Flickr Photos 34
I think this rest stop, along with most other ones on the NY turnpike, was built in the 70's or 80's. Last time I was here, in 2012, the building was unpainted. I figure this must have been either to preserve the wood or modernize the building, both of which they were successful in accomplishing.
This is a members only resort and hotel, which opened between 1886 and 1889. It was formed in order to raise money to purchase the nearby mountains before developers could get to them.
I caught somebody casting a fishing line while taking pictures. Wonder if he caught anything.
This motel changed branding recently. The 2015 street view shows it as an Econolodge, but it is listed online as a Rodeway Inn. I forget what it was when I drove by.
I think it would be a somewhat safe assumption this did not start out life as a Sunoco. It's hard to tell with the modified mountain designs, though. It's built on a steep hill, and actually has 3 floors: an A-Plus on top, a former service center in the middle, and a car wash on the bottom.
We got lunch on a restaurant's second-story balcony, giving us a great view of the lake.
This is a fairly small, old theater. It is still showing some big-name new movies, so I'm guessing it does well enough to have upgraded to digital projection.
This white building was the house, while the brown building in the background was the barn.
This is a fairly old location, dating back to the 60's or 70's. It was extensively remodeled around 2010. The roof used to have a more barn-styled wood shingle design. The gas station was a Mobil up until 2015, when it was switched to a generic brand.
This opened as the Noon Mark Diner in 1981. The building has been a diner since the 40's. There used to be a two-story porch in front, which was removed when they moved the building back to widen the road and add a parking lot.
Instead of having a service center or A-Plus store, this Sunoco comes with a restaurant and truck stop.
Sam's Club, Albany, NY
There used to be a Walmart in the center too, which relocated to a supercenter.
This rest stop is a little older than the one I showed you earlier. The exterior is a little nicer, and was probably redone more recently.
Red Carpet Inns usually open up in some very run-down closed motels. This one looks surprisingly nice. I figure whoever had this one first wasn't here for very long. Since it is in the middle of nowhere, Red Carpet probably got the building cheaply.
This was the first, and until recently, only green-roof McDonald's I knew of. I think this was built with a red roof, and was repainted in an attempt to modernize in the late 2000's.
The original store I believe was just the section with the white sign. The store appears to have been expanded twice to the left. It's in a somewhat populous area with an absence of hardware stores, indicating this place does a decent amount of business.
If I remmeber correctly, this opened in 1920. They used to advertise it on the front of the building, before it was remodeled in 2013. The big barn-style porch was added on then, at the expense of some signage.
I'm surprised this one lasted until 2012. It's tiny. There was another one like this in Conshohocken, which was demolished last year. I like the little building here.
This store may have started out as something else originally. The facade doesn't match any other Redner's stores. It actually bears a strong resemblance to Stauffer's in Downingtown. Perhaps this was a Shur-Fine originally?
Wawa closed here in the 80's, but returned to town in the late 90's with a new store. This has been operating as Great Valley Beverage for a while, although they haven't changed the building much at all. Some traces of old Wawa décor can still be found, such as the wood paneling.
I decided to get a picture of this since this design is starting to get rare. Less than a month later, work began remodeling this place. Say what you want, but I'm convinced I can predict the future. :P
I never see many cars here, and often even forget there's a gas station here. This is probably due to its location, situated between an Indian grocer and a bank, on a fairly nondescript section of Rt. 30. Come to think of it, this is one of the only gas stations I know of that's not located at an intersection. Update: This is now just a car wash as of 2018.
This took them a while to build (Come to think of it, Exton is taking a while, too). Construction started in early 2015, and this store didn't open until late 2016. I have yet to see inside, but I'm sure it will be pretty nice.
I think this must date back to the early days of the store, possibly even from when they were still owned by Atlantic. Their new logo isn't too far from the old one, it looks more or less just like a handwritten version of this.
Even though the store was closed for the remodel, the gas station was kept open. They used the shack in front of the store to handle gas sales, tobacco, drinks, candy, and gum.
