Orange Roofs, Golden Arches

Rating:
Summary: "Orange Roofs, Golden Arches..."
Review: Early American chain restaurants sprang up along western rail routes and in northeastern cities. As competition grew fierce, entrepreneurs attempted to attract motorists and pedestrians by way of startling facades and, eventually, entire structures that served as veritable billboard advertisements. In this book, Philip Langdon argues that restaurant design and décor act as barometers of public sentiment. During the 1960s, for example, decisions made by community review boards, municipal planners, and restaurant designers were affected by the social unrest of that era, regardless of whether the sources of their attitudes and tastes were consciously acknowledged. Langdon traces the origin and growth of chain restaurants from the 1870s to the mid-1980s, while offering some conclusions about their meaning. Such restaurants as Chock Full O'Nuts, Howard Johnson's, White Castle, McDonald's, and others are the focus of this book.

"Orange Roofs, Golden Arches: the Architecture of American Chain Restaurants" is a fascinating work written for the student of popular architecture. Langdon's sources are largely primary, based, for example, on telephone and personal interviews with founders, designers, and executives associated with chain restaurants. His secondary sources include restaurant, business, architectural, and general-interest periodicals. This work is both well-illustrated and well-written.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting look at architecture
Review: Landgon's book is thoughtful, well-researched, and generally quite interesting. Though the topic is somewhat obscure, it does seem that chain restaurants manage to take on the trappings of all the trends in vernacular architecture (often in exaggerated form). The focus on restaurants makes for a good lens through which to see all these changes.

Langdon takes us back to the 1880s and the restaurants that served weary railroad travelers, through the colonial and art deco/moderne styles of the '20s and '30s, the bold modernism of the '50, to the environmental movement of the '70s and '80s, when every little Burger King suddenly acquired wooden shingles and a (pseudo-)mansard roof.

It's quite an interesting journey, and a good read for those who are interested.