Located on a remote Alaskan island sits a McDonald’s seemingly frozen in time, with the original drive-thru menu still on display and interiors intact from the day it closed in 1993.
Canadian videographer and photographer Chris Luckhardt He recently visited the abandoned fast food restaurant in Adak and documented what he found.
Their YouTube video shows the windows and doors closed, but a sign remains outside showing some of the items that were offered decades ago, as well as the incredibly low prices each one was sold for.
Back then, a BigMac cost $2.45 (the equivalent of $5.10 today) and a hamburger cost 99 cents (the equivalent of $2.08 today). Today, those same items cost about $7.19 and $3.39, respectively, depending on your location.
In a sign of the times, when Jurassic Park was a big hit in movie theaters, a sign at the concession stand advertises a dinosaur-sized meal. The blurb explains: “Get Dino-sized fries and a large soda in a free Jurassic Park collectible glass.”
A photo uploaded to Flickr by the user Travis S. It also reveals the restaurant’s interiors, with terracotta tile floors and retro-style plastic seats.
Located on a remote Alaskan island sits a McDonald’s seemingly frozen in time, with the drive-thru menu still on display and the interiors intact from the day it closed in 1993.
Canadian videographer and photographer Chris Luckhardt recently visited the abandoned fast food restaurant in Adak and documented what he found.
Their YouTube video shows the windows and doors closed, but a sign remains outside showing some of the items that were offered decades ago.
Filmmaker Luckhardt Note in his video how the McDonald’s is located in the ghost town of Adak, which once served as a bustling naval base with more than 6,000 residents.
The grassy outcrop served as an important strategic base during World War II and beyond, to protect against a Japanese invasion.
However, once tensions calmed, the base closed in 1997 and many people living in the community had already relocated by that time.
Luckhardt told DailyMail.com that Adak McDonald’s opened in July 1986 and that the navy “helped the franchisee ship everything.”
Prices at the restaurant were higher than those in the continental United States, since everything had to be shipped by plane or ship.
One veteran told Luckhardt he paid more than $6.00 for a 20-piece McNugget meal when the restaurant opened.
Despite the comparatively high prices, another veteran said people were not discouraged and “it filled up daily.”
And compared to McDonald’s modern menu, those prices seem much more reasonable: A Filet-O-Fish cost just $1.95 in 1993, while today, the same sandwich would cost about $5.99.
For years, the restaurant remained a popular spot, but when military efforts began to wane, the owner decided to close the business.
A photo uploaded to Flickr by user Travis S. also reveals the restaurant’s interiors, with terracotta tile floors and retro-style plastic seats.
Adak once served as a bustling naval base with more than 6,000 residents. However, the base closed in 1997.
Luckhardt explains: ‘The franchisees left Adak when the naval base was closed and opened two McDonald’s in Oregon.
‘They later moved to Texas and opened two more McDonald’s.
“When they closed their business in Adak, McDonald’s corporate team sent a team in late 1994 to recover the arches that were next to the main road.”
After remaining empty for many years, the McDonald’s restaurant was repurposed as a staff canteen from 2011 to 2013 by a local fish processing plant.
“Icicle Seafoods gutted the kitchen, but the pastel-colored seating remained intact according to a 2018 photo of the interior,” Luckhardt says.
The restaurant was then boarded up after “some unfortunate vandalism shortly before the pandemic” that caused “at least one of the restaurant’s windows to be broken.”
In a sign of the times, when Jurassic Park was a big hit in movie theaters, a sign at the self-service kiosk advertises a dinosaur-sized meal.
After remaining empty for many years, the McDonald’s restaurant was repurposed as a staff canteen from 2011 to 2013 by a local fish processing plant.
The McDonald’s captured from above. The restaurant was closed after “some unfortunate vandalism shortly before the pandemic”
According to Luckhardt, 33 permanent residents still live in Adak. One of the residents rents intact buildings to tourists
Like the McDonald’s, most of Adak’s other buildings have been abandoned.
Luckhardt’s drone footage reveals a mosaic of unoccupied buildings left to the elements with parked vehicles also rusting.
A building equipped with antennas was used for “radio navigation and intelligence gathering”, while the base also contained a hospital, a pub and the town hall.
Today, according to Luckhardt, there are still 33 permanent residents in Adak.
Some are employees of the small local government, others work at the airport where there are two flights from Anchorage a week, while a group also manages accommodation for tourists, and some of the attractions include hunting, fishing and bird watching.
Several homes in Adak are listed on Airbnb, with rates starting at around $200 per night.
A map of the small community on the local government website reveals that some of the facilities still operating include a bar and grill, a liquor store, a gas station, a school and a post office.