Abandoned McDonald's restaurant reveals how cheap meals were in 1990s
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The internet and social media is abuzz again after a video of a McDonald’s restaurant, abandoned decades ago on a remote Alaskan island, shows the fast food eatery frozen in time.
Chris Luckhardt, a photographer who documents desolate places and unique architecture, flew to Adak Island in August 2022 to film the decommissioned U.S. military base.
According to Luckhardt, more than 6,000 people lived on the base at its peak in the 1980s. According to World Population Review, the island currently has 154 residents, although Luckhardt claims the number of permanent residents is no more than a few dozen.
In July 1986, a McDonald’s restaurant opened for military members stationed on the island, but closed sometime in 1993 as the U.S. Navy gradually decommissioned the base and closed its operations four years later.
In the seven-and-a-half minute posted to YouTube in January 2023, which has gone viral again, Luckhardt documented the signboard outside the restaurant that revealed the low prices for a Quarter Pounder with cheese, Chicken McNuggets, Big Mac and McChicken sandwiches three decades ago.
Residents paid less than $2.50 for the popular menu items, while a Filet-O-Fish was under $2 and a hamburger was just 99 cents.
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According to website Menu Prices Lists, the price of a Bic Mac in Canada is $6.19 while a Quarter Pounder will set you back $7.29.
The sign also featured a promotion for “Dino-sized” items that came with a free Jurassic Park collector cup.
On Instagram, Luckhardt said the story of the abandoned McDonald’s first went viral on Twitter — now known as X — in September 2021.
Diane Hutte, commenting on the video, said she lived on the island from 1984 to 1986.
“I remember how excited we all were when the McDonald’s was built. It was a real morale booster!”
Another recalled living on the island when their father was stationed at the base.
“I used to ride my bike to this McDonald’s with my babysitting money and I always got the two cheeseburgers meal!”
Luckhardt said the building was converted into a lunch space for the local fish processing plant about a decade ago before it was shuttered for good.
He added the remaining residents live in a small cluster of homes while the rest of the island’s buildings remain unoccupied and will gradually decay and collapse.
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