Have You Heard the Tragedy of La Jonquille the Wise?

Ok, maybe I've misled you. La Jonquille (and it's tragic backstory) is only part of today's post. We're mainly going to be looking at an assortment of things along the Upper Main Line again today, but first let's kick this off with a nighttime visit to the Logan Square Center in Norristown.

 As you can tell, demolition is well underway now. They started tearing into the 1-story side of building. It's about halfway gone at this point.

 Wandering around the back, the rest of the building is fenced-off but intact. I'm hoping power's cut off to the building despite that light on the wall still being on. It looked like it was connected to a wire coming from the parking lot pole, which too was connected by more wire to the old Sears building, which is not coming down.

 Looking in the window of the old Sears, part of which was occupied by an Impact Thrift Store. Most of Impact's carts were either from A&P or SuperFresh, but they had a couple older ones. Case in point, here's one from Clemens.

 They also had a few from JCPenney's now-defunct outlets. This was a surprise to find, as at the time they went under there were only 14 locations, the closest of which being at the also now-defunct (and currently being demolished) Fairgrounds Square Mall in Reading.

 Impact was on the second floor of the building and had a deck in front of the entryway. It made for a neat view of the Penn Fruit building.

 I have to wonder if the construction crew realized that wire was still there when they began demolition, since they wouldn't be here at night to see that light come on. Either way, they must have figured it out at some point.

Looking in another part of the former Sears, which has been gutted out to make way for a new tenant.

The lighting along the front of the center wasn't good enough for me to get a good shot of the Penn Fruit, but I feel obliged to include this anyway.

Arco/Sunoco, Berwyn, PA
I assumed this was a franchised location that 7-Eleven wasn't going to buy since it was remodeled after the buyout was announced. However, that did not seem to be the case. It has not rebranded yet, but they've already done a little work to make it theirs.

Black Powder Tavern, Wayne, PA
While this building wasn't always home to Black Powder, it was built as a tavern in 1746. It's spent the last few centuries as various other restaurants, ultimately becoming Black Powder in 2014. It's name comes from the time Washington was at nearby Valley Forge. The Continental Army used the basement here as a place to store their black powder. He, Lafayette, and Von Steuben were all frequent customers here.

Valley Forge Motor Court, Wayne, PA
This motel's been here since the 50's at least. Its owners have been trying to get approval to knock it down and build a modern hotel here for a few years now, but as of yet nothing has happened.

I assumed this place had already closed when I saw the zoning application, so I came out to photograph it. I was wrong; they were not only open but had some guy out mowing the lawn looking at me funny. These pictures from my car will have to suffice.

It looks like these rooms here used to have awnings. Maintenance here hasn't been great in recent years, which is understandable considering they ideally won't be operating out of this building much longer.

Premier Eurocars, Devon, PA
This auto repair shop has a much deeper history than the name would have you think. The log cabin, which I'm assuming was originally a residence, was built in 1734. I don't know for a fact, but I suspect this is the oldest building left in the township; it predates the Van Leer cabin we saw a couple days ago by 15 years. In 1914, a garage was built on the side of this and it became home to a repair shop. They have been continuously operating since then, though I have reason to believe their name and area of focus has changed dramatically over the years. They now primarily service higher-end and antique European cars like Porsche, Audi, and BMW.

CVS Construction, Devon, PA
Remember when I posted about the Covered Wagon Inn a while back?  Here's the site as it appeared under construction. Historic preservation activists not only forced them to save the Inn, but also made them match their store design to it!

Speaking of the Inn, here it is! The ~200 years worth of additions have all been taken down, leaving the building as it would have looked back in 1780. After CVS was completed, they completely restored this building; It looks fantastic now. I believe it's being leased out as office space.

Wawa, Wayne, PA
This location is store number 291, which indicates that it opened in the mid-80's. As of yet, it has not been remodeled (I think Wawa's trying hard to relocate it, more on that later). Unusually, the sign here is backlit but opaque, so it looks like a silhouette at night. My guess would be they had to use that kind of sign for zoning approval, but no other business around here has one like that. This location made the news about a year after my visit, but not for something good. There was a murder here (which I'd say had some Dateline potential) where a man shot his ex-wife multiple times at point blank range in the middle of the store. It happened in the middle of the day too, which is an incredibly busy time for this location- during my visit it was crowded enough I couldn't get any interior pictures.

Sad history aside, this is a neat location and one of the increasingly few remaining unremodeled pre-gas locations. I really love their 80's sunset logo and have made it a goal to get one of those signs.

