Drive-thru Appliances?

[jeffg]

This is from the late 60's. Check out the teller window. Maybe an old bank building?

 

[jeffg]

Here's the same building in December 1970:

 

[kevin313]

That's what they call "adaptive re-use!" ;-)

 

[goatfarmer]

Go-Go girls, eh?

 

[westie2]

The GO  GO  girls from 1970 are now Putt Putt girls.

 

[cornutt]

Drive-in window

It might have been there so that people who bought appliances on time could drive there to make payments. IIRC those RCA outlets did their own financing.

 

[jeffg]

Would bet a dollar you're right. Thanks for the info.

 

[hydralique]

I'd bet that this building was originally a small branch bank or credit union built in the '50s. The architecture of the building and materials are very redolent of that. Banks once spent money on attractive buildings to a much greater extent than small retail stores. The siting of the building would be very odd for purpose built retail: generally these are either right on the sidewalk with parking behind if zoning laws or adjacent buildings require a classic "main street" configuration, or for a more suburban layout the building would be placed toward the rear of the lot with parking in front. In this case there is a mostly useless driveway in front and only a small parking lot on the side. This works for a bank that has business customers during the day and private customers in the late afternoon and Saturday mornings, but retail stores are often nearly vacant during the day and then have a crush in the late afternoon and on weekends, requiring more easily accessible parking.

 

It is a very nice example of early postwar modernist architecture. Because of the quality of construction old bank buildings often outlived their usefulness in good shape, the problem then being what to do with them because they really don't work well for many other uses since most of a bank's area is devoted to non-public spaces. I can only hope that the interior finish out of the cocktail lounge is as nice and period as the exterior, and that the girls all dress like someone out of Mad Men!

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Why not just make a small appliance menu & offer them 'to go'!

(Whatever fits through a drive-through window--you probably can't do that w/ the majors!)

-- Dave