Groceteria.com

Hi,

Were there any older Taco Bell stores (the mission-type buildings that ran from circa 1965 to 1986) that had been converted to the mansard-style buildings the chain adopted after 1986-87?

You know, this issue is similar to when Safeway demolishes or a pylon building and puts a Marina Prototype building in its place, or makes alterations to the pylon buildings.

Did Taco Bell ever convert any of their mission-style buildings from:

or


to:


or


Thank you,



Ben

I would be surprised if they ever remodeled a Mission-style to a mansard...I don't see any practical way to do that conversion...cost-wise or logistically.

But I don't think they did a lot of 'tear down and rebuild' in the 80's. I think they were more likely to build a new structure nearby and move. There's a lot of those old Mission-style buildings still standing today pretty much everywhere, housing other businesses.

They're much more likely to demolish and rebuild on the same lot today, though.

tesg wrote:I would be surprised if they ever remodeled a Mission-style to a mansard...I don't see any practical way to do that conversion...cost-wise or logistically.

But I don't think they did a lot of 'tear down and rebuild' in the 80's. I think they were more likely to build a new structure nearby and move. There's a lot of those old Mission-style buildings still standing today pretty much everywhere, housing other businesses.

They're much more likely to demolish and rebuild on the same lot today, though.

Well, of course, for example, TB did close down an old mission-type building at 15855 SE McLoughlin Blvd sometime in the mid/late 1990s, replacing it with store #19200, located at 16300 SE McLoughlin Blvd. The former building would've been numbered anywhere in the high 1000s to lower 2000s (1751-2250) given that location had opened in the 1979-85 period. It did not have a fire pit outside and appears to resemble the building in the second photo that appears in my original post, except that it also has a drive-thru.

~Ben

tesg wrote:I would be surprised if they ever remodeled a Mission-style to a mansard...I don't see any practical way to do that conversion...cost-wise or logistically.

The closest they came to changing one style to another was probably this particular oddball of a store. Don't know where it is, though:



(The mansard pictures above were mine, BTW.)

Guys, bad news for the Taco Bell near Mall 205, at 9350 SE Stark St: They totally re-did the entire building. Its late 1980s guise is no longer, except for its road signs (with newer graphics, of course). I saw it today as I was going to -- and coming back from -- Washington via Interstate 205.

~Ben

The Walnut/West Covina location (Amar/Nogales) looked exactly like photo #3 when it first opened. The interior has been remodeled twice during my lifetime - once as a bright mansion decor (casa) and now as a dimmed space-age interior which makes the interior look much smaller than the mansion decor). Similar locations include West Covina (Azusa/Francisquito), Escondido (East Valley Parkway near Midway Dr), and Calabasas (101 Freeway/Las Virgines Canyon)

Rowland Heights (Colima/Otterbein) was a modified mission building (close but not exactly like photo #1). It is now a Vietnamese Pho restaurant.

luckysaver