This is an old store that was remodeled heavily in the early 2000's. There was another light remodel in 2012. Had I not picked up on the shape of the building, I would have thought this was newer.
This looks like a fairly new 7/11 store, perhaps opened in the 90's. The gas station appears to have originally been a Texaco, but has been their generic brand for well over a decade.
Update: Looks like this will be razed for the Rt. 322 widening. I would say this is a win for the almost brand-new Wawa across the street, but they may be on the chopping block as well.
Of all the former Gino's restaurants I've found, this so far has been the only one with a completely intact facade. I'm guessing it was not picked up by any major chain after Gino's closed. Don & Bert's, a frozen custard place, appears to have been operating here for a long time.
As the conversion to a Save-A-Lot slowly progresses, they have walled in the upper portion of the glass facade. I doubt ACME's interior tile sign survived.
This has been through a few different incarnations over the years. I believe it first became the Ludwig's Inn in the 40's. That was either abandoned or had fallen into serious disrepair by the 90's, when the land around it was developed into a small shopping center. This either reopened or finally got fixed up (depending on whether or not it was actually closed), and continued operating as the Inn, until they ran into trouble a few years ago. It was then sold and rebranded as the Ludwig's Grille. It was always a somewhat fancy restaurant, but really stepped up its game after the sale.
The rebar is being bent into shape around the piles. Concrete is cast around this to attach the beam.
I had family managing the Port of Paulsboro construction, so I was able to get in and take some pictures. Here, they're applying the final layer of concrete to the deck of the wharf. At this point, about 3/4 of the bottom layer had been set, so they were ready to start working on the top.
The port held its grand opening in March, but construction of some outbuildings is still underway, along with the entirety of phase II construction.
Opening in 2008, this was among the last of the copper-facade stores to be built. Not long afterwards, they started dabbling in different designs before finally settling on one in 2014.
The Wawa building here was originally just a standalone convenience store. Off to the side, there was a mostly vacant small shopping center. That was demolished and replaced with gas pumps in 2012. That was during the (fortunately) brief time Wawa was switched to flat canopies. New stations have them angled again.
This one was in the early stages of a remodel when I stopped by.
The stone facing has already been stripped from the facade. The side and rear walls were repainted, and exterior lighting on those walls replaced with LED fixtures. The front of the building is otherwise intact, for the time being. My guess is they were waiting until the store was closed to start working on the front.
This opened in the 20's or 30's. It appears to be a repair shop (albeit without a garage).
Interesting to see them start demolition from the middle. This was probably done to prevent chunks of concrete from falling on the buildings next door.
The courtyard around this building is famous for its collection of oversized board game pieces, such as the Monopoly iron seen to the left. I love the architecture of the bottom floors here.
The future tallest building in Philadelphia, which has been under construction longer than I've been on Flickr (Which was 2 years last month! Groundbreaking for Comcast was in early 2014). The concrete core is nearing completion in this picture. In real time, the steel framing is now nearing completion, with the glass exterior of the building installed most of the way. If the predictions are accurate, they will be finished construction in one year exactly.
Love Park Reconstruction
JFK Plaza Park (better known by its unofficial name- Love Park, because of its famous statue), located one block diagonal of City Hall, is closed for reconstruction. This will involve replacing the walkways, adding a bigger fountain, and adding several trees. Thankfully, they have decided not to demolish the pavilion, as was originally planned.
Like the former CVS a couple pictures back, this one opened in 1998. It must have done better than the other one, as this is still open.
Mot of the rowhomes on this block have had their facades redone. There was one other out of the 9 units that still had the original look. I can see why they'd want to fix this up, but I don't think covering everything with vinyl siding is the answer.
This store opened in the 50's as a Food Fair, and was rebranded to Pantry Pride before it closed in the 80's. The windows have since been walled up. The building seems to be used for something industrial now.
This opened in 1998, and was sold to Advance Auto Parts (Interesting choice) in 2002, along with a handful of other stores.
