Revert!

October 21st, 2012| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

If you thought all McDonald’s outlets (30,000 now in a hundred countries) were the same—golden arches, play pens, commonplace awnings, standard storefront entrances, run-of-the-same-mill façades, and habitual signage, you have another think coming.

Take for instance the establishment in New Hyde Park, NY (see picture). Hardly what one would expect of a McD undertaking. Stately and smart. Sober and subdued. Sane and stylish. (Not adjectives one would casually employ for their regular outlets.)

Apparently, this wasn’t always a McDonald’s, for the building is over a couple of centuries old (McD began in 1940). It was a farmhouse belonging to the Dentons in the late 1700s, descendants of a Richard Denton, a Presbyterian minister who arrived from ye olde country of England in 1630. Future generations of Dentons turned the house into a mansion in the late 1800s—the Denton House. It did become a restaurant in the early 1900s, but that went defunct after WWI, and the structure remained derelict till the late 1900s.

That’s when McDonald’s bought the edifice. What would it do with the many bathrooms and bedrooms? Well, the owner of the franchise, Lawrence J. Anderer, Jr., figured he’d tear it down and construct one of your regular, standard issue, ordinary McBurger joint, arches and all. Terrific location for Big Macs and Chicken Tenders. Money was sure to come pouring in.

But the good people of New Hyde Park begged to differ. They managed to get the local government to designate the mansion a “landmark.” Now, surely you can’t tear down a landmark, can you? You can’t. They didn’t. And there it stood.

And, to his credit, the good owner of the franchise agree with the townsfolk. He carefully researched the history of the building, restored it—in the process adding a drive-thru for his products—and proceeded to open a McD … like none other. Of course, the interior was been completely redone for the convenience of burger patrons and fanciers of pieces of fried chicken and connoisseurs of deep-fried potatoes and gourmands of sausage burritos. But the grand ol’ staircase remains, leading up to more seating upstairs.

And, of course, the outside. Apart from the drive-thru, things look pretty much the same, only refurbished and rejuvenated. Even the food is the same—the usual assortment of McChickens, McRibs, McNuggets, McMuffins, McGriddles, and McBites, all defrosted, fried, packed, and delivered with the usual McPanache. All designed to maximize your enjoyment and provide you with a Happy Meal.
And so here it is, the 12,000th McDonald’s to open, and perhaps one of the only one to be designated a historic landmark.

A return to the past!

And such a reversion ain’t always bad.

In the Bible, Paul reminds Timothy, his protégé, of what the latter had been passed on to him by the previous generation.

For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you,
which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois
and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.
2 Timothy 1:5

And he exhorts Timothy to remain in the things he had learnt of the past, in the past.

… continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of,
knowing from whom you have learned them,
and that from childhood you have known
the sacred writings which are able to give you
the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:14–17

Back to the past. Good stuff. Revert!