[Suburbia Lost] McDonald’s - Forest Park, OH 2
Back in 2017, I made an entry in the Suburbia Lost series about the remains of a McDonald’s in Forest Park, Ohio. That post didn’t feature the most visually striking photographs, but it served to highlight a point about a certain fast food brand in the grand scheme of this series. While it’s not uncommon to find abandoned or repurposed Burger Kings, KFCs, Steak ‘n Shakes, and numerous other chain restaurants dotting the American landscape—it is very rare to find a former McDonald’s. Even the fossils of the one seen in 2017 left no discernible hint as to what it was. I only knew what had been there because my Dad worked across the street growing up.
The minuscule remains of the first Forest Park McDonald’s as seen in 2017.
A very popular and wonderful blog has painstakingly documented the point that Pizza Hut doesn’t really care what happens to their old buildings after the marinara sauce has dried up and the breadsticks have turned to stone. McDonald’s, though, well they have an image to uphold. The company is aggressively protective of its branding, properties, and experience (still, good luck trying to order ice cream past 10 PM or getting decent service at a 24-hour location in the middle of the night). Unlike bringing the Hamburglar to justice, demolishing an abandoned franchise is a top priority for the likes of Ronald, Grimmace, and Mayor McCheese. That’s why I only shot these photographs with an iPhone. I had to catch a flight and figured that by the time I got back to Cincinnati the next week, this shuttered sanctuary of salty fries would be long gone.
...but it actually stuck around for awhile. Surprisingly, for several weeks this former location of the Golden Arches existed in a state of half-demolished limbo.
Eventually, all traces were removed and coincidentally, this was the restaurant that had replaced the location mentioned in the 2017 post. Forest Park, Ohio now features the scant remains of two dead McDonald’s.
Perhaps this post on this here website will one day serve suburban anthropologists well.
I’ll just use it to give anyone reading a piece of advice, though: if you’re ever in the area of Northland Blvd. in Forest Park, there’s far better food than Big Macs and McNuggets. The nearby dead Burger King was reborn as an amazing taco place (get the chorizo torta) and further down the street is my personal favorite taqueria (get the chorizo quesadilla).
And McDonald’s: I know your employees are lying about the McFlurry machine being down (respect to the McRib, though).
Suburbia Lost takes a look at the ruins left behind in American suburbs locally and found on travels throughout the country.
