FRESNO, CA
Impossible, due to its distinctive shape, to repurpose for any other use, abandoned Pizza Hut buildings have cropped up in cities and towns across the continent, a living testament to the ingenuity and indigestion wrought within those hallowed walls.
“I get teary eyed looking at it,” said archaeologist Dr. Diane Epp of Fresno. “Just to stand in this parking lot here and think about all the stuffed crust meat lovers pizzas that have been regrettably consumed in this vicinity, well it gets me emotional, you know?”
Alongside Macchu Picchu, Chichen Itza, and the Pyramids of Giza, these abandoned Pizza Huts have come to represent the idiosyncratic architecture of an entire civilization.
“There is no greater symbol of the 20th century than the roofline of a Pizza Hut,” said Dr. Epp. “So powerful is this symbol in our culture that it doesn’t matter who moves in, whether a southern BBQ restaurant or a Pentecostal church, there’s no escaping that this place was once a Pizza Hut.”
Dr. Epp has begun a project to document and preserve all the abandoned Pizza Huts, with the hope that future generations will be able to appreciate them.
“It’ll never be quite the same. We can only give them a taste,” said Dr. Epp. “Not literally, of course, and there’s no replicating the indigestion. That, I’m afraid, will only live in our memories.”
(photo credit: Kzoo Cowboy/CC)
