Starting in June, in an empty lot on Edgewood Avenue emerged what appeared to be a future White Castle burger joint, a beloved chain that has never been in Atlanta.
But no Old Fourth Ward late-night partygoers will ever get to go through this drive-thru to pick up a ten-sack of sliders because it isn’t real: it’s for a Disney+ series called “Ironheart” and the edifice will be torn down when shooting ends later this fall.
Urbanize Atlanta first reported the presence of the fake White Castle last month.
Credit: ROD
Credit: ROD
The building in the Sweet Auburn district currently has “White Castle” signage on each side and the distinctive castle turret shape on top. Oddly, the front of the building where the logo should be is currently just wood planks and the windows in the front are also boarded up. An eight-foot tall fence keeps anyone from easily entering with a security guard there to make sure nobody tries to sneak in.
The pseudo-“White Castle” is sandwiched between a Smoke World vape/CBD shop and the Joystick GameBar just west of Boulevard.
White Castle, a family-run chain that started in Kansas City in 1921, is now in 14 states, the closest currently being Tennessee. It has just 377 locations, comparable to Dunwoody-based small burger chain Krystal, which has about 100 of its locations in Georgia. White Castles are typically open 24/7.
The chain has built a cult following in the Midwest and the New York metro area to the point an entire 2004 movie revolved around two stoned friends in New Jersey (played by John Cho and Kal Penn) struggling to get to one in the comedy “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.”
Though actual White Castle locations are not in Georgia, White Castle sliders are readily available in local Atlanta frozen food aisles.
The upcoming Disney+ TV series “Ironheart” stars Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, a genius inventor who creates the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man. It’s fictionally set in Chicago and the series will shoot some exteriors there. There are several White Castles in Chicago.
The 25-year-old New York native Thorne previously starred in the films “If Beale Street Could Talk” from 2018 and “Judas and the Black Messiah” in 2021.
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