[Suburbia Lost] Burger King - Allentown, PA

America's 2nd favorite fast food chain has always been doing things differently than McDonald's. One of those differences: one company will let their abandoned stores rot, the other wont.

I'm not declaring McDonald's to be some sort of bastion of community good will for or a leader in sustainable architecture/design, but that corporation is very protective of their brand. More than likely, there won't be any deserted golden arches in this series. If a McDonald's should ever close for some reason, Ronald and The Grimace will swoop in with the wrecking ball before anyone can see one of their buildings desolately wasting away from its former glory. Meanwhile, runner-up chains don't seem to care as much. You can remove the signs and all the logos, but at the end of the day, it's still easy to recognize what used to be a Burger King, even for an out of town visitor just passing through on his way back from New York.

As documented elsewhere in this series, other chains are nowhere near as concerned as McDonald's: Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut again, KFC, Steak 'n Shake, Hardee's, Rally's, Arby's, White Castle, Captain D's, Burger King once before, Wendy's, and yet another damned Pizza Hut.

According to Google's Street View, this former house of flame broiled beef was still sitting abandoned in August 2016 while these photographs hail from 2014.

Suburbia Lost is an ongoing documentation of decay in the sphere of a perceived paradise. After years of photographing abandoned, forgotten, and often historical locations in the city, this project aims to take a look at how structures fare in the sphere of suburbia. You can view other entires in the project, here.