At long last, I have finished combing all the maps in this section.

The Griffin Dog House building in Griffin, GA now houses a Mexican restaurant and the giant hot dog and Coca-Cola bottle is gone:

I never got a chance to shoot the Burger Baron in Edmonton, AB. Last year’s StreetView shows the building gone but the sign is still there (for now). The location in Leduc, AB is still open with the same style building but its sign is not as nice as the one in Edmonton shown below:

Another place on my to-shoot list — now too late. Sonny’s Drive-in in Waterloo, ON was demolished last year:

And one more Canadian place that I didn’t get to: the Peter Pan Restaurant in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island — has been demolished:

The former Ray’s Starlite Restaurant in Mount Airy, NC is now houses Midsummer Brewing…:

… and the motel with the Holiday Inn copycat Starlite Inn sign next door has been adapted for Bea’s Parkway Inn:

This postcard shows what what probably the original look of both places — the restaurant top left:

A later postcard shows the restaurant when it still had the steeple on the building:

Drown’s Dairy and this sign in Oak Harbor, OH are gone now… :

… as the building began housing the Village Creamery and a new sign was installed around 2023:

This former Sambo’s restaurant in San Diego, CA that housed Perry’s Cafe since 1985 closed last summer. A housing development will be built on the site with part of the restaurant repurposed for the building. I’m assuming some sort of tribute sawtooth entrance maybe:

This former Sandy’s Hamburgers in Lodi, CA was already unrecognizable when it was housing this business:

The building sat vacant for about 4 years until last year it was, oh my, repurposed for a Dunkin’ and Pizza Hut:

If you don’t know, this is what these buildings looked like originally:

Cafe Jack in Los Angeles, CA was housed in this boat west of downtown (far from any water) from around 2006-2020. It was demolished by last year. I guess it could have been moved but I doubt it:

Another ship restaurant is gone — this one in Three Lakes, WI. It was built in 1946 as Marty’s Show Boat and Supper Club and was part of the Northernaire Resort. It sat next to Big Stone Lake but was built on land as a fake ship. It had been vacant since at least 2011 and the property was for sale. By last year, it had been demolished:

The former Tastee-Freez, later Tastee-Treat, in Pocatello, ID is gone now. The building now houses a coffee place and this sign is gone:

The former Tastee-Freez in Clarion, PA has been demolished:

I never got to shoot this very intact Tastee-Freez in Cumberland, KY and now it’s been replaced with a gas station. I believe that was the last embossed plastic pole sign like this left:

The Tastee-Freez sign in Perris, CA was the last surviving original example of this type…:

…until last year or so when it was adapted for a taqueria. At least they kept the original sign poles and sign frames. The original building (and probably lights) are still there though:

The former Horne’s in Gainesville, TX which had been vacant since at least 2006. I think the Horne’s had closed in the mid-1980s. The building is gone now:

Gnome Cones in Denton, TX closed after a fire in 2023. It’s not known if it will reopen.

The Mr. Burger in Beaumont, TX:

… began housing Smash Wagon last year. The neon sign and readerboard have been updated with plastic text panels:

The former House of Pies building in Salt Lake City, UT has been remodeled into a boxy building (not even worth showing here) for a seafood market:

Arshel’s Cafe in Beaver, UT…:

began housing Arshel’s Loaded Burger in 2024. The neon projecting sign is gone now but the sign on the side of the building is still there:

Let’s end this long post with this bit of good news/bad news. The Longhorn Restaurant in Chattanooga, TN closed at the end of last year. This sign is gone…:

… but the 1959 building has been renovated for soon-to-open Build-a-Salad. They have added a couple of sputnik style light fixtures outside:

Picking up next time with the Gas Stations section — another doozy with over 300 pages.

Happy Trails,
dj & the dogs

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