Flickr Photos 41
In the late 90's, a Pizza Hut/KFC combo store was built here. It was an interesting looking building: a modernized version of the classic Pizza Hut shape, with a tower on the corner for the Col. Sanders sign. They demolished and rebuilt in 2013, and added a Taco Bell in place of the KFC.
This store was built around 2000. Despite the design, it is actually the endcap of a strip mall. It was remodeled last year.
I'm not sure what this place started out as, but it looks pretty interesting. I'm guessing the Family Dollar space was once some sort of anchor, since it goes further back than the other spaces.
This has since closed, and is now occupied by a liquidator.
I thought this place looked pretty sketchy from the outside. I did some searching on Google that revealed that the inside was even worse.
That being said, the sketchiest flea markets always have the coolest stuff at the cheapest prices.
This used to be a truck stop. The main building housed the Blue Ridge Restaurant, which closed in 2015. The Citgo gas station part of the stop closed no later than 2007.
Sheetz first built this location in the late 80's or early 90's. The gas canopies are original to then, but the convenience store was demolished and rebuilt in 2015.
This was built as an Esso station in the 60's. I doubt it made it to the Exxon days, since the canopy appears to have been built by Amoco.
This restaurant was just wrapping up construction when I got this picture. It was open for business less than a month later.
Giant Eagle built this location in the late 90's or early 2000's. They don't have a supermarket nearby, which I thought was weird.
This opened in 1967, and serves as a restaurant, lounge, and banquet hall. Judging by what I've seen online, the interior has never been remodeled. It looks cool enough that I'm definitely going to eat here if I'm ever back in the area.
This was built in the 50's as a Mobil station. It's been vacant for a long time. I believe it is now used as overflow parking for the Lamplighter Lounge next door.
This was built around the same time as the Murrysville location I covered a few photos back. This is what that location would have looked like if it hadn't been closed/(re?)opened.
This is an older 70's or 80's location. It was remodeled to the eyebrow look in 2011. I like how they kept that piece of the old roof on the back.
This appears to be an independent station. The building looks awfully nice for one of those, but I don't know what else it could have been built as.
Applebee's opened here in 2015. I've noticed their design hasn't changed much in the past ten years or so.
This branch was built in 2014. There used to be a small lake on the site, which I'm wondering how they dealt with.
I'm not entirely clear on the history of this store, but it's more confusing than it looks. The store was built around 2000. The 2007 street view shows it as being closed, and as having (re?)opened by 2008. The inside of the store looks like a newly-built 2008 store, so what I'm thinking is that they never finished this store when they first went for it, and finally decided to open it a few years later. Another possibility is that there was a problem with the building that they had to close down while they fixed, and gave a gut remodel while they were at it. I noticed that the drive-thru was totally rebuilt when Rite Aid finally opened, which would support that theory.
Auto Zone opened this store in early 2015. I like the look they gave the building. I'm pretty sure Murrysville has strict building codes, there's a lot of brick buildings that aren't usually brick.
This building was listed for sale in 2014. I guess leases were not renewed, because the building was entirely vacant a year afterwards. It sold in 2016, and now sits abandoned. They are planning on building a shopping center on the site, so this will likely be demolished fairly soon. It's a shame since it's a really cool building. Update: Demolished in 2017.
This restaurant dates back to the 80's. It hasn't seen much updating since then.
Eat 'n Park was ahead of their time, building nondescript restaurants before it was cool!
This opened as a second location for Ferri's Shur-Save. It had a good 40-year run, but was sold to Shop 'n Save in 2014. They completely redid the building.
Ferri's original location is still going strong further downtown.
PNC bought this bank in the late 00's, and closed it when they moved in 2015. It was originally built as a smaller local bank in the 80's.
I thought this was an interesting conversion. Normally, you see a lot of lower-end Chinese restaurants move into old fast food buildings like this, but Jade Garden actually looks pretty fancy. They kept the Roy Rogers ceiling intact, but remodeled the rest of the space for more of an oriental look.
I would bet this building began life as a restaurant. For the last 20 years or so, it has been a real estate office. Up until the division was bought out by Berkshire Hathaway in 2014, this served as a Prudential Financial Real Estate. Update: Possibly a Shoney's?
KFC has been on this property since at least the 80's. Whether or not they were in this building, I can't say. There was an older location here with the exact same footprint that was either redone or rebuilt in the late 2000's. Since the footprints are the same, I would assume it's the same structure- but they also look different enough from each other I have to wonder.