I was thinking this looked different than most BP stations. At first, I thought it was just because it was painted white instead of their standard beige. I looked into it a little bit, and it turns out the canopy and pump area was actually rebuilt completely in 2014.
Horn and Hardart was basically the McDonald's of the 1930's. They have an interesting history, which you can find Here.
This location probably opened in the late 20's, maybe early 30's, and most likely shut down in the 70's. Since the sign here was set into the concrete facade, they chose just to wall over it, rather than redo the concrete. Whatever siding they used must have fallen off, as the sign is visible once again.
Even though PSFS Bank was bought out by Mellon in 1992, this location kept their sign up for almost 20 years. I guess Mellon didn't want this one, and the tenants who sublet the space didn't care enough to take the sign down. Unfortunately, they decided to take it down in 2010. I would have loved to have gotten a picture of it. What's neat is that even though the current tenant put in a drop ceiling, the upper windows still show the old upper part- at night, a couple of the old lights come on too.
I really liked this design. There were two versions of it: a walk up one like this, and a larger sit-down restaurant.
Old-style Exxon stations like this are becoming somewhat rare. The only other one I know of that's still operating as an Exxon is in Devon.
This looks like it could have been an Amoco (or maybe Shell?) station at one point. It's hard to tell, since the roof has been redone.
There used to be a KFC on the site, which closed around 2010. The property must have still been owned by YUM, as the KFC was razed in late 2012 to make way for a Taco Bell, which opened in 2013. I thought this was weird- the Lionville location was done at the same time, but in the old style.
This opened in the late 60's or early 70's. Looking at the stone, you can see some evidence of expansion, probably done when they added the peak over the entrance. Update: Relocated in early 2018.
Swiss Farms originated in this area. This is definitely one of their older stores, which probably dates back to the 60's or 70's. It still retains the original sign, even though they ditched the "stores" part of their logo at least 20 years ago, and changed the logo altogether more recently. Even though their new stores look much different, they still retain the same basic shape they had 50 years ago- silo on one side, two drive throughs, and a building shaped like a barn.
This McDonald's was built in the 90's. It had a green roof to match the shopping center. The building looks like it was given a parapet wall. The original roofline was much lower.
This station lost its Exxon franchise a while back. It has been a Gulf since at least 2007. They kept the Exxon 80's canopy up, complete with the signage. Last year, they began converting the 1940's/50's-era auto center into a convenience store, that is now open.
I have a suspicion that every gas station used the same architect in the 60's. This looks too similar to Sunoco or Arco to be a coincidence. Of the three, this was my favorite design. It is currently Peppy's Auto, which appears to be in business despite the building being for sale.
This ad was from shortly before Genuardi's began their massive expansion that (unfortunately) got Safeway interested. I believe the new logo must have just come out.
At this point, Waterloo was operating two major stores (Devon and Exton), but was setting up pop-up Christmas shops for the holiday season. I believe the building this is listed as is now home to Target, although this may have been rebuilt.
I've always thought Apple products were horrendously overpriced, but your dollar today will go a lot farther than it did 34 years ago...
The building is now a hearing aid center.
While the name would indicate this store was more like a Blockbuster, the merchandise advertised seems more like an hhgregg. Those are some expensive VCR's. Springfield still stands in a shopping center, and Folsom is actually still open.
And, speaking of Frank's, they ran an ad on the next page. The Exton location sat vacant until 2012, when it was demolished to make way for a new Aldi. Brookhaven is now the site of a Burger King. Springfield was in a strip mall that is still standing.
Gaudio's was a Philadelphia-based nursery store (which was owned by Penn Fruit at one point), which was bought out by Frank's in 1988. The location listed here was demolished in the late 90's for the Clifton Heights ACME and Home Depot stores.
Folsom I have a picture of coming up before too long. It is one of the few to have the new logo. I'm pretty sure I also have one of Havertown. The "New" one listed in Drexel Hill was heavily remodeled in 2011, but retains the old logo. I put up a picture of Upper Darby a few days ago. Brookhaven, Rose Tree, Broomall, Sharon Hill, Springfield, and Swathmore are all still open and haven't changed much since day 1.
