New owners look to revive Quarrier Diner

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Charleston, WV

Pollitt said the deal closed Thursday, two weeks after she received notification that her plans to keep the diner's art deco exterior were certified as qualifying for state and federal historical tax credits.

"We're hoping to open it up as close to its appearance as it was back in the beginning of the Quarrier Diner," Pollitt said. "We will keep the same name. We will keep the dairy bar and the booths. The main level will remain as close to the original as possible."

A sports bar is planned for the basement, which once housed the Tap Room. "We'll have pizzas, calzones and buffalo wings," Pollitt said. "We're hoping to get a full liquor license. It's a shame the name 'Cheers' has been over-used in Charleston because the way you go to a lower level reminds me of the TV show. We haven't come up with a definite name for the bar yet."

Plans for the third floor, where there's a lot of available space, have not yet been finalized.

The menu isn't set either.

"My age remembers the diner very well," Pollitt said. "My husband went there for lunch every day when he was a student at Charleston Catholic High School. He remembers it as having the best burgers in the world. I keep hearing about how the owner (Charles Young) would be at the front door every moment. Others remember the steak dinners in the evening.

For Sale: T. Rex, Good Condition, Woolly Mammoth, Needs Repair

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By James H. Hagerty | The Wall St. Journal

Marblehead, OH

For more than five decades, the fiberglass dinosaurs of Prehistoric Forest have loomed goofily over the entrance to this Lake Erie tourist town. Now they are facing extinction. Len and Denise Tieman, who have owned the roadside attraction since 1995, feel they have had a good run. They intend to close Prehistoric Forest on Sept. 12, after one last Labor Day rush, and retire. So far, they haven't found anyone eager to carry on the tradition. Mom-and-Pop roadside attractions are struggling for their meager share of the tourist dollar. They suffer from a weak economy, changes in travel habits and kids unlikely to be wowed by stationary dinos and miniature golf after watching "Avatar" in 3-D or slashing their siblings with Wii sword

"We just lose them one by one," laments Brian Butko, a Pittsburgh historian who writes about roadside attractions, whose golden age was in the 1950s and 1960

Prairie Dog Town, near Oakley, Kan., is for sale, with an asking price of $450,000, says its owner, Larry Farmer, who also wants to retire. It comes with 37 billboards advertising the attraction, 400 prairie dogs and—for anyone not sufficiently excited by burrowing rodents—a live, six-legged cow. Deer Forest in Coloma, Mich., is also on the market. The owner, John S. Modica, says he would throw in the llamas and pot-bellied pigs. Dinosaur World, near Beaver Lake in Arkansas, closed five years ag

"Some of the classic tourist stops have disappeared," says Doug Kirby, publisher of roadsideamerica.com.

Snake farms are in a rut, and mermaid springs are evaporating. When owners decide to retire, there often is no one willing to take over. Even so, Mr. Kirby's website still lists more than 9,000 attractions and "oddities," including the world's largest hairball in Garden City, Kan., and the Cockroach Hall of Fame in Plano, Texas.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 31 August 2010 16:24

Dick's Drive-In to open new location

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[ You can vote for the new location here. RJD ]

 By Casey McNerthney | Seattle Post-Intelligencer

A Seattle icon is about to expand. Monday afternoon, Jim Spady of Dick's Drive-In announced the company would open a sixth location somewhere in the greater Seattle metropolitan area. The location will depend on votes tallied on the restaurant's website. North includes Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood, Edmonds and South Everett. South includes West Seattle, South Seattle, Renton, Burien, SeaTac and Tukwila. East includes Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Bothell, Mercer Island, Issaquah and Sammamish. Spady, son of co-founder Dick Spady, made the announcement on KIRO's "Ron and Don Show," and on the Dick's Facebook page -- a fan site that has more friends than Starbucks.

"Obviously it depends on the piece of real estate that we can find and how much it costs and all the other stuff, and whether the city will cooperate with us when we try to build the restaurant," Spady said on the program."But the votes are very important."

Jason Stein, producer for the KIRO program, said they didn't take calls to tally votes. "But if we had time and had opened the lines, I expect the lines would have been flooded," he sai

By about 9:30 p.m. Monday, North was leading with 1,735 votes. South was second with 1,451 votes and East was third with 909.

Family holds strong to Denver metro area's last drive-in movie theater.

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By Monte Whaley - The Denver Post

Commerce City, CO

Thick buttery aromas drift out the front door of the concessions stand at the 88 Drive-In Theatre, luring pajama-clad kids and their moms a good 30 minutes before showtime.  As the setting sun casts a glow over the towering movie screen, couples scrunch closer in front seats or on lawn chairs perched on the back of pickups. They settle in to share a night at the last remaining drive-in theater in the Denver metro area.

"We own about 700 DVDs, but he has never been to a drive-in," said Kaitelin Holloway, pointing to her boyfriend, Nathan Gabelman.

"It's a trip," she assured him. "It's just a whole lot of fun."

With the death of the Cinderella Twin in 2007, only about eight drive-ins remain in Colorado, and most are in smaller, rural areas, says the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association.

The 88 was built in 1972 at East 88th Avenue and Rosemary Street in Commerce City, a mile or so east of Interstate 76. Patrons say they enjoy the 88 because it's cheap, family-friendly entertainment.  But others — including the granddaughter of one of the original owners of the 88 — say the theater is a symbol of a simple, sweeter yesterday.

"I think a lot of people come here looking for something they lost a long time ago," said Kyleen Kochevar, 16, who operates the ticket booth on the thin dirt road leading to the 88. "It's a back-to-the-future thing."

From their inception in 1933, when Richard M. Hollingshead Jr. opened the first drive-in in Pennsauken, N.J., outdoor movie houses flourished, reaching as many as 4,000 by 1958.  However, several factors began chipping away at the drive-in concept, including rising land values that prompted aging owners to sell out.  Today, about 400 drive-ins are left. But they are being run by people who steadfastly refuse to fold.