Assignment 3: Lyle

Restaurants, particularly of the fast food variety, are a very important piece to the roadside commercial built environment. They offer commuters a quick, cheap meal as they travel to their destination. Just like other commercial buildings, when newer structures are built farthur along the highway, the national, well-known chains move out of the older buildings. As a result, the old structures become cheaper and new types of commercial activity move in that normally would not have been in such a place in the past.

1. This former Sonic Drive-In on the Lawrenceville Highway in DeKalb County is no longer a restaurant of any kind. It now houses a discount car rental service. The cheaper price for the building, as well as the set up of the lot, allowing the cars to park under the awnings where customers used to park to order their food, lets this kind of business move in.

2. The next photo is of a Mexican restaurant on E College Ave between Decatur and Avondale Estates. It is housed within an old fast food place,

though I cannot tell what it once was. The drive-through window is still visible on the side, but the interior of the restaurant has completely changed into a sit down eatery. Where the counter would have been is now a bar. Ethnic restaurants such as this thrive in older, recylced buildings.

3. Finally, this former Pizza Hut at the corner of Church Street and North Decatur Road has been taken over by a local hamburger place. Again, a restaurant like this is able to move in once the chain moves out for a better location.