Drive-By Photos 23
Let's start off 2019 right with some recycled PlazaACME photos!
Weaver's Orchard, Morgantown, PA
Apples.
Fall colors and apple trees.
They had an elevated platform for goats to walk around on. It makes for some great photo opportunities.
Exton Wawa Remodel
This store was built in 2005 on the site of a 70's location (where the gas pumps are now) and a chiropractor's office(Where the store is now). In late 2015, Wawa announced that they would be remodeling 22 stores, to test the waters for their aggressive current remodeling campaign. Exton was one of those 22. The store had closed less than a week before, so the remodel was still in its early stages here. Within a couple weeks, the store was unrecognizable.
Amoco/Gulf, Aston, PA
I'm not sure if this ever made it to the BP days. It became a Gulf a long time ago. The new logo was a recent addition.
Sunoco, Chester, PA
This appears to have been built in the 70's or 80's. It stays very busy, since it appears to be Chester's only 24-hour gas station.
Waterside Station/Philadelphia Union, Chester, PA
This was built in 1916 as a coal-burning power plant by what was then called Philadelphia Electric Co. (It is now PECO). They still own the property, despite having shut down the facility in 1984. More recently, it has been leased out to the Philadelphia Union soccer team. I guess Philadelphia doesn't care for soccer too much, since they're making the team play in the poorest, most dangerous city in the state (Second most dangerous in the nation!). :P
Commodore Barry Bridge, Chester, PA
This bridge crosses the Delaware River between Chester, PA and Bridgeport, NJ
PPL Park, Chester, PA
I think the soccer team has the nicest stadium of all the professional Philly teams. It is the newest, too, having been built in 2010.
1N/Susquehanna/BB&T/Ufinancial, Lionville, PA
A November update to this picture. The Susquehanna sign had come down about a month prior, before they put up this tarp sign. I believe BB&T had their sign underneath this. This was BB&T's first step into Pennsylvania. They are now in the process of buying National Penn, which would give them a total of around 400 PA locations.
Exton Wawa Remodel
It appears they are still in the demolition phase. The area where the sign used to be has been completely removed to make room for the new arched window and a small porch over the front.
Dunkin Donuts, Lionville, PA
In 2004, Baskin Robbins closed their store at Lionville Station and relocated all the way to the other side of town. They split the building with a new Dunkin Donuts. This is the only DD/BR in the area that has not seen any form of remodeling within the last couple of years, which makes me think something major will be happening soon. I had a couple of friends who used to work here. They said it was not nearly as fun as you would expect. They both quit after less than a year.
Downingtown Wawa
Most of the work was done in the drinks area. They carved out an area in back so the counters wouldn't cut out in the back aisle anymore. They also added the new Coke machine. It would be less than a couple months before every Wawa Coke machine would be replaced with a touchscreen one, though.
This store was redone in 2014, although it appears to have been nothing more than a décor swap. I think the white part of the counter was either replaced or resurfaced. Update: It was gutted out and totally redone again in early 2018.
Wachovia/Wells Fargo, Exton, PA
In 2006, Wachovia bought out an old Denny's that looked almost exactly like the one pictured. It was demolished and replaced with a bank, to most of Exton's displeasure. Two years later, the company was sold to Wells Fargo.
Getty?/Texaco/East Coast, Exton, PA
From what I found, this opened sometime after 1973. I think I remember hearing something about this being a Texaco, although I couldn't find any confirmation. It became an East Coast in 2006, after spending many years abandoned. Everything was boarded up and painted black for as long as I can remember before then. "The canopy definitely appears to be a Texaco remnant. It would have been black. There would have been a red stripe around the bottom. if you look closely, you can see the separate stripe that has been painted over when they painted the whole thing red. However, the red and black color scheme was not used by Texaco until 1982. Prior to that, they still used green, white and red. If this place dates back to the 70s, I'm betting it started out as something else before Texaco. No 70s era Texacos would have been this simple with just a kiosk and no bays. The only ones around at that time who were no frills operations with no bays were Getty and Merit. Getty was bought by Texaco in 1984, so I'd bet it was a Getty first. I really enjoy your photography of gas stations because I love petroliana! Keep up the great work!" -pauled8no1
PNC & Oil Lube Express, Exton, PA
These were built around 2010 on the site of two former car washes. One had been abandoned for a while, but the other was still in operation right up until it was demolished. In the background, you can see the Exton Target, which was one of Pennsylvania's first locations.
Nova Bank/LNP, Lionville, PA
The "For Lease" tarp has been removed, revealing the old Nova sign.
NAMCO/Dollar Tree, North Coventry, PA
A disappointing interior. I was expecting something a little less bland. I imagine Dollar Tree didn't have to do too much when they set up!
NAMCO opened with the center in 2003, and lasted until 2013. They are a Japanese company specializing in video games, although this store sold furniture, pool supplies, and other forms of entertainment as well. Dollar Tree opened in 3/4 of this space in early 2016. Correction: This is a different company that the video game one.