The first page of many Strawbridge's Ads in this paper.
Some interesting (but kinda sad) Strawbridge's trivia: Of all the stores they built from the ground up, only two remain open (As Macy's, or course). Exton and Wilmington. The other stores that are still operating were either built as a Wanamaker's or Abraham & Straus.
The Spectrum, later called the First Union and Wachovia Spectrum, opened in the 60's, and mainly housed 76er's and Flyers games up until it was replaced with the First Union Center (Then Wachovia, now Wells Fargo Center) in the 90's. It continued to operate as a venue for concerts and events until NBC bought the property and demolished the stadium in 2011. They replaced it with NBC Live, another concert venue that doubles as a bar. The now-defunct Ringling Bros circus used to come to the Spectrum every year, which was really the only times I was there.
Fun fact: most of the music video for Van Halen's Panama was filmed here.
Kent Mill was one of the first business to set up shop in what is now Clifton Heights. They lasted +/-150 years, and are now unfortunately defunct. The building still stands, and is now a senior center.
In case you were wondering, the Kmart shown on the map is actually still open.
The Academy was founded in 1812, and has been operating out of the same building (Their 4th location) since the 1870's. It was bought by Drexel University (Hey! That's where I'm going! :D) in 2011. They had a dinosaur exhibit last summer, and put these out in front of the building. They would roar when you walked by, which is a little unnerving when it catches you by surprise. Learned that the hard way.
A view from Three Logan Square, looking towards the Delaware River. The large white roof is the Convention center. To the right of that (and connected by the bridge), is the Reading Terminal Market. Just behind that is the Gallery. The round glass building surrounded y the trees was a hospital that was foreclosed in the early 2000's. It sat abandoned for several years fully furnished, and more recently was converted to apartments.
The Please Touch Museum was supposed to be an interactive children's museum. I remember really enjoying it. They operated here from 1983, up until they moved in 2008. For a while after that, it operated as an art museum/dealer (If those banners are any indication, they had some quality art. They didn't change the building at all, aside from painting the purple exterior trim black. They either closed or moved a few years back, and the building was bought by Toll Brothers. It sat abandoned for a few years, and was finally demolished to make room for townhomes last summer.
This used to connect in Brewerytown in the direction I;m looking, and end at Reading Terminal. Another line coming from the Terminal in the opposite direction led to the Amtrak Northeast Corridor. Trains still run through the tunnel pictured, but divert to the subway before reaching the end. Parts of the railroad cut have been repurposed as parking, while others are pretty much subterranean forests. This section was supposed to become a parking garage, but was never finished. Those half-made pillars have been like that since the 90's. One of my plans for this summer is to try walking this, from here to Reading Terminal. It should be fun, so long as I don't get assaulted a heroin addict (But they're mainly on active tracks in West Philly. Oddly enough, the abandoned railroad is the safer one).
The building under construction in the background will be the new Whole Foods.
This also opened in the early 90's, and was remodeled the same time as Rite Aid. This was a few months before they began their massive closing-and-gutting-stores remodel campaign, so while this has the newest decor, it still has the layout of a 90's store. The exterior of the building was redone, too. It used to have lots of colored neon stripes.
This was built in the early 90's as a Thrift Drug, which was swallowed up by Eckerd not too long thereafter. Rite Aid recently gutted out the store entirely and expanded it. It's probably their nicest Center City store.
Want to correct you about the Spectrum-- Comcast bought it in the mid 90s along with their parent Spectacor, and the facility they demolished it for is Xfinity Live! (with the exclamation point). XL has the NBC Sports Arena inside it.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Please Touch Museum, you can see a bit of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y5GAmfDqBc It's the tail-end of a thing featuring the museum seen on the now-defunct PRISM premium cable service (think HBO with lots of Philly sports). Ironically, it was shut down in 1997 thanks to Comcast buying Spectacor and establishing the first Comcast SportsNet (PRISM was owned by what's now AMC Networks).