I Photographed Every IHOP in NYC
Why? Because I could, that’s why! And because I love projects that can incorporate writing and statistics, like this one.
However, let me first answer a question that I am sure you have on your mind… why IHOP?
When I was first picking a chain to focus on for this project, I only had two requirements. The first one was purely logistical: it had to be the right number of locations. Too few wouldn’t make for an interesting series, and too many would make it hard to visit them all. IHOP is in that sweet spot with 21 locations, which are spread out pretty evenly between boroughs as well (except for Staten Island). I also preferred a chain with nationwide presence, and they have at least one store in all U.S. states.
However, there is one key reason why I chose the fabled pancake house: all of their stores look noticeably different from one another! You could not say the same about most brands. A lot of franchises require a consistent look and feel to them, which is often good for the customer but can make them boring from a photography perspective. IHOP has an edge in this respect, with 99% of their stores being completely funded and run by independent franchisees.
To provide a semblance of organization, I have numbered the stores according to the name of their street. I made a map indicating where each one is located, along with some fun statistics that you can find further down the page. But for now, the pictures!
01) 211-33 26th Ave
Bayside, Queens
The first one on our list is found in a spacious shopping center on the very northeast of Queens suburbia, across the highway from a golf course. Despite the overhang of the mall strip, the owners still managed to fit in a custom facade with the triangle roof which is a nice touch. The logo has a modern look to it, thanks to the fact that this is a brand new location inaugurated in late December 2020. As you will see, most logos are not as shiny or as fancy as this one. That very same fact also explains the big “Now Hiring” sign on the front.
02) 2294 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd
Harlem, Manhattan
Housed in a corner block in Harlem, a short walk from St. Nicholas Park, this was the first IHOP located in Manhattan. With the old-school title and light-up logo above the door, it has a captivating but slightly dated look. Too bad the “S” in the name has fallen out, making this the International House of a single Pancake. As for the symmetrical sculptures above it, those are from the Thurgood Marshall Academy public school. Funnily enough, there are several other schools, churches, and a YMCA just in a span of two blocks. Probably one of the reasons why this location has endured for over 15 years.
03) 817 Allerton Ave
Allerton, The Bronx
This franchise is part of a busy commercial intersection in Allerton, close to a large pharmacy and a gas station. Three large roads come together to form a triangle directly east of it, further proof that IHOP loves triangles. This is one of the few franchises in a two-story building that actually owns and uses the second floor. The pastel color and ornate red trimming of the building makes it feel welcoming, but there is one part that is a bit puzzling: the red ropes near the door. Did they have a celebrity come over for lunch recently or something?
04) 4340 Boston Post Rd
Eastchester, The Bronx
On the very edge of The Bronx, this traditional-looking spot benefits from being next to several major highways and a shopping center. While the blocks behind it are residential, the south part of this road is dominated by three symbiotic types of businesses: car dealers, car repair shops, and junkyards. On top of that, several industrial plants on the sides of the nearby river are constantly pumping clouds of steam and smoke in the air. Needless to say, the area does not look or smell very nice, which is not a problem if you’re in a car. Or just purchased a car. Or just repaired your car.
05) 4168 Broadway
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Just a couple blocks south of the George Washington Bridge and its bus terminal is this roomy corner spot. It heavily contrasts in cuisine with the other spots on this part of Broadway, an area dominated by Latino restaurants with a few upscale options sprinkled in. Fun fact: this is the only one I visited that did not have a physical logo anywhere on the building, only as a pattern on the awnings. Sharing the large six-story building with it is a parking garage and a fitness center, but unfortunately the top three floors have rusted windows and seem to be abandoned.
06) 5645 Broadway
Kingsbridge, The Bronx
This conventional Bronx franchise is in a very unconventional area, crouched under the tracks of the 1 train and across from an inconspicuous funeral home. It is only a short walk from the south edge of Van Cortlandt Park, home to a multi-use sports stadium and a public golf course. Here, the restaurant competition comes in the form of a southern favorite: there are three different fried chicken spots within a block, including one which also serves Halal food. Some assets include a pleasant outdoor seating area and free parking space, both of which are remarkable considering this is a crowded part of the neighborhood.
07) 2244 Church Ave
Flatbush, Brooklyn
This modern-looking store in a very busy street is actually only a short walk from beautiful Prospect Park. As the name of the street would suggest, it is positively surrounded by Christian churches of several sizes and denominations. It is also another IHOP with a fitness center living right above it, showing there is some kind of mysterious synergy between those two types of businesses. Those of you who looked closely probably already spotted the “Now Open” banner with the old logo on it, which heavily suggests that they have been “Now Open” for over five years and counting. Well, at least they changed the main logo, right?
