McDonald's is an American icon, a symbol of innovation. And today, the Golden Arches are a shadow of its former self. Eating out at McDonald's was something that American families could look forward to for decades. The food was usually inexpensive, and decent for what it was. I've talked about McDonald's nostalgia for a while now, especially in the Halloween season. In the 1970s and through pre-pandemic, McDonald's was a hub for folks to gather and sit and enjoy a meal or dessert together. The Mansard Roof era is the building that most of us Gen Xers and later will undoubtedly remember, and fondly. The Play Place was a revelation! A playground in the middle of a restaurant, c'mon son! That was genius. (Unless you had to clean them on the weekends like I had to...)
I had the privilege to work in two different Mansard Roof McDonald's in the '90s. Back then it was nothing special, more a rite of passage and some summer spending money requisite. I bought a lot of PS1 and Sega Saturn games and used Blockbuster VHS movies from that money. And I was usually the hero when getting off the evening hours and bringing bags of food that was stuck in the bin when we closed to my friend Hollywood's basement for the boys. It was old and no longer hot, but we were teenagers and that just didn't matter.
I have memories of eating in the lobby as early as the mid-'80s. This was a place I was familiar with since I could walk. Recently, the old neighborhood McD's on Wise Avenue went through the transformation that these restaurants are going through all over the country. This modernization is a talk to the hand moment for McDonald's and nostalgia fans everywhere. For one, the new minimalist styling could have you confused with any other store today, with its boring box lines and lack of any aesthetic character whatsoever. I suppose this is a great idea in case the store must close and any chain store could move right in.
The Mansard Roof buildings were a huge part of making McDonald's the powerful icon that it is today. They were incredibly inviting to the consumer, all but begging you to come in and grab a seat and sit down a spell and enjoy your meal.
Now, these buildings, these ugly monstrosities do not welcome consumers at all. They are not inviting; they do not want you to sit down and enjoy your meal. These new McDonald's demand that you order your food and leave. Or simply don't come in altogether and just enter the drive thru. What a joke. These corporations today are openly hostile to their consumers, because they know that they have us hooked. They know that most of us will happily give them our money while they spit in our food (okay probably not literally. At least not all the time).
Walking up the previous era of McD's they were usually three or four registers always open, with actual employees working behind them. Today, there is one cashier and it's all the way in the back corner, and usually you have to say something to someone to come to the register; they want, nay they demand you use the peopleless, cashless kiosks to order your food today. Like supermarkets, these places are becoming devoid of human beings altogether. My life may be really sad to some of you, but I enjoy walking around a supermarket, picking out my food and wandering around with other humans, rather than ordering it from some app and having it delivered. I enjoy convenience, but I was brought up differently to the younger generation today that is disappearing. That's probably because as a family we went grocery shopping every other week in the '80s and '90s and that nostalgia for that is still with me to this day. Just as it is going for some fast food.
It appears to me that society is doing everything possible to encourage us to stay at home and never leave the house. I find this absolutely appalling. The idea of 15-minute cities horrifies me. I like to be around other people. That occurred to me especially around the pandemic, when it was difficult to do these basic American necessities such as shopping for groceries or going out to eat. These corporations ruled by oligarchs would force us convenience in the absence of familiarity and comfort and being around other people.
I understand that I am now the old man yelling at the clouds. I get it. I'm nearing 50! I have never been too fond of change, but I do comprehend that the one constant in life is, in fact, change. But the change is happening at a pace I am not comfortable with. Short of someone developing a device that would allow us to experience our memories in amazing clarity and definition, I am going to continue to rail against the system. Thank God nostalgia is becoming big business. Luckily for me there seems to be a huge appetite for nostalgia from a lot of people. This is a good thing, because in numbers we can evince change, or I should say slow the change rather; we can force their hand.
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