It looks like the front of the store never had the sunset logo, which would have gone next to the lettering. Also of note is that this store is attached to a small shopping center. Wawa doesn't have many of these left.

Eckerd/Rite Aid, Devon, PA
Eckerd built this store in 2003 as an outparcel to the existing center. It replaced an inline Eckerd in the center that had to be demolished when ACME next door expanded. It became Rite Aid in 2007, and was one of the first stores in the chain to be remodeled to their current decor in 2013.

The remodel was thorough, but didn't include many changes to the store's original layout. They also kept Eckerd's lighting instead of putting in the can lights that usually accompany this decor.

The back part of the store still looks like an Eckerd, but suits Rite Aid's decor nicely.

Most former Eckerds I see have foods on the right and pharmaceuticals on the left, but this one was the other way around.

 La Jonquille, Devon, PA
At this point, I'm sure curiosity is killing you about La Jonquille. This article does a much better job detailing the history than I can ever hope to do, but I'll give it a shot. The property's owner had deep pockets and big dreams. Dr. Matt Vegari, an Iranian-born neurologist who lives and works on the Main Line, noticed the Philadelphia suburbs didn't have any proper fine dining establishments and went on a no expense spared mission to change that. He bought 8 run-down properties in affluent Devon, and razed them to build his dream restaurant. The complex features two buildings (the restaurant itself and a building he leased out) and a parking deck beneath the two. Vegari modeled them off of the buildings he grew up around in Iran, while also drawing some heavy influence from French design. The restaurant consisted of four parts- formal La Jonquille, a less formal brassiere, Middle Eastern option Shiraz on the second floor, and a banquet hall. They became an instant hit when opened for business in 1999. Sadly, that success was short-lived. Things started to go downhill when the restaurant manager (Vegari hired some big names in the fine dining world to run the place) quit in 2002 and no competent replacement could be found. That, coupled with the employees stealing, ultimately led to La Jonquille's demise in 2003. The Shiraz part held on a little longer, but also shut their doors in 2007. The building has sat just as they left it ever since. Tables set, wine cellar stocked, and even dirty dishes in the sink. The banquet hall part saw a little more life, was later split between a realtor's office and a field office for Dr. Vegari's practice (yes, he was still doing neurology 90 hours a week through all of this). The realtor jumped off in 2015, and Vegari closed his practice when he retired. Despite sitting vacant for nearly 20 years, he's taken very good care of the building, spending thousands to keep it conditioned to protect the painstakingly designed interior. He has almost reached agreements with several other higher-end restaurant chains (like Del Frisco's and Seasons 52) to lease the space, but for one reason or another they have fallen through. He has long refused to sell to a developer, but due to the high cost of upkeep he will now consider offers for the right price. Wawa has repeatedly tried to buy the property to replace the Wayne one we just saw, but isn't offering nearly the amount these buildings are worth. Personally, I'm holding out hope he can lease it to another restaurant.

The building next door was originally leased out to a plastic surgeon couple, who folded their practice when they divorced. More recently, it was home to a high-end salon, which closed in 2013 or 2014.

Looking to the leased building across the courtyard. I suspect they used this for outdoor dining back in the day.

The courtyard also had stairs going down to the parking deck. That area's the one part of this that is currently being leased. A local BMW dealer is using it for storage.

Looking into the former Salon lobby. I'm guessing they did quite a bit or work to convert this from a plastic surgery center.

Still merchandise on the shelves! I don't think Shampoo can go bad, can it?

Close-up of some of the arches along the front.

It would be interesting if Wawa moved in, but reused an existing building. They could also put a gas canopy where the above-ground parking lot is now. There's practically no chance of that happening, but it can be fun to spitball ideas like that.

One of the very ornate lights in the above ground parking lot.

I know this kind of structure has a name, but I can't remember it and there's no way I can describe it to Google to get an answer. Regardless, the property's triangular and this thing's at the corner opposite the two buildings.

Waterloo Updates
I swung by Waterloo Gardens again on my way home. Greenhouses were all gone and demolition had progressed to the main shop building.

I mean, this is one way to get a look inside. :P

They made quite a bit of progress in the time they had. My last photos were taken on a Sunday; these were the following Friday.

WSFS Bank, Edgmont, PA
I've already posted a picture of this, I just really liked how this one came out. WSFS opened here in 2012 on the site of a long-abandoned Dairy Queen.

For today's song, here's the less popular (but in my opinion better) original version of a song made popular by Bonnie Pointer.