Pep Boys opened here in late 2014. The building on the left used to be an Avis/Budget car rental, while the one on the right was a Meineke Service Center. I really like their new design.
S&T is a chain of about 50 banks, located mainly in western and central Pennsylvania.
This particular location didn't have a sign out on the building until 2015. It was changed out less than a year later (maybe about a month after I got this picture) when they updated their logo.
As the sign says, this opened in 1946. The building has been expanded twice, the most recent of which is on the right. It's fairly popular and has good reviews.
This station was converted to a Marathon in late 2013. Streetview shows the canopy logo being changed over. The Marathon lighted panels were actually just installed over the Citgo siding.
This place has been closed since no later than 2005. In its final years, it was operating without a name, so it's been close to 20 years since this was actually a Gulf. The building is still remarkably intact. I really like the 60's Colonial look.
This location got the new logo when it first came out. Despite that, I don't think the building has seen a serious remodel in decades (No, painting the roof white doesn't count as a remodel).
Sunoco has been paired with Dunkin here for a long time- I'm going to guess at least 30 years. Around 2010, they heavily remodeled the building to bring it up to standards.
Ferri's opened in 1954 as just a supermarket. Over the years, they expanded and added a pharmacy and hardware store to their complex. They operated another store down the street for a while, but sold it off to Shop N Save in 2014.
This location is one of the first to be built with the eyebrow look in 2007. I believe there was an older restaurant on the site originally.
This station closed in late 2015. They didn't remove any signage, and just covered everything over. I think Sunoco still owns this and is looking to lease it out to a new tenant.
I believe this location first opened in the 80's. It was either rebuilt or heavily remodeled around 2010.
I actually didn't know this was a chain. There used to be one in Exton that closed in 2012 which I thought was the only one.
Outback opened here in the 90's. It is attached to the Hampton Inn next door, although you can't access one from the other.
I stayed at the Hampton Inn. It was a nice place. I should have gotten a picture of it, seeing how Hilton is making an effort to remodel all of the 90's style Hampton's.
Return to Danger Barn, Chester Springs, PA
These pictures were taken about 4 months after my last time here. Since then, the remaining wooden part has collapsed.
This was Royal Farms' first location in the Philadelphia area, which opened in 2014. Within the past year, they've really been pushing in. I'm not sure how they intend to compete with Wawa, but I think they must have some idea what they're getting into.
This hotel is wrapping up a remodel in preparation for it's conversion to a La Quinta Inn. All of the stucco parts are new. It's a huge improvement over how it used to look.
This was built in 2008, replacing an original 40's rest stop on the site.
This is the last remaining original rest stop (in service, that is- I believe there are at least 3 closed ones left) on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It was expanded and extensively renovated around 2014 to bring it up to current standards while preserving the historic building it was built around. The last normal original rest stop was on the other side of the road from this, but that was rebuilt last year since there was nothing special about it.
I was under the impression this was a new store. It has the new logo, the full version of the current decor, and has the same general shape as a new store.
Turns out, it's actually at least 15 years old, and was remodeled heavily in 2015. That also explains the shape of the box underneath the sign.
I really love the ceilings in here. I'm not sure if that's tile or if it's actual brick.
This tunnel was built between 1945 and 1953. It is close to a mile long, and at the time of its construction, was the most expensive project PennDOT had completed.
From what i found online, this school closed in 2013 due to a decline in attendance (at its peak, there were 500 students. The 2012-13 year only had 180) and is currently for sale. It is a horribly depressed neighborhood, so I doubt anything will happen to this for a long time.
From what I've seen of Pittsburgh, I get the impression that ~25% of the buildings there are abandoned. A lot of them are really neat old mansions, too. I tried to get a picture of one of them but it didn't come out. :P
Sorta reminds me of Detroit. I haven't actually been in the downtown area yet, but I've heard it's a lot nicer than what I drove through.
This building originally had storefronts on the bottom floor (this picture's of the back of the building in case you were wondering), and offices on top. It's been abandoned since at least the 90's.
Judging by the sign and the parking lot lights, I'm going to guess it was another station after Sunoco. I'm leaning towards Texaco but can't say for certain.
The shopping center was built in the late 80's or early 90's, although i think Starbucks opened more recently than that. It looks like a late 90's location that has since been remodeled to current standards.
