door to it and moved over next to them. Now the old Wendy's building, which looks exactly like the new Wendy's building, stands empty with weeds growing up all around it across the street from the new Wendy's and the Jumping Beans.
I have never figured out what was the business sense in doing that, especially in our little town. Is business really going to be that much better for them across the street? That side of the street didn't work out very well for McDonald's or Curves, after all. HA!
Having spent a large part of my teen years in the Washington Square Mall, I'm 99% sure the dental office was a Taco Bell in a former life.
ReplyDeleteThat Gyro/LJS is in Nashville, TN. I see it all the time- from the outside. I'd never go in.
ReplyDelete@Elliott - keep the doors locked and windows up. Godspeed.
ReplyDeleteA 7-11 will always look like one no matter how hard the following business tries to remodel.
ReplyDeleteA few more Atlanta ones: How about the Taxco on Roswell Road that used to be a KFC, the Caribou right next to it that used to be a Dunkin' Dine, the 3 Dollar Cafe directly across the street that used to be a post office, and the Enterprise that used to be a Blimpie next to that!? And then there's the Felinis and La Fonda that were once a florist and a Turtle Records, all within a quarter-mile stretch of Roswell Rd.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to sound like my parents when we go visit their hometowns. Yikes.
Basket Rabbit is in the ATL??? I must go there!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLindsey - Buford Hwy across from Northeast Plaza. Or used to be. It's been a while.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth - wow, you're right. I've eaten at Taxco and La Fonda. Forgot that was a Turtle's. Used to buy cassettes there.
Wow, the Oriental Kitchen is just a couple of miles from my house. Look out for the squirts.
ReplyDeleteThe last one, from Indianapolis, is definitely an old Taco Bell. I remember when they were adding the fence, and snarking to myself, "Like that's gonna make me forget the Enchrito I had there last year."
ReplyDelete