The Walk Home

 This week y'all're getting a piece of official Plaza ACME lore- the time I almost walked home- like home home, not school home- from campus. That's a 35 mile trek going the most direct route, but following some well-intentioned advice telling me to bypass the particularly bad Mill Creek and Cathedral Park parts of Philly, that added a few miles. Oh, and since I was coming home for Spring Break, I had most of my stuff in my backpack so I was a little weighed down. I stopped to take a break at the Malvern Wegmans, and found I couldn't stand back up. Fortunately, my dad drove right by there on his way home from work and the timing worked out I could just hitch a ride with him the last 5 miles, which would have been the hilliest anyway. 

If you're curious, I did eventually try again- this time not carrying anything and taking the straight shot through West Philly. I succeeded, then decided to never do that again.

Mini-Mansions, Mantua

Powelton and the eastern side of Mantua are packed with ornate 1890's rowhomes like this. I know several blocks of them were designed by Willis Hale. This one isn't confirmed to be one of his but it matches his style well enough I'm willing to bet it is. Unfortunately it's half gone now. The unit second from the right was torn down in 2018 to build student apartments (though if you look closely at it here, you can tell the onw it replaced was used for that too). The one furthest right was torn down by the city the following year because it presented a safety hazard.

Here's that end unit from the other side. It actually has some dark history to it- its final (legal) occupant was Kermit Gosnell. It sat abandoned ever  since he went to prison in 2011. During its years sitting empty, homeless people cycled through here. You could smell it from the sidewalk. I'm amazed the city didn't do anything with it sooner. As Gosnell still owns the property, nothing will happen with it as long as he is still alive.

Girard Avenue Trolley, Parkside

When SEPTA reopened the Girard trolley line in 2005, they elected to bring back a fleet of 1947 PTC trolleys, which had their insides rebuilt. They were taken out of service again last year for restoration, and are anticipated to be back by the end of the year.

Mansions, Parkside

These duplex mansions are also Hale designs from around the turn of the century. They are some of my favorite buildings in West Philly.

WM Penn, Wynnefield

This sign looks ancient. I don't recall ever hearing of a WM Penn gas station chain, but that's not to say there wasn't one. More likely, this was just a longtime independent station. The building itself was long gone and a vacant lot by the time I came across this. As of last year, it was replaced by a small apartment building and the sign was gone.

Texaco, Wynnefield

The old Texaco next door is still standing though! It doesn't look like it's had a tenant in several years, but overall isn't too worse for the wear.

The Dane, Wynnefield

This building looks totally out of place in this part of town now, but imagine how it must have stood out when it was built in the 60's. Wynnefield is and for several decades has been an interesting mix of West Philly ghetto and City Line prestige. These were never low-end apartments, but the gut renovation I caught them doing here officially brought them up to "luxury" status.

Sunoco/Amoco/BP/Gulf, Wynnefield

This gas station started out as a shingle-front Sunoco in the 70's. Gulf took over in 2014, but kept the Sunoco look for a little while. In 2017, they finally ripped the shingles off and redid the front in stucco.

Mansion, Overbrook Farms

This place was built in the late 1800's as a single-family home, but by 1910 had been split into a duplex. The part on the right was gutted by a fire in 2017, but the stone exterior stood strong. Work finally began restoring it last year.

For how much of the roof survived, I'm surprised so many of the windows were busted.

St. Charles Seminary, Wynnewood, PA

Hey we've finally crossed the city line and are out in the suburbs! Now we're in Montgomery County, our second of four for the journey. St. Charles Seminary is where just about every Priest and deacon in the archdiocese- and even a few from outside- got their degrees. It was founded downtown in 1832, and moved to this location in 1871. It is one of the largest properties in Wynnewood and is very sparsely developed, so the archdiocese was pressured into selling it. Main Line Health bought it in 2019, though the seminary is allowed to remain operating here as a condition of sale until their replacement school is built near Gwynedd Mercy University. No word so far what Main Line will do with it, but I suspect they will be expanding Lankenau Hospital across the street here once the seminary vacates. Hopefully they save the buildings. 