I feel like that late 90's/early 2000's decor (open black ceilings, funky pendant lights, patterned wallpaper) has been wiped out almost entirely at this point.
This picture was from a while before the second bankruptcy. The signs are giving me some mixed signals. Sprint must have come and gone in a very short amount of time.
This store was built in the mid/late 90's, and appears to have been remodeled somewhat recently inside.
I've always heard mixed reviews about Giant Eagle- either you love it or you hate it. I was actually very impressed with this store. It reminded me of Wegman's a lot.
I've probably said this a million times already, but I really love the 60's neocolonial style.
Texaco stopped selling gas here around 2004, when they pulled out of the Northeast. Shell didn't pick this one up. It continued to operate as a service station and Uhaul Truck rental until at least 2013. It finally closed down for good sometime between then and now.
I'm not quite sure what the Carpet Bag would have been, it's been closed longer than the internet has been up. I'm going to guess it was some sort of thrift store. After they closed, Liberty Home Remodeling opened up shop (most likely in the early 80's). Liberty closed this branch about ten years ago.
This plant originally opened in the 40's. I'm pretty sure this is actually where Kevlar was invented. Activity here began to wind down in the 90's, and completely shut down within the past couple years. The site was mostly demolished afterwards. Plans are to redevelop the land into a new river port.
This was originally opened as a Mobil refinery, and later had a research center added to it. It became paired with Exxon after the merger.
Fun fact: My 11th Grade AP Chem teacher used to work here.
I couldn't track down exactly where this was, but I know it has to be fairly close to Philadelphia and southwest of Concordville. I'm guessing the highway going across the middle is Rt. 1. Update: I'm stupid, this is West Goshen/West Chester. That shopping center in the corner has the ACME I posted yesterday in it, plus my only remaining nearby Kmart.
This store opened as an Albertsons in the early 2000's. Sometime between the time this was taken and Christmas 2016, this was remodeled and converted to a Safeway. It previously had the Industrial decor, and now has the look Safeway used in their Rockville store.
This was being built in the back of a shopping center, so I assumed it would be another store or something along those lines. It actually wasn't. A little over a year later, it opened as Boondocks, a water park. A little unusual for a shopping center, I'd say.
This location opened in the mid-90's. The playplace, much like the Arby's on the other end of the center, had an unusual arch design. The dining area had a more normal roofline. This was remodeled sometime between Christmas 2016, and Summer of this year. Also of note is that it still had the old Kids Club signage prior to the remodel.
I thought this was an unusual Arby's. This is the only one I know of that had an arch up top instead of a standard peak. Interestingly enough, the Burger King in the same center also had arches in the design.
It gets even weirder: They were both remodeled since these pictures were taken, and both lost their arches.
This is the older one of their two pharmacies in town. I was here once, I think in 2012. It was pretty run-down. I'm pleased to report that this has been remodeled since this picture was taken.
This opened around 2005 with the center, and survived until total liquidation began. It had already been closed for a little while when I got this picture. The sign was down by the end of the week, though. They kept the metal frame up, although I have a feeling the next tenant will be getting rid of that.
Same ranch, different angle. There were a bunch of tiny outbuildings. Despite their size, they weren't much smaller than the house itself.
Parker has been around since the pioneer days, but remained just a small village up until the 80's. That was around the time this opened, making it one of the oldest establishments in town. It closed in 2015, which was not exactly a surprise given the number of newer stations they have within a stone's throw of here.
This was a short-lived Target store. It opened in 1995, and was replaced with a Super Target in 2006. The end of the store on the right was walled off and briefly turned into a Circuit City, while the rest of this sat vacant until Murdoch's opened in 2011. The old Circuit City was turned into a Skyzone trampoline park, which opened in 2015.
The back of the store is all clothing and shoes. If you need jeans or cowboy boots this is the place to get them.
Looks like they reused Target's air vents. Since the Circuit City portion was subdivided off of this, I doubt the whole HVAC system was recycled.
Murdoch's is basically a Tractor Supply Co. on steroids. They've got all the farm supplies, plus a much larger selection of clothing and housewares.
That brown and white cowhide rug on the right now graces my bedroom floor.
The Marathon Station (Photo 29) In Murraysville, PA Was Originally Built As A Colonial-Style Amoco In The Late 1960's Or The 1970's.
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