08) 235 East 14th St
Gramercy, Manhattan
This lonely IHOP, the only one in downtown Manhattan, only looks so gloomy due to the shadow created by the scaffolding above it. No surprise, as this part of town seems to be eternally under construction. Its prime location between 3rd and 2nd Avenue puts it within walking distance of several popular parks, as well as the infamous StuyTown apartment complex and its tens of thousands of residents. Big props on their signage game, by the way: I counted a total of nine logos, a few of them not seen on this picture.
09) 961 East 174th St
Crotona Park East, The Bronx
Situated in a tall brick-walled building, this franchise is part of an ample shopping plaza intended to serve commuters off the Cross Bronx Expressway. While the mall itself is owned by a luxurious real estate firm, this is actually one of the poorest districts in the entire city. Commerce in the neighboring street includes two dollar stores, a Coinstar, and the elusive Chinese Fried Chicken: a type of combo restaurant that seems to exist in nearly every part of the city yet never puts out particularly satisfying food. Can’t say I went in to try this particular one.
10) 11000 Flatlands Ave
East New York, Brooklyn
Right on the shore of Fresh Creek is this poorly organized shopping area, which has two separate sections and then the IHOP just sitting by itself in the middle. Just a few steps away is another all-American favorite: the KFC/Taco Bell combo store. No doubt this area largely exists to serve the Starrett City housing complex, once sued by the Reagan administration due to its (now gone) anti-diversity racial quotas. They are one of the most self-sustaining communities you could ever create in a city environment, by the way: they have their own power plant, sewage plant, and a 24-hour private security force.
11) 785 Flushing Ave
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
This bustling location next to the J/M train tracks is right on the intersection between Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy, and the tip of Bushwick. I absolutely love what they did with their wood paneling to incorporate the triangle above the door, definitely one of the most unique looks in this series. Not sure what the graffitied door on the left is about, as there is no number or sign on it. It seems to belong to their lot, but it could be from the Taco Bell next door. This is another IHOP sharing space with a gym, but also in the mix this time is a Social Security Administration office. Also nearby is a publicly-funded hospital and several big pharmacies.
12) 170-19 Hillside Ave,
Jamaica Estates, Queens
Just southwest of a lavish community of family homes, this spot shares a very spacious parking lot with the supermarket and clothing store next to it. It is almost perfectly placed along this avenue between a large high school and an equally large church. One of those classic huts with the massive roof, the side windows literally look a half foot tall. In Covid-related news: apparently in November 2020, someone slashed an employee with a knife because they were asked to wear a mask and refused to do so. Yikes.
13) 2082 Lexington Ave
East Harlem, Manhattan
Owned by the same investment group that opened the other IHOP in Harlem, this location spans an entire half block on this part of Lexington. It is blessed with plenty of foot traffic, being only steps away from the Metro-North train station as well as the 4/5/6 subway stop. The combination of the building’s white bricks with the large windows lend it a very distinctive look that is both old and modern. If you look closely you can see the neon signs on display, though the one on this side of the block is unfortunately turned off. Is neon a big thing in Harlem, or is it the owners who love it?
14) 9801 Liberty Ave
Ozone Park, Queens
Here we see another IHOP overlooked by the train tracks, right where the A train splits between its three different routes in Ozone Park. This neighborhood is one of the most diverse areas in the city, with a complex history of European immigration as well as sizable Latino and Asian communities. The building is actually part of a very tiny mall complex that houses three other businesses, including a dollar store and a self-storage space. It is also a short drive from the Aqueduct Racetrack, home to the only casino in the five boroughs.
15) 253 Livingston St
Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn
This sleek storefront in downtown Brooklyn is only a block away from City Point shopping center and its fancy underground food hall. It is also close to a large university campus and the peaceful shelter of Fort Greene Park. They are marketing a recently updated “Soul Food” menu, a term I have seen in quite a few locations around the city. I really like the fact that some of their panels use a lighter shade of blue, a theme shared by the entire bottom floor of this particular building. The stylish outdoor lamps are also a nice touch. By the way, the U.S. flag peeking from the right-hand corner belongs to the Army recruiting office.
16) 155-17 Northern Blvd
Flushing, Queens
Built on a large corner lot of an equally large boulevard, this place is across the street from an H Mart and a Korean BBQ restaurant. It is also one of the few IHOPs with an actual outdoor seating area: a little shed in the parking lot complete with a tarp roof and plastic windows. Looking at it on the map, it is interesting how this spot is just squashed between two demographics. Everything to the east and north of it are suburban two-story homes of the same general size and shape. Just a couple blocks west, you see larger apartment complexes start to show up as you head towards Citi Field.
