THE ARCHIVE / Themes
Restaurants.
Roadside restaurants sell an anticipated experience before they serve a meal. An enormous fish, a familiar domestic shape or a carefully lettered name can give a passerby something to remember. Look for the relationship between the promise outside and the practical entrance below it. These photographs bring together restaurants of many scales, from buildings that become their own advertisements to places whose personality rests in a single sign.
756 photographs
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Meletio's Hot Fish sign, Saint Louis, Missouri

Klein's Restaurant sign, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Dog house sign, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Branding Iron Restaurant sign, Flagstaff, Arizona

Dean's Restaurant sign, Tucumcari, New Mexico

Vince's Restaurant sign, Tucson, Arizona

Dee's Hot Dogs sign, New Bedford, Massachusetts

Andre's Giant Burgers sign, Bakersfield, California

Andre's Giant Burgers sign, Bakersfield, California

Burger King sign, Victorville, California

Steve's Bar-B-Q sign, Spencer, North Carolina

Vic's Drive-in sign, Wenatchee, Washington

Jimmy Wong's Golden Dragon sign, La Mesa, California

Mural Grill sign, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Roy Rogers Roast Beef sign, New Orleans, Louisiana

Pick-Quick Burger sign, Fife, Washington

Blake's Burger sign, Tucumcari, New Mexico

South Sea Chinese Restaurant sign, Crestwood, Missouri

Bar-B-Q sign, Brownsville, Tennessee

Red Robin Diner sign, Johnson City, New York

Red Robin Diner sign, Johnson City, New York

Alamo Plaza Restaurant Motel, Jackson, Mississippi

Alamo Plaza Restaurant Motel, Jackson, Mississippi
