i'm thinking arby's

One of the things that got the most attention in yesterday’s photoblog post was the picture of the Arby’s sign in Winston-Salem. I remembered I had a picture (above) of an old prototype Arby’s from the book Orange Roofs, Golden Arches by Phillip Langdon, and also found some interesting factoids about the chains's early days in that book.

Let me bore you for a second with these:

-- It was founded in 1964 in Boardman, Ohio, just outside Youngstown.

-- “Arby’s” was a name fashioned from the initials of its founders: Forrest and Leroy Raffel – the Raffel Brothers. Get it? R-B? Kinda cool.

-- The Raffel brothers originally wanted to call the place “Big Tex,” but couldn’t get the naming rights.

-- The “Kent-Vegas” style sign [good one, Carrie :-) ] was meant to attract attention and educate people about what Arby’s served, seeing as there were no other fast food roast beef restaurants. It was the standard Arby’s sign until 1975, when it was simplified to cut costs and reflect an expanding menu.

-- The first Arby’s were classy joints (for fast food places anyway). Bright yellow roof and gaudy sign notwithstanding, the first restaurants featured a chuckwagon motif with recessed lighting and stone veneer to attract a more upscale crowd than the burger joints.

Many of the original chuckwagon style restaurants got remodeled in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but kept their original signs until a few years ago. The numbers are dwindling as restaurants close or get remodeled.

Personally, I dig the old Arby’s signs. They’re big, garish and a little dated (and could be a little better maintained), but they’re also interesting from a design and advertising standpoint. It does what advertising is supposed to do: leave a lasting memory in the consumer’s mind. The design is unique and will likely never be replicated because signs like that cost a bundle to erect and maintain. It also works as nostalgia, because there was at least one of these suckers in every suburb in America in the ‘80s, which is when I remember it from.

I did happen to see, a few weeks ago, a largely un-remodeled former Arby's in the chcuckwagon style. It was in Durham, North Carolina in an older suburban area. The Arby’s had moved across the street to a new location, but the building, now used as a check cashing place, was still standing and recognizable as an Arby’s. In place of the ten-gallon hat sign were these humongous retro-looking neon signs that read CHECKS CASHED. I’ll try to get a picture next time I’m down that way.