This year we lost our local bowling alley, the Lanes at Sea Girt. The lanes had survived COVID, but not the need for another strip mall apparently. The lanes had been there for 61 years.
Just this month the last of the Circus Diner disappeared when the well-known clown sign came down. The sign will go into storage until the town can decide what to do with it.
Like the Lanes at Sea Girt, the Circus Drive-IN had been around for over 60 years. I had the pleasure of eating there several times. Loved their onion rings and people would go there for the soft-shelled crab sandwiches and lobster rolls.
What’s going up in place of the Circus Drive-In? No word yet as far as I know except that it’s being redeveloped despite attempts by many to keep the restaurant alive.
It’s sad seeing so much history disappear and be replaced by another strip mall, fast food joint, or bank. It’s not just that we’re losing a piece of the past, but the future as well. Do we really want to live in a sterile America defined by one strip mall after another?
How about you? Have you lost any interesting landmarks, restaurants, etc. that really bummed you out?
