Bennigan's Grill & Tavern – Closed Forever

When I received the assignment to shoot a closed restaurant, I had no idea how well it would fit in with this WWP theme. I had other thoughts for this quarter's event but I knew when I walked in the door of this Bennigan's, there was no better example of a 'Forgotten Place' I could share here at the WWP. It had been almost 2 years since the doors were locked at this and all the rest of the 160 corporate owned Bennigan's Tavern locations nationwide. The employees had no idea it was coming and the entire place was an erie example of abandonment. Dinner settings still arranged and menus ready at the host station. Clean glasses stacked at the waiter's stations covered with 2 years of dust. After 32 years of corporate development and building of the franchise, an overnight close put about 10,000 employees out of a job and out of these restaurants. The manager's office still had crayon drawings taped to the wall from what I assume was posted to remind someone of why they were there at work each day. A restaurant like this would have had about 20-30 full-time employees that came together each day for years running this establishment. All their efforts lost to this frozen, forgotten place.

This is a good news article from a day or two after the closings.

And, of course, a Wikipedia article about the brand.

USA-Canada / USA-Colorado

Lat: 39° 35' 44.48" N
Long: 105° 53' 53.35" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Medium. Nearby, but not to the last decimal.

Hardware- Canon 30D, Sigma 8mm/f:4 Fisheye, Bogen 300N Rotator, Custom Lens Ring
Software- Canon DPP, PTGuiPro, Photoshop CS4