White Tower

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Ampersand
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White Tower

Post by Ampersand »

Does anybody remember this old restaurant? They were a white castle ripoff that focused more on being a diner I know there is one here in Albany that is now a dance club. The one operating in Amsterdam NY was a victim of the urban renewal plan to build a mall which was a total fail. There are a lot of these throughout the US a YMCA was even once giving the building away I honestly wish i had the resources to have taken it at the time. Allegedly there were some operating as late as the 90's ... though there is one in Toledo Ohio that doesn't really have much to do with the original chain. The closest your going to get to eating eat at white tower today is this restaurant
https://www.facebook.com/campautower
it is an original White Tower with the same building they changed the sign to campau with the same font as the original signage.
BillyGr
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Joined: 10 Feb 2006 22:35
Location: Upstate NY

Re: White Tower

Post by BillyGr »

Ampersand wrote:Does anybody remember this old restaurant? They were a white castle ripoff that focused more on being a diner I know there is one here in Albany that is now a dance club. The one operating in Amsterdam NY was a victim of the urban renewal plan to build a mall which was a total fail. There are a lot of these throughout the US a YMCA was even once giving the building away I honestly wish i had the resources to have taken it at the time. Allegedly there were some operating as late as the 90's ... though there is one in Toledo Ohio that doesn't really have much to do with the original chain. The closest your going to get to eating eat at white tower today is this restaurant
https://www.facebook.com/campautower
it is an original White Tower with the same building they changed the sign to campau with the same font as the original signage.
There was one in Schenectady at one point - corner of State and Nott, I think. I know it was removed a few years back when a new building was built there, and had been a independent hamburger place (and empty for a time) before that.
Ampersand
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Re: White Tower

Post by Ampersand »

wow you mean right by the Chinese restaurant where people wait to catch the 370? I walk by there every day and that would have been awesome to see since now it is a vacant lot... was it a traditional art-deco designed white tower or just a standard building and when was it last operating? Now there is just a Denny's which has no real character of its own...
dooneyt63
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Re: White Tower

Post by dooneyt63 »

White Tower was contemporary with White Castle but wasn't really a rip-off. It was a large chain with operations in various locations in the country including Florida. They did lean a little further toward diner items than White Castle, and later, operated shops called the Buttery that were basically coffee shops. Some of these did not feature the little square burgers of the namesake restaurants. The parent company, Tombrock Corp., became a major Burger King franchisee. Toward the end of the chain's operation, many locations were more dinerish and less fast-foodish in nature. They had national advertising, their own commissary, their own coffee blend, and their own brandmarked china and paperware.

As late as the early 1980's, a White Tower operated in downtown Sarasota, FL, at Five Points, and there were Buttery coffee shops on St. Armand's Circle and Siesta Key. I remember seeing the large can of White Tower special seasoning adjacent to the grill behind the counter at the St. Armand's Buttery. Their food was excellent, and they served many areas with 24-hour service when it was not as common as today.

As an aside, they also operated a chain called Marbett's.
BillyGr
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Location: Upstate NY

Re: White Tower

Post by BillyGr »

Ampersand wrote:wow you mean right by the Chinese restaurant where people wait to catch the 370? I walk by there every day and that would have been awesome to see since now it is a vacant lot... was it a traditional art-deco designed white tower or just a standard building and when was it last operating? Now there is just a Denny's which has no real character of its own...
Haven't been up that way recently so I can't be sure what is around now, but if you were headed West on State St (coming from Albany and heading towards Scotia) it would have been on your right just before you cross Nott Terrace. I seem to remember it being similar to the Albany building (or at least it probably was at one point), but I think it may have been redone in it's later independent life, I think it was mostly white at the end.
Ampersand
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Re: White Tower

Post by Ampersand »

wow that is a real shame since now it is a vacant lot next to a chinese restaurant
Ampersand
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Re: White Tower

Post by Ampersand »

I found a pic of it and apparently it operated as Wonder Burger into the late 80s then was demolished in 2007
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcool/416098401
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcool/416095635
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