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A Blast from the Past: Abandoned Alaskan McDonald’s Serves Up Nostalgia
An adventurous traveler stumbled upon a relic of the past: an abandoned McDonald’s in Adak, Alaska. Chris, a globetrotter documenting his journey to visit every country, shared his discovery on social media. The footage reveals a remarkably preserved McDonald’s, complete with a drive-thru menu board still displaying 1990s prices.
The restaurant, built in 1986 to serve a nearby military base, closed in the mid-90s when the base shut down. Overgrown with vegetation, the building retains its iconic red slanted roof, a hallmark of 1990s McDonald’s architecture. The drive-thru menu, a time capsule of bygone prices, advertises Big Macs for $2.45, six-piece Chicken McNuggets for $2.35, and cheeseburgers for a mere $1.09.
Chris notes the restaurant’s isolated location, dubbing it the “loneliest McDonald’s in the world.” Adak, situated between Alaska and Russia, is accessible only by a twice-weekly, four-hour flight from Anchorage. He describes the abandoned McDonald’s as possessing a “weird, creepy nostalgia from the 1990s.”
The video has garnered significant attention online, sparking a wave of nostalgia. Viewers reminisced about the old menu board and the surprisingly low prices, while others expressed interest in owning the vintage menu.
Some commenters, however, pointed out that even in the 1990s, those prices would have been considered high due to Alaska’s remote location. Others remarked on the well-preserved state of the building and signage, attributing it to the respectful nature of the local community.
One commenter even waxed poetic about the “brownie earth tone” of the menu board, a distinctive feature of the decade.