AT&T, Lionville, PA
Hechinger/AC Moore, Downingtown, PA
For whatever reason, when Wegman's took over the former Hechinger, they enclosed the former garden center as part of the store, but did not take the former indoor lumber yard. This sat vacant until around 2005, when AC Moore moved here from elsewhere in the shopping center.
Camden Shipyard & Maritime Museum, Camden, NJ
A doorway, probably original to the structure.
Some pictures displaying what the interior looked like throughout the years. The previous picture is supposed to be from the same vantage point as these.
This was built as an Episcopal Church in the early 1800's. The church ran out of money recently (It is Camden, after all), and sold the property to the Catholic Church across the street. The priest there is heavily involved with the city. He cooperated with the South Jersey Port Corporation to set up a museum here, which was donated to Camden, and officially opened late last year.
During the conversion, they peeled back a wall, revealing what was left behind when an addition was put on.
It looks like former parishioners could donate to have their names put on the bottom of the windows. The one here would indicate that these were put in around 1910.
Another one. It looks like a couple of them broke and had to be replaced at some point, such as the one on the right.
The building had a lot of stained glass windows. I'm not sure how they got them to look like this without painting them at all.
View of the outside of the museum. The main entrance is actually located on the side. The front door area needs a little work done on it, still.
Camden, NJ
This picture does a pretty good job of showing what the less modern parts of Camden look like. This town is the kind of place you wouldn't want to be alone at night in. Actually, you probably wouldn't want to be in there alone any time of day. :P
Gulf, Camden, NJ
RCA Victor, Camden, NJ
A picture of the whole building. The upper floors are now apartments, while the ground floor is mainly retail and offices.
Susquehanna/BB&T, Camden, NJ
House, Camden, NJ
This place appears to have been built in the 1700's. From the shape the roof is in, it would appear it has been vacant for a long time. However, a 2012 Google Street view shows it being in much better shape. It doesn't look like there was a fire, and we haven't had any weather bad enough to do that, so I have no clue why it looks like this. Update: The roof has been restored, but the building remains abandoned.
RCA Victor, Camden, NJ
This building was also part of the RCA Victor complex. Unlike the Main Building, this sat abandoned until more recently. Work began turning these into apartments last year.
Sunoco, Camden, NJI couldn't figure out what this one was originally. I am led to think Esso, since I see some similarities between it and this. Correction: Always a Sunoco.
A&P/SuperFresh/TJMaxx, Wayne, PA
At this point, the old A&P façade has been completely hidden by the new façade. While I wasn't too happy about losing the A&P façade, I really like how the center looks completed.
Ruby Tuesday, Malvern, PA
Commerce/TD Bank, Malvern, PA
Another one of their rare brick locations. It seems they tended to build these in more affluent areas, while other places got stuck with the white cinder block. When they built this, they did a lot of elevation work on the property. They probably raised the back corner of the lot over 40 feet. The rear entrance to the parking lot coils around a massive retaining wall.
Drug Emporium/Staples, Frazer, PA
That name just sounds illegal. It's no surprise that the chain went under. The center was built in the 80's, and the Emporium was surprisingly still open up until the early 2000's. Staples lasted until 2014. I remember trying to buy a hard drive at the Exton Staples a while back, and they directed us to this store. Apparently, the older stores get new merchandise first in order to prevent them from competing with the newer stores. I thought this was a little confusing, since Exton opened before this one. Maybe since this is in an older building, it counts?
CVS, Frazer, PA
I believe this opened around 2011 on a formerly wooded lot set back a little from Rt. 30. It's a nice store, but its very hard to get into.
Lincoln Court Construction, Frazer, PAAfter about two years of this lot sitting empty, work has started expanding the Lincoln Court Shopping Center onto the former Chinese Restaurant property. It is nearing completion now. I am curious to see if the Clemens/Giant will be renovated as part of this expansion.
Apples.
This store was built in 2005 on the site of a 70's location (where the gas pumps are now) and a chiropractor's office(Where the store is now). In late 2015, Wawa announced that they would be remodeling 22 stores, to test the waters for their aggressive current remodeling campaign. Exton was one of those 22. The store had closed less than a week before, so the remodel was still in its early stages here. Within a couple weeks, the store was unrecognizable.
I'm not sure if this ever made it to the BP days. It became a Gulf a long time ago. The new logo was a recent addition.
This appears to have been built in the 70's or 80's. It stays very busy, since it appears to be Chester's only 24-hour gas station.
This was built in 1916 as a coal-burning power plant by what was then called Philadelphia Electric Co. (It is now PECO). They still own the property, despite having shut down the facility in 1984. More recently, it has been leased out to the Philadelphia Union soccer team. I guess Philadelphia doesn't care for soccer too much, since they're making the team play in the poorest, most dangerous city in the state (Second most dangerous in the nation!). :P
This bridge crosses the Delaware River between Chester, PA and Bridgeport, NJ
I think the soccer team has the nicest stadium of all the professional Philly teams. It is the newest, too, having been built in 2010.
A November update to this picture. The Susquehanna sign had come down about a month prior, before they put up this tarp sign. I believe BB&T had their sign underneath this. This was BB&T's first step into Pennsylvania. They are now in the process of buying National Penn, which would give them a total of around 400 PA locations.
