Whew! Finally done with the Eateries section. Here’s a nice long post with the “news.”

This former Kentucky Fried Chicken weathervane sign was at a cafe in Gilt Edge, TN. It’s gone now:

The former Circle Drive-in in Baltimore, MD has been demolished. It was built in 1947 and originally looked like this:

My 2004 photo shows that the the burger bulb sign was still there:

By 2010, it was housing a used car lot. The current StreetView shows a new boxy building going up. It sounds like it will be a Dunkin Donuts.

Todoroff’s Coney Island in Jackson, MI was built in 2001. It closed in 2008 and had been vacant since then:

It began housing Big Dog Barbeque last year. However, in September there was a fire and the place is now closed:

The Chicken Coop in Plainwell, MI is gone now (both the building and sign). There are still a few other locations in the chain that survive.

Zack’s Hamburgers in Charlotte, NC closed last year. The building is still there but the sign is gone:

The former Sambo’s building in Yuba City, CA has been demolished:

The Pirate Ship in Sparks, NV was built in 1971 as Cap’n Bill’s Fish and Chips. It housed a few other restaurants before becoming the Pirate Ship:

It closed around 2008 and then in 2017 it began housing Mariscos El Barco. It was repainted yellow, red, and blue. Earlier this year, it was given this new paint:

This former Tastee-Freez sign in Fort Garland, CO was removed since I was there in July:

The former Tastee-Freez sign in Marshalltown, IA is gone now:

This former Tastee-Freez building in Eufala, OK is gone now:

This former Tastee-Freez building in East Lansing, MI is gone now:

Nikki’s Drive-in from 1942 in Chattanooga, TN was demolished for a condo development:

This former Watsonburger building in Durant, OK is gone now:

The former Do-Nut Dinette in Winchester, VA…

… now houses the Food Bash restaurant and the donut-shaped rooftop feature has either been removed or concealed:

This Zesto Drive-in in Jefferson City, MO closed last year and the sign is gone now. It looks like the building now houses a meat market:

The Zesto in Athens, TN had closed by 2007 and the building has housed a series of different restaurants since then.

The painted ice cream cone on the sign survived until last year when Luciano’s painted over it:

I’ll be moving on to the Gas Stations section now which has over 300 pages. I would expect there will be multiple blog posts here for that. Then, I’ll be moving on to Signs and Mid-Century Buildings. I’m hoping to be done with this project by March or so.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs