Why is White Castle in New York City? (Lenox, Hamilton: condos, neighborhood)
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Krystal's was originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee and were definitely a part of my Georgia childhood. "Little square burgers and little square buns!" ;0) I have always heard that Krystal and White Castle had a "territory" agreement. I really don't know, but I LOVE them. Leaving off the steamed onions will make them VERY disappointing in my opinion. I have had both, but I disagree with the other poster who said that White Castles were better. I would actually pick Krystal's hands down, especially if they are hot off the grill. The biggest difference between the two comes from the condiments used on each: White Castles have ketchup and pickles; Krystals have mustard and pickles. Both have the signature steamed onion taste. As I said, Krystals really taste much better to me, but perhaps this is because they are the most familiar, being from South Metro Atlanta. That said, overall I really enjoy a good hamburger, period, but Krystals are the only hamburgers I actually dream about, to each their own and happy eating!
It may seem like a stupid question, but when you read the rest of this post it isn't.
I am basically a lifelong New Yorker, and I have always loved this chain. I used to work at a job about 5-10 years ago that involved analyzing the geography of various store chains, and I noticed a weird quirk with this one that I never figured out.
Most White Castles are in the Midwest and "upper South" (i.e. Kentucky and Tennessee) in pretty contiguous geography, but then they have this weird "exclave" with many many locations hundreds of miles away in metropolitan New York City with no locations in between the two areas (and none in neighboring metros like Philly or Boston). I know from my former career (I'm now a math teacher) that that usually happens when a chain buys another chain with a different geography and changes it to their name, but I can't find anything that indicates that White Castle once bought a NYC burger chain or anything, and I remember White Castle all the way back to childhood (I turn 50 in a few months). The only thing I found which didn't mean much is that it is one of the few chains to not have a location in it's founding city (or state for that matter), Wichita, KS which is pretty weird too.
Does anyone know why or how this happened? I always thought until this past job that White Castle was strictly a NYC chain (I knew they didn't exist immediately outside of the NYC area, but didn't realize they were in other parts of the US much further away) but as I learned, far from it, it's the NYC ones that are the "outliers" and "exceptions". Thanks for any input!
I'm a fan of White Castle and those type of sliders, but growing up in Boston and living there as an adult, we didn't have anything like that there. One time, I actually traveled all the way to NYC in part to go to White Castle, but also to do more typical tourist stuff in the city. But anyway, even though we didn't have White Castle or similar restaurants, we did have one of the original White Tower (a former competitor of White Castle) buildings intact in my hometown. And it's considered to be a historical building (it's my understanding this is one of the few original buildings still intact left in the country) and is still in use. This is it below:
FWIW, besides the building being unique and looking cool, the current falafel place has really great falafels and other Middle Eastern food.
Yet another reason so many closed was simply because the establishment was filthy with terrible customer service. Can remember quite a few White Castle's back in the day in NYC. Now just a handful. Question of people wanting to eat healthier and opting for organic or GMO free options.
The White Castle I went to near Times Square was full of homeless people, transients, junkies, etc. I liked the food, but sort of regretted going to that location to eat. It seems that location is now closed. It also seems like all of the locations left in Manhattan are up in Harlem.
The White Castle I went to near Times Square was full of homeless people, transients, junkies, etc. I liked the food, but sort of regretted going to that location to eat. It seems that location is now closed. It also seems like all of the locations left in Manhattan are up in Harlem.
Perhaps because it is supposed to be "cheap eats", most White Castles in metro NYC are in the poorer parts of it (not that Times Square is that). There are still quite a few of them in the Bronx and there's one immediately (like literally a few blocks) north of the city line in one of the poorest parts of Yonkers. The only other one I know of north of the City within NY (as opposed to NJ) is in Nanuet in Rockland County in an "average" neighborhood (though poorish by Rockland/suburban standards)
I admit growing up in the 70s and 80s I thought it was a NY chain. I used to go to the one on Boston Rd. In the Bronx and there were lots of NY-centric media references to Whitecastle in NY like movies and of course the biggest boosters of the chain known to mankind, the Beastie Boys who were synonymous with NYC back in the day.
I admit growing up in the 70s and 80s I thought it was a NY chain. I used to go to the one on Boston Rd. In the Bronx and there were lots of NY-centric media references to Whitecastle in NY like movies and of course the biggest boosters of the chain known to mankind, the Beastie Boys who were synonymous with NYC back in the day.
Totally forgot about the Beastie Boys and White Castle!
Perhaps because it is supposed to be "cheap eats", most White Castles in metro NYC are in the poorer parts of it (not that Times Square is that). There are still quite a few of them in the Bronx and there's one immediately (like literally a few blocks) north of the city line in one of the poorest parts of Yonkers. The only other one I know of north of the City within NY (as opposed to NJ) is in Nanuet in Rockland County in an "average" neighborhood (though poorish by Rockland/suburban standards)
Agreed. And also apparently the ones that were in the "better" neighborhoods, it turned out that the land was worth more than the restaurant, so that's why they closed.
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