It appears they are still in the demolition phase. The area where the sign used to be has been completely removed to make room for the new arched window and a small porch over the front.
In 2004, Baskin Robbins closed their store at Lionville Station and relocated all the way to the other side of town. They split the building with a new Dunkin Donuts. This is the only DD/BR in the area that has not seen any form of remodeling within the last couple of years, which makes me think something major will be happening soon. I had a couple of friends who used to work here. They said it was not nearly as fun as you would expect. They both quit after less than a year.
Most of the work was done in the drinks area. They carved out an area in back so the counters wouldn't cut out in the back aisle anymore. They also added the new Coke machine. It would be less than a couple months before every Wawa Coke machine would be replaced with a touchscreen one, though.
In 2006, Wachovia bought out an old Denny's that looked almost exactly like the one pictured. It was demolished and replaced with a bank, to most of Exton's displeasure. Two years later, the company was sold to Wells Fargo.
From what I found, this opened sometime after 1973. I think I remember hearing something about this being a Texaco, although I couldn't find any confirmation. It became an East Coast in 2006, after spending many years abandoned. Everything was boarded up and painted black for as long as I can remember before then. "The canopy definitely appears to be a Texaco remnant. It would have been black. There would have been a red stripe around the bottom. if you look closely, you can see the separate stripe that has been painted over when they painted the whole thing red. However, the red and black color scheme was not used by Texaco until 1982. Prior to that, they still used green, white and red. If this place dates back to the 70s, I'm betting it started out as something else before Texaco. No 70s era Texacos would have been this simple with just a kiosk and no bays. The only ones around at that time who were no frills operations with no bays were Getty and Merit. Getty was bought by Texaco in 1984, so I'd bet it was a Getty first. I really enjoy your photography of gas stations because I love petroliana! Keep up the great work!" -pauled8no1
These were built around 2010 on the site of two former car washes. One had been abandoned for a while, but the other was still in operation right up until it was demolished. In the background, you can see the Exton Target, which was one of Pennsylvania's first locations.
The "For Lease" tarp has been removed, revealing the old Nova sign.
A disappointing interior. I was expecting something a little less bland. I imagine Dollar Tree didn't have to do too much when they set up!
This opened in November, 2014 on the site of a long-abandoned Regal Theater. It relocated from a smaller store in Chester Springs they acquired from T Mobile, which was originally Cingular. Strangely enough, the sign is still up on that building and is still lit.
For whatever reason, when Wegman's took over the former Hechinger, they enclosed the former garden center as part of the store, but did not take the former indoor lumber yard. This sat vacant until around 2005, when AC Moore moved here from elsewhere in the shopping center.
A doorway, probably original to the structure.
This picture does a pretty good job of showing what the less modern parts of Camden look like. This town is the kind of place you wouldn't want to be alone at night in. Actually, you probably wouldn't want to be in there alone any time of day. :P
I don't know what company used this design, but it appears to have been very popular in the area, since these little buildings are scattered around everywhere. I'm thinking it might have been Sunoco, but their roof was a little different.
UPDATE: It was a Gulf.
A picture of the whole building. The upper floors are now apartments, while the ground floor is mainly retail and offices.
This building originally housed RCA Victor and their main factory. This building spent many years abandoned, but was thankfully saved, unlike a certain abandoned hotel I was hoping to get a picture of while I was down here.
Susquehanna opened in 2009, and sold out to BB&T last fall. It looks like the sign has been removed and replaced with a tarp.
This place appears to have been built in the 1700's. From the shape the roof is in, it would appear it has been vacant for a long time. However, a 2012 Google Street view shows it being in much better shape. It doesn't look like there was a fire, and we haven't had any weather bad enough to do that, so I have no clue why it looks like this. Update: The roof has been restored, but the building remains abandoned.
This building was also part of the RCA Victor complex. Unlike the Main Building, this sat abandoned until more recently. Work began turning these into apartments last year.
At this point, the old A&P façade has been completely hidden by the new façade. While I wasn't too happy about losing the A&P façade, I really like how the center looks completed.
This was built alongside Wawa around 2006. I never see any huge crowds here, but it seems to be hanging on. This may be because I usually drive by here in the morning before it is even open. :P
Update: Closed as of 8/26/16 Update 2: Demolished 2017 for an Aldi.
Another one of their rare brick locations. It seems they tended to build these in more affluent areas, while other places got stuck with the white cinder block. When they built this, they did a lot of elevation work on the property. They probably raised the back corner of the lot over 40 feet. The rear entrance to the parking lot coils around a massive retaining wall.
That name just sounds illegal. It's no surprise that the chain went under. The center was built in the 80's, and the Emporium was surprisingly still open up until the early 2000's. Staples lasted until 2014. I remember trying to buy a hard drive at the Exton Staples a while back, and they directed us to this store. Apparently, the older stores get new merchandise first in order to prevent them from competing with the newer stores. I thought this was a little confusing, since Exton opened before this one. Maybe since this is in an older building, it counts?
I believe this opened around 2011 on a formerly wooded lot set back a little from Rt. 30. It's a nice store, but its very hard to get into.
Comments
Post a Comment