Amoco/Citgo/Riggins, Wynnewood, PA

This former Amoco finished out life as local chain Riggins, and closed around 2012. Afterwards, a junk hauling service called it home, but that too has since closed. The station and former bank behind it are being marketed for redevelopment. It's a pretty small property but I could see a more modern-sized bank going here.

Audi, Wynnewood, PA

Audi relocated here from next door in 2015, replacing the Main Line Times newspaper office on the site. They kept the old dealership next door and are still using its parking lot, but I don't know why they didn't level the old building to expand the lot.

Bryn Mawr Trust, Wynnewood, PA

Bryn Mawr relocated to a new location in downtown Ardmore in the mid-2000's, leaving this one vacant. It was taken by the car dealership across the street for its parking lot, but I don't believe the building has been used since then.

Firestone, Wynnewood, PA

A few years ago, Firestone redid the signage on several of their locations around here. This was one of them. It sadly came at the expense of the fantastic 60's neon signage it had previously.

A&P/SuperFresh/ACME/Target, Wynnewood, PA

In A&P's bankruptcy auction, ACME wound up with a mixed bag of former A&P's. Some of them turned out to be lemons and were closed. This one shut its doors last year- but not because of bad sales. It was actually one of the top locations they picked up from A&P. Instead, the lease they had inherited ended, and they were not given the option to renew as Target had outbid them on them space (This officially pushed my feelings for Target from distaste to dislike). Target was supposed to open one nearby in Ardmore, but I would assume those plans have fallen through. Hopefully ACME takes the opportunity to return when the development Target was supposed to be part of finally gets built. Target has yet to open, but work is well underway.

Thrift Drug/Eckerd/Rite Aid, Wynnewood, PA

Thrift Drug was an original tenant to the shopping Center, dating back to the 60's. It was passed down to Eckerd and again to Rite Aid. It has been remodeled to the first Wellness look.

Chung Sing, Ardmore, PA

How do you turn an old stainless steel diner into a Chinese restaurant? Just throw a tile roof on it! The inside has kept most of the diner look as well, only adding some Chinese-style light fixtures.

Sovereign/Santander, Ardmore, PA

To be honest, I don't know who Sovereign bought out when they entered the market. But they were here for at least half of this building's life before being bought out by Santander in 2013.

Woolworth, Ardmore, PA

I've found old listings and photos showing this as a Woolworth as far back as the 40's, but with a façade like this I'm almost positive it started out life as a theater. I don't believe any of the theater design survives inside, but it's still got plenty of old Woolworth trimwork.

Ardmore Theater/PSC/Tropicraft, Ardmore, PA

This one I know for a fact was originally a theater. It opened as The Ardmore in 1927. More recently, it was a Philadelphia Sports Club gym, which closed in 2013 as the Town Sports chain began to fall apart. Presently, they're down to 63 gyms (3 PSC, 4 WSC, 37 NYSC, 15 BSC, and 4 Lucille Roberts'). They filed for bankruptcy last September so I'm assuming the count will continue to drop. It became a furniture store in 2017, relocating from the former Walgreens in Bryn Mawr. Its stay here might not be for long though, since there are currently plans to demolish the former auditorium part and replace it with a 7-story apartment building, keeping the existing facade.

Bryn Mawr Trust, Ardmore, PA

Remember a few photos ago I showed you the closed BMT? That was foreshadowing. This is what replaced it. It's surprises like this in my posts that keep you coming back, I know.

McDonald's, Ardmore, PA

Here's a happy story- they wanted to McBox this location, but the township wouldn't approve their plans. They still remodeled the inside, but kept the mansard roof out here. They repainted the outside gray, but I'm happy enough they didn't mess with the shape enough that I don't care about the color.

IHOP, Ardmore, PA

IHOP opened here in the 60's, and despite having been redone a few times in recent years still retains the massive blue roof. It won't for long though, as this entire block is going to be leveled for another apartment building. Target was supposed to occupy the ground floor of it, but with them opening in Wynnewood now that won't be happening. Hopefully ACME takes the spot.

