Site Updating Report #1

So, it’s that time of year. Time to be thankful for all the wonderful places and things that miraculously survive out there. And it’s time to share the mostly bad news about things that are no longer with us. I’ve combed about 40% of my website since I posted last. I still have the biggest 9 sections to go. I’d love to power through and be done by the first of the year but we shall see. Here then are some new “discoveries” courtesy of clicking & adjusting the GoogleStreetView links for every entry at my website. The “before” photos are mine — the “afters” are snips from StreetView.

Let’s start with some good news from the Bottling Plants section:
http://www.roadarch.com/beverage/main.html

Here’s my photo of the former Canada Dry bottling plant in Minneapolis, MN built in 1946. My photo from 2008 when it was looking pretty weary:

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What a pleasant surprise to find out the building was restored and repurposed for the Hiawatha Collegiate High School in 2017:

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The Coca-Cola plant in Salem, NH was hanging by a thread when I took this photo in 2011:

There were already plans to demolish the building in 2009. BUT! In 2015, the building was restored and repurposed as office/retail space. The sign on the roof (that was originally a Coca-Cola sign) is gone now:

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And in Indianapolis, IN, this huge & spectacular, Art Deco Coca-Cola bottling complex —

which had been used as a school bus maintenance and storage facility for many years… is being restored for a restaurant/entertainment/etc. “BottleWorks District” complex now:

Let’s move on to Drive-in Movie Theatres:
http://www.roadarch.com/driveins/1.html

The Kenwood Drive-in in Louisville, KY has been closed since 2009 but this sign had been hanging on:

Around 2014, the property was adapted for a business park. The screentower was actually taken down and move to a drive-in in Georgetown, IN where it will be used as a backup. The sign remains and was adapted. No neon but hey!

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The Springmill Drive-in in Mansfield, OH was look sad and rusty for years:

Then, last year, it got a makeover! I’m so glad they kep the original look and lettering:

From the Bus Stations section:
http://www.roadarch.com/bus/1.html

This cool streamline moderne number in Brainerd, MN:

got an unfortunate, ugly makeover by last October:

From the Diners section:
http://www.roadarch.com/diners/1.html

The converted trolley car at Chris & Rob’s Chicago’s Taste Authority in St. Paul, MN:

got a bright paint job by this past June:

Some bad news from the Tire Stores section:
http://www.roadarch.com/tires/main.html

This nifty, mid-century Goodyear building (built as a Firestone in 1970) in Houston was demolished earlier this year for a new towering medical complex. Ugh.

The Firestone in San Mateo, CA had a unique, giant glazed tile pylon. Originally, both signs had neon. By this past June, the signs were gone and the building was vacant.

From the Dinosaurs section:
http://www.roadarch.com/dinos/main.html

Some good news! This statue in Bayville, NJ was built in 1925:

The statue has been battered and vandalized many times since then. Its head hit and lopped off many times by passing trucks. There was talk of restoring the statue for years and now it has finally happened! GoogleStreetView still shows the empty platform from 2018 but this article from last December shows the statue’s miraculous restoration. Note that his/her neck is now turned to the side a bit to protect it from traffic:

https://www.jerseyshoreonline.com/berkeley/bayvilles-dinosaur-the-roar-has-been-restored/

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