17) 2101 Ralph Ave
Bergen Beach, Brooklyn
Right on the edge of a vast shopping plaza, this authentic cabin is on the border between Flatlands and Bergen Beach. It is the only location that does not incorporate the new logo anywhere and instead continues using the old one. I wonder if corporate knows about that. The business is relatively close to Paerdegat Basin, originally envisioned as part of a large harbor but now only holding a smattering of private yacht clubs. Also nearby is a public housing complex and several high schools.
18) 935 Richmond Ave
Graniteville, Staten Island
Our single Staten Island location is once again part of a shopping mall and is only steps away from a second, even larger shopping mall. No real surprise there, as this is in a busy street right off the expressway heading into Jersey. I considered counting this as a cabin in my statistics, but there are a few caveats: it has businesses connected to both sides of it, and the back area is square at the top. On a quick note, the buses I took to get here are some of the nicest and cleanest I have ever seen, though they did cost me over double the amount compared to a city bus.
19) 254-02 Rockaway Blvd
Meadowmere, Queens
In case you were wondering about the airplane, this IHOP is tucked away behind JFK airport in a marshy area known as Meadowmere. A tiny neighborhood consisting of only a few dozen houses, the entire community is much smaller than the shopping center across from it (which is technically in Long Island). This is a truly forgotten corner of the city: there was no sewage system until 2010, the streets are full of potholes, and floods are a constant issue. I can also speak to the fact that they have one of the worst littering problems I have seen, probably because the garbage truck doesn’t know how to get here.
20) 1019 Surf Ave
Coney Island, Brooklyn
This franchise is in a prime location in Coney Island, very close to the amusement parks and only two blocks from the beach. No doubt it gets its fair share of locals, tourists, and local tourists that flock here during the summer months. The small triangle above the logo is a nice, understated touch. Once more we see an IHOP near an elevated subway track, this one being a two-story rail used by the F and Q trains. Also nearby is the New York Aquarium and the sprawling Coney Island Yard, a maze of tracks where the MTA stores and fixes a large portion of their trains.
21) 1001 White Plains Rd
Soundview, The Bronx
Our last IHOP is sandwiched between an elementary school and a rehabilitation center in the southeast of The Bronx. It has no shortage of parking space, boasting two separate lots on each side of the building.This spot is right off the Bruckner Expressway, so most of the area around it is predictably a bunch of shopping plazas. However, there are also a number of public housing projects to the east of it, on both sides of the bridge. I do think it is poetic that the only photo I took with a blown out, white sky happens to be the one on White Plains Road. And also the last picture on the project.
Trivia time! How many of these IHOPs...
Are a cabin with an A-shaped roof?
Many of you pancake lovers out there might associate the chain with the feeling of a log cabin or lodge, embodied by its gigantic blue roof. Surprisingly, the chain discontinued this idea in the late 70s, and a majority of locations in the U.S. are no longer built in this style. That holds true in the majority of New York City as well. While I found these to be some of my favorite buildings, there are several urban locations that are surprisingly pretty and have their own unique flair.
6.
#04, 06, 12, 16, 17, and 19.
Have another business or office space above them?
As every New Yorker knows, real estate is at a premium around here. It is very common to see retail locations stacked on top of one another, and even family apartments above businesses. IHOP keeps this number lower than I expected, to be honest. It is probably because many of its locations are on the outskirts of the city, where property is only mildly expensive instead of outrageously expensive.
6.
#02, 05, 07, 08, 13, and 15.
Display the full title?
(International House of Pancakes)
I’m sure some still remember seeing the full name of the chain on their storefront, something they got rid of in 2003 in favor of the more pleasant abbreviation. The most recent change to the logo added a smiling face below the letters, and (almost) every franchise I visited has complied with this change. However, the complete title is still on display in a few of them, likely because it is a big part of their facade and would be hard to change without additional costs.
2.
#02 and 18.
Use the triangle motif?
I never really noticed this before but apparently, placing some kind of triangular design above the main entrance is a big thing for IHOP. It probably comes from trying to imitate the look of that classic blue roof, or maybe they just think triangles are cool. Two of them only have that shape in their fabric awnings, but they are in Manhattan so they get a pass in my book. The few that don’t incorporate it are in high-density areas, sharing their building with other businesses. Naturally, they can’t just make design choices like that at a whim.
17.
The ones that don’t are #02, 07, 13, and 15.
Use the semi-circle motif?
I sincerely only included this because I have no idea what these are and cannot find any info on it. These places all use these similar red and blue semi-circles, but none of them are consistent about it. One of them uses a set of intersecting circles, like a Venn diagram, above the entrance. A different one has the same thing but with two sets, one on each side. One of them has one set, and the circles don’t touch at all. Another location just uses three smaller circles around the edges. And a final one just decided to plaster them on a wooden plaque right next to the door? If you can’t tell, I might have already lost some sleep over these arbitrary inconsistencies.