Rite Aid, Ardmore, PA

Rite Aid was an original tenant to this shopping center, which opened in the early 70's. They moved from the far end to the middle in the 90's, then tripled it in size in the mid-90's. The store got a gut remodel in 2019, going as far as to redo the façade too. It's sign's age didn't have any effect on the logo update sweeping the chain. It was replaced earlier this year, and the façade repainted again to gray (They went tan post-remodel, which of the three looks I liked best).

Wawa, Ardmore, PA

Wawa opened this store around 1970 (store #66), preceding the rest of the shopping center by a couple years. At some point, it expanded into the stores on either side of it before getting a complete remodel in 2017.

PSFS/Citizen's Bank, Ardmore, PA

I think it would be safe to assume this opened the same time as the Wawa behind it. Its architecture seems to match up with that of the time. 

Pier 1/CVS, Ardmore, PA

This was originally a Pier 1 Imports, which closed in 2007. CVS did some remodeling when they moved in the following year, but it's still sorta the same shape. It replaced a strip mall CVS nearby.

Saxby's, Ardmore, PA

This store opened during Saxby's boom in 2008, and survived the bankruptcy that killed off 90% of the chain right after that. Sadly, it shut its doors in 2017. The company looked like it was finally making a rebound at that time, but they got hit pretty hard by Covid. They don't list their temporarily closed locations on their website, so it's hard to tell exactly what the impact is, but I can tell you two of them are definitely permanently closed, and at least another 5 of them are still up in the air. 13 of them are open now, which is triple what it was last time I looked so I'm less worried about them now.

Penn Fruit, Haverford, PA

I have no clue if the façade is original or not, either way it wouldn't surprise me. It was a Penn Fruit going back to the 50's. After they went under, it operated as an independent supermarket for a while but has since been split up into several smaller stores.

Wells Fargo, Haverford, PA

I thought this was a weird conversion- it's just an old house. It doesn't look particularly historic or anything, so your guess is as good as mine as to why they saved it.

Eckerd/Rite Aid, Bryn Mawr, PA

This location opened in 1999 as an Eckerd, replacing a smaller streetfront one downtown. Rite Aid took over in 2007, and gave it the first Wellness remodel. They repainted and put up the new logo on the sides of the store last month, but currently the front is signage-less. Bryn Mawr is the kind of area that would have restrictions on signage, but hopefully they weren't blocked from putting one back up.

Barnes & Noble/Walgreens, Bryn Mawr, PA

This store was originally a 2-story Barnes & Noble that opened in the early 90's. It closed in 2007, and was split up with Walgreens on the ground floor and offices up above. Walgreens didn't last long- they closed in 2007. It did a brief stint as Tropicraft patio furniture, which moved to the location we saw a little ways back in Ardmore. Currently it sits vacant.

Tropicraft really didn't do much to the space. It still looks very Walgreeny. That might even still be their paint on the walls.

A&P/Staples, Bryn Mawr, PA

A&P opened here in the early 50's. Since it was a streetfront store, they didn't have room to expand it to the front when they added the colonial façade, and as a result wound up with the very low-profile one we see here. I don't believe this ever made it to the SuperFresh days, but had become a Staples by the early 90's.

Sunoco, Bryn Mawr, PA

This Sunoco was built in the early 90's and given a gut remodel in 2015. It was among the stores sold to 7-Eleven recently. The A-Plus was rebranded last Summer.

Texaco/Starbucks, Bryn Mawr, PA

Starbucks did a good job remodeling this building when they took over in the 90's, but some traces of Texaco are still apparent- specifically the snub corner on the left and garage doors that were turned into full-height windows.

House, Bryn Mawr, PA

Aqua Pennsylvania, private supplier of municipal water to most of the Philly suburbs, is headquartered right behind this. They had just announced they would be expanding it, which would involve tearing down a couple houses. This one looked nice, so I figured I'd grab a picture of it before it came down.

La Colombe, Bryn Mawr, PA

In terms of physical cafe's, La Colombe is small. They've only got 30 nationwide. However, you may still recognize the brand as their canned draft latte is available in grocery stores all over the place. They opened in 2016 as part of a massive redevelopment of the former Bryn Mawr Garage. I recently learned that the building was not historically protected and the developer actually lost money by keeping it, but he lived in the neighborhood and liked it so much he incorporated it anyway.

Peace A Pizza/Snap Pizza, Rosemont, PA

Peace A Pizza used to be a somewhat popular local chain, but they closed slowly over the years. It appears there is only one left now. A few of the remaining ones switched over to another small local chain, Snap Pizza, in 2017. Snap has 13 locations- 11 in PA, a brand-new one in Newark, DE, and for some reason one all the way out in Lansing, Michigan. One of the PA ones is located inside a Shoprite, replacing its pharmacy. I'm curious to see if the chain will spread  to other Shoprites that just lost their Pharmacies.

PNB/Wells Fargo, Rosemont, PA

This is one of the more interesting banks I've seen. Hexagonal buildings don't get built too often these days, I'm figuring this dates back to the 60's.

Goodyear/United, Rosemont, PA

At first I was thinking this was a former gas station, but given the narrow parking lot and positioning of the garage doors I don't think there's any way they could have fit pumps in there. It was probably built as a Goodyear. They changed over to United in 2015, then dropped that altogether and went independent in 2017.

Sunoco/Citgo, Rosemont, PA

This opened in the 70's as a shingle-front Sunoco, and is one of the relatively few that has survived this far unaltered. It served as a Citgo for several years, followed by a short time as an independent repair shop. More recently, Algar Ferrari (yeah, it's that kind of neighborhood) took it over and has been using it as overflow. The building and canopy have since been repainted gray.

ACME/CVS, Rosemont, PA

At the time Albertsons acquired ACME, they still had plenty of tiny old neighborhood stores. This one, dating back to the 1940's, was one of them. In 2003, Albertsons did the unforgivable and decided to shut them all down, regardless of profitability. The tiny Rosemont one actually did decent business- as evidenced by the 90's façade that was added and the fact that it even had a Starbucks kiosk inside. It became CVS not long after, like many of the stores divested.

Arco/Sunoco, Rosemont, PA

The A-Plus here was remodeled heavily in 2012, then rebranded to 7-Eleven last summer. I believe the price signs on the roadside pylons were also updated to digital ones at that time.

McDonald's, Rosemont, PA

This McDonald's opened its doors in 1983. It was getting a little run-down by the time they decided to remodel, but I still wish they hadn't. It got the blandest McBoxing I think I have ever seen. They didn't add any wood or stone, just gray stucco.

Main Line Jaguar and Land Rover, Wayne, PA

Isn't this a good looking dealership? It's so much better than the gray boxes most other makes are building now. And it was only built in 2002 so we shouldn't have to worry about rem- oh wait- this place got remodeled in 2020. It's a gray box now. They managed to flatten out and square up just about everything here. It's unrecognizable now.

CVS, Wayne, PA

I always think of CVS as being a relatively new presence in the area, but they've actually been here since 1970. They have just been diligent about remodeling and/or replacing older locations. This one is tied (with Paoli) for the oldest still-operating one I know of, having opened its doors in 1983. Its façade was redone in 2008, and its logo updated in 2019.

Verizon, Wayne, PA

Apparently Verizon building new stores happens more often than you'd think. I assumed they always recycled buildings for their freestanding stores unless it was being built as part of a larger development. Verizon knocked down the old MAB paints that used to be on the site in 2012, replacing it with this. The logo has since been updated.

Fossils Found!

The Amoco/BP in Wayne somehow still has these old enter/exit signs. There were plans for Wawa to tear this station down and replace it with one of their own, but the planning commission shot that down so these will get to live on... unless Wawa comes back with a new plan.

I don't know how they possibly could have missed these while updating the signage, given how its right next to the main sign. 