5.
#01, 04, 10, 14, and 19.
Are in a shopping center?
Shopping malls are the natural habitat of casual dining chains, but given this is New York City I was curious to see how many I would come across. This ended up being a kind of arbitrary category, as none of them were in a traditional indoor mall. Most IHOPs were in busy commercial areas as well, which almost invariably had shopping centers very close by. Still, I was able to find quite a few clear cases of self-contained plazas.
7.
#01, 09, 10, 14, 17, 18, and 19.
Have free parking available?
(Street parking doesn’t count, obviously)
Of the things that will motivate New Yorkers to come to your business, free parking is pretty high on that list. As you would expect, there is a strong correlation between the locations that can provide this and their distance from downtown Manhattan. The fact that this number is above 50% shocked me at first, but it makes sense when you consider that a third of the total stores benefit from a shopping mall lot.
12.
#01, 04, 06, 09, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 21.
Are less than half a mile away from a Popeyes or KFC?
Fried chicken is a popular option in a huge part of the city as a whole, but especially so in the places I visited. And we all know fast food chains love to stick together in a small zone so as to not disturb any New Yorker’s neighborhood ego. I researched this comparison purely out of curiosity at first, but the result was so shocking to me that I had to include it in. If I had counted any fried chicken chain in general, this number would be even higher.
17.
The ones that don’t are #01, 04, 17, and 18.
Bonus Project!!!
It turns out that two of these IHOPs are quite literally on the edge of New York City. You may have seen that on the big map, and I really had to put some work in to make sure that I should include them. After all, I really didn’t want to take a long trip there and back just to not use the picture that I took afterwards.
This one (#04) is shoved between northeast Bronx, New Rochelle and Mount Vernon. As you can see, the line between the two counties is awfully close to the lot.
The weird boundary line, cutting diagonally across a block, made me suspicious at first. And when I looked into it further, it seemed that every address that was in the NYC side was listed at Boston Rd. IHOP lists this location as being in Boston Post Rd, as well as Google Maps. That is the name the street gets as soon as it enters Westchester County.
The fact that this was across a bridge just made me extra paranoid, because bridges often separate cities in my mind. I was certain for a while that this was not actually in New York city and went searching for a more official government source to confirm my claims.
Lucky for me, the NYC Department of Finance has an interactive map on their website which shows individual lots for each property class, from residential to business. It doesn’t get any more bona-fide than that, I don’t think. And what it shows is...
...the exact same division line between counties, and the correct lot location and number. However, notice that the lot address is written as Boston Rd, without the “Post.” This makes a lot more sense now. Google further confirms this by also listing that address, but you have to zoom in far enough to see the lot numbers.
Why did the IHOP website include the “Post” in its address? That is a mystery I can’t solve. Perhaps that is just how it got submitted by the franchise owners. I am certain I am the only person in the world that has ever cared about what city that is in, besides a potential mailman or two. Ultimately, I am sure no one is getting lost on their way here.
The second one (#19) is the place near JFK in the very southeast area of Queens. The boundary line is a bit more sensible this time, following a small creek. And yes the line cuts into the parking lot like that, so it is like the pavement of Rockaway Boulevard belongs to Queens but the mall properties do not.
I never really doubted that this location was in Queens, but I was still intrigued by how close it was to the edge and how insular that region was. A quick look at the Department of Finance property map confirmed the lot is in NYC and showed us the address that the city officially uses, on 3rd Street.
I also noticed that Google lists two more addresses on that lot, the one on 3rd street I just mentioned and one on “Rock Blvd” which is just puzzling. There is no road named “Rock” anywhere in that area, and one just has to assume that this comes from “Rockaway” somehow. It is definitely some sort of mistake that never got fixed. I guess what this project has really taught me is that there is plenty of junk data in Google Maps that never gets cleaned, and instead just falls into obscurity because no one bothers to click on it.
Anyways, that is it! Thank you so much for reading the whole thing, and if you liked the project please let me know. Would love to hear any constructive feedback you guys may have, as there are several similar kinds of projects I am planning to take on.
Sources
Google Maps
Google StreetView
https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/finance/jump/property-data-maps/indexpage.html
https://investors.dinebrands.com/investor-overview
https://sharprestaurants.com/ihop-logos/
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-05-fi-1603-story.html
https://www.dnainfo.com/20110408/harlem/second-ihop-open-east-harlem/
https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/cr_88.pdf
http://www.energyjustice.net/map/displayfacility-67726.htm
http://www.starrettcitypics.com/Security/
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/29/nyregion/us-challenges-accord-in-starrett-city-bias-suit.html
https://www.dekalbmarkethall.com/
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/gate/jamaica_bay_hrs.pdf
My eyeballs