Exxon/Sunoco, Wayne, PA

This Sunoco was also supposed to come down for the Wawa, but also got a new lease on life after those plans were shelved. I'm sorta surprised it hasn't closed anyway, given that there is another Sunoco literally directly across the street.

Rite Aid, Wayne, PA

Rite Aid built this store in 2014 on the site of an old Taco bell and Blockbuster. It replaced an older location a little ways down the street. Currently, it still has the old logo. Being in the heart of Wayne, signage requirements are going to be pretty strict and getting approval for an update may take a while.

Gino's/Boston market/Cosi/Sweetgreen, Wayne, PA

This restaurant became a Boston Market after Gino's was sold, which lasted up through the 2000's. It was a Chinese restaurant for a little while, followed by a somewhat short-lived Cosi. Le Pain Quotidien, a French bakery and Café, followed and lasted a while. They did well- well enough in fact that they remodeled again in 2017, but Covid proved to be more than they could handle. They closed last summer. It was announced earlier this year that salad bar Sweetgreen will be taking their place.

Gap, Wayne, PA

This is the only small town off-mall Gap store I knew of. It opened in the early 2000's, and also fell victim to Covid. Its proximity to the King of Prussia store sure didn't help either. It's currently vacant.

Anthony Wayne Theater, Wayne, PA

This theater opened in 1928, and is a local landmark. It began life as an independent theater, but was later sold to Goldman, who did some extensive renovations. Goldman sold to Budco, who then it turn was absorbed into AMC. AMC divested this theater in the late 90's, and it has been juggled around by a few independent theater operators since then. It is still in business showing first-run movies, but remains temporarily closed for lockdown.

Sovereign/Santander, Wayne, PA

This branch is interesting. It looks like they took the standard 70's/80's prototype, and stretched it up to two stories to give it more of a downtown look. This got the new logo in 2019, making it the first I had seen with it.

ACME/Rite Aid/Pet Supplies Plus/PLCB, Wayne, PA

ACME opened here in 1949, replacing an older store in town. They relocated to a new store in the mid-70's, and the old one was split between Rite Aid and a deli. Rite Aid expanded in the 90's to take over the entire building, then moved to a new location in 2015. Pet Supplies Plus opened not long after, but closed in 2017. Ironically, Wayne was the home of PetValu's US headquarters, and PSP bought several of their locations when they went under. In 2019, the state liquor store moved here from further up the road.

Anthropologie, Wayne, PA

Obviously this wasn't built as an Anthropologie, but I don't know what its history is going back further. An old car dealership perhaps? It was home to Anthro's flagship location until 2018, when they relocated to Devon to a new building on the Waterloo Gardens site. It currently sits vacant.

A&P, Wayne, PA

A&P opened here in the 60's, and closed presumably in the early 80's. It has been split up and heavily modified, but is still recognizable as one.

Wawa, Wayne, PA

This Wawa opened in the early 90's as one of the last old-style stores, but even at that point they were starting to make changes to the design, such as the arched window in front, which continued on to the early gas station-style Wawa's. It remodeled to the current design in 2016, though should the one in downtown Wayne get approved I have a feeling this will be replaced. It wouldn't be the first remodeled one to, either, as the Collingdale PA one relocated in 2019.

McDonald's, Wayne, PA

I've photographed this place a few times over the years, but since I was walking right by another few shots couldn't hurt. It was built in the early 80's, and closed without replacement in 2015, likely due to the condition of the building. It was demolished in 2019 and has been replaced with an Ardent Credit Union.

The collapsed section of ceiling seems to have grown since we were last here.

The McWheels are gone, but the drive-thru light pole is (well, was) still standing!

There is some serious water damage here that I don't think could have all happened post-closing. The roof has to have been on its last legs while they were still operating here.

Zoe's Kitchen, Wayne, PA

The brick row of shops to the left here used to have another unit, home to a dive bar, that was demolished in 2015 and replaced with a Zoe's Kitchen. It is significantly larger and somehow still has room for parking. I have no idea how they fit it on the site. Unfortunately, this location closed during the lockdown, though it seems to be the only one around here that shut down. Rumor has it something fancy will be taking its place later this year.

Mile Marker, Wayne, PA

Going back to the 1700's, Lancaster Ave was the main westward highway leading out of Philly. Several of these old mile markers still line the road. It was fun counting them as I went by, but later I checked them against my car's odometer and found they are about two miles higher than they should be from Philly's original border.

CVS, Devon, PA

A few years ago I photographed the 250-year-old Covered Wagon Inn after reading that CVS was going to tear it down to build a new store. Fortunately, the historical commission was able to fight them off. The additions were demolished to make way for the new store, but the original inn was not only kept but restored.

Eckerd/Rite Aid, Devon, PA

Eckerd opened here in 2003, and became Rite Aid four years later. It has a different color scheme to match the shopping center, which it kept even after getting the new logo last year.

Fields/Kmart/Target, Devon, PA

I believe this was my last time seeing Fields' façade intact before Target ripped it apart. :(

Meineke/Verizon, Berwyn, PA

This isn't another case of Verizon building an entirely new store, but they definitely did more work than I would have expected. The front parapet was totally rebuilt.

Fritz Lumber, Berwyn, PA

Fritz Lumber operated here from 1863 to 2016. Demolition of the site for new development began not long after, but stopped before they got far because the new plans for the site did not get approved. It sat vacant up until last year, when a new owner with different plans stepped in. Unfortunately, those plans involved demolition too. The site was clear by last fall.

It really is a shame they could not incorporate any of these buildings into the new development. They don't look like they would be that hard to retrofit.

Berwyn National/Malvern Bank, Berwyn, PA

This bank was built in 1934. I'm not quite sure the history of it, but it's probably safe to assume Malvern bought them and there wasn't anybody in between. Malvern's a very small company.

Red Robin Food Stores, Berwyn

Not to be confused with the restaurant, Red Robin was a local-ish chain of convenience stores that were big around here in the 60's. A number of their former locations are still easily recognizable by their large shingled awning designed to fit their trapezoidal logo.

Ike's Automotive/Enterprise, Paoli, PA

Judging by the plate glass façade, I'm fairly certain this was built or remodeled into a car dealership in the 50's. It served as an independent used car dealer up until 2009, and later became Ike's, a repair shop. Ike's had some neat stuff on display here. They relocated elsewhere in town in 2019, and this building became an Enterprise. Unfortunately, they walled up the glass showroom when they opened.

Bryn Mawr Trust, Paoli, PA

BMT opened this branch in the 80's, and gave it a major renovation in 2010. It received the new logo in 2016. Presumably, it will close following the WSFS merger as they have a branch two doors down.

Commerce/TD, Paoli, PA

Commerce Bank opened here in the mid-2000's, and was bought out by TD not long after. They built it similar to their standard design, but with brick and stucco instead of white block and corrugated metal due to local design code.

Old Paoli Hospital Sign, Paoli, PA

There isn't much history on the hospital online, but I can say for certain it has been at least 20 years since they dropped the "Memorial" from its name. This sign also appears to predate them becoming part of Main Line health, which happened in the 90's. I had assumed the Paoli Memorial name was a tribute to the Revolutionary War's Battle of Paoli, but just learned the name has a much different history. When it was first established in 1913, it was the Homeopathic Hospital of Chester County. They changed the name to Memorial Hospital of Chester County in 1932 after homeopathy was discovered to be false practice, and changed again to Paoli Memorial when they moved into town (from West Chester) in 1968.

Wendy's, Paoli, PA

For several years this Wendy's was known as one of the oldest and grimiest around. They really did not take good care of it, but it was a classic so I didn't complain. They finally remodeled (or more likely were forced to remodel) late last year. It still looks pretty similar, but they ditched the copper roof for black paneling and added a red pylon to the corner.

I couldn't decide between giving you a rock song this week or being weird and throwing some 40's music at you, so why not one that covers both?