Portland City Hall (1909) – three-masted weathervane

Check out these register a business images:

Portland City Hall (1909) – three-masted weathervane

Image by origamidon
389 Congress St, Portland, Maine USA • The Portland City Hall is the center of city government in Portland, Maine. The structure was built in 1909 and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. • Architect: Carrere & Hastings. – From Wikipedia.

• Portland is Maine's business, financial and retail capital and the largest city in the state. Seascapes and cityscapes blend harmoniously in Portland, perched on a peninsula, jutting out into island-studded Casco Bay. The metropolitan hub of Maine's south coast region, Portland is a progressive, lively city incorporating the character of yesteryear into a modern urban environment. Historic architecture blends gracefully with the new as you stroll along her working waterfront or the cobblestone streets of the restored Old Port section of the city.

With a metro population of 230,000, the Greater Portland area is home to almost one quarter of Maine's total population. The population of the city is 66,363.

Portland is an easygoing city with friendly, hardworking people. Ranked nationally as one of the ten safest, culturally most fascinating US Cities and one of the top cities for doing business, housing is affordable, the schools and healthcare are outstanding.

Recreation, entertainment, scenery, culture -we've got the market cornered. Just ask the 3.6 million tourists who visit each year. And, the same things that attract vacationers make Portland a wonderful place to live, to work and to do business. – From the City's website.

☞ On May 7, 1973, the National Park Service added this structure and site to the National Register of Historic Places (#73000119).

• GeoHack: 43°39′33″N 70°15′26″W.

Portland City Hall (1909) – plaque

Image by origamidon
389 Congress St, Portland, Maine USA • The Portland City Hall is the center of city government in Portland, Maine. The structure was built in 1909 and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. • Architect: Carrere & Hastings. – From Wikipedia.

• Portland is Maine's business, financial and retail capital and the largest city in the state. Seascapes and cityscapes blend harmoniously in Portland, perched on a peninsula, jutting out into island-studded Casco Bay. The metropolitan hub of Maine's south coast region, Portland is a progressive, lively city incorporating the character of yesteryear into a modern urban environment. Historic architecture blends gracefully with the new as you stroll along her working waterfront or the cobblestone streets of the restored Old Port section of the city.

With a metro population of 230,000, the Greater Portland area is home to almost one quarter of Maine's total population. The population of the city is 66,363.

Portland is an easygoing city with friendly, hardworking people. Ranked nationally as one of the ten safest, culturally most fascinating US Cities and one of the top cities for doing business, housing is affordable, the schools and healthcare are outstanding.

Recreation, entertainment, scenery, culture -we've got the market cornered. Just ask the 3.6 million tourists who visit each year. And, the same things that attract vacationers make Portland a wonderful place to live, to work and to do business. – From the City's website.

☞ On May 7, 1973, the National Park Service added this structure and site to the National Register of Historic Places (#73000119).

• GeoHack: 43°39′33″N 70°15′26″W.

These guys are in every city.

Some cool franchise business images:

These guys are in every city.

Image by pylbug
Playing their new-age music and selling CD's. I swear these two were identical to the ones we always see in Chicago. Must be some kinda franchise...

Gus & Irene Koutros | Olympic Diner

Image by Jorge Quinteros
Here's the pressing dilemma with diners, at least from the information I've gathered from diner owners themselves and from what I've managed to witness from an outsiders perspective. The case is that there's hardly many around and the question is why.

I recently spoke to owners Gus and Irene from Olympic Diner located along Myrtle Ave in Richmond Hill, Queens regarding what seems like the surprisingly decline of diners in the neighborhood. I've listened to what other diner owners have had to say about the scarcity of them but Irene mentioned something which no one had and that I had not honestly considered to be a factor.

Statistically, around 80% of businesses started will be gone in 5 years and I think the franchise model actually removes a lot of that risk but either way, there's a mentality that when you go into business for yourself, you expect to be in it for the long haul and once you've reach the point where you could no longer physically managed it, one would hope that the children could potentially carry the business.

While the freedom of being your own boss and directing your own destiny can seem alluring, you practically have to give up a certain amount of time and freedom to continue what you hope to keep around.

Running a diner is a 24/7 operation where Irene generally works 6 days a week with an 11hr shift a day. With the generation of today, Irene mentioned in how not every child who's parent's own a diner has the dream to take over the business because of the amount of time that it requires to operate. Selling the business ultimately because the only option at which point there's no grantee that the buyer will even keep the business running for very long. From what she's seen in the past, the diners themselves have ultimately closed down but the property in which they're generally located turn out to be more valuable so the new owners lease it out.

As of now, you're likely to continue to find Gus and Irene operating Olympic Diner.

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Portland City Hall (1909) – clock tower roofline detail

Some cool registering a business images:

Portland City Hall (1909) – clock tower roofline detail

Image by origamidon
389 Congress St, Portland, Maine USA • The Portland City Hall is the center of city government in Portland, Maine. The structure was built in 1909 and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. • Architect: Carrere & Hastings. – From Wikipedia.

• Portland is Maine's business, financial and retail capital and the largest city in the state. Seascapes and cityscapes blend harmoniously in Portland, perched on a peninsula, jutting out into island-studded Casco Bay. The metropolitan hub of Maine's south coast region, Portland is a progressive, lively city incorporating the character of yesteryear into a modern urban environment. Historic architecture blends gracefully with the new as you stroll along her working waterfront or the cobblestone streets of the restored Old Port section of the city.

With a metro population of 230,000, the Greater Portland area is home to almost one quarter of Maine's total population. The population of the city is 66,363.

Portland is an easygoing city with friendly, hardworking people. Ranked nationally as one of the ten safest, culturally most fascinating US Cities and one of the top cities for doing business, housing is affordable, the schools and healthcare are outstanding.

Recreation, entertainment, scenery, culture -we've got the market cornered. Just ask the 3.6 million tourists who visit each year. And, the same things that attract vacationers make Portland a wonderful place to live, to work and to do business. – From the City's website.

☞ On May 7, 1973, the National Park Service added this structure and site to the National Register of Historic Places (#73000119).

• GeoHack: 43°39′33″N 70°15′26″W.

Portland City Hall (1909) – clock tower reflection in Post Office Square window

Image by origamidon
389 Congress St, Portland, Maine USA • The Portland City Hall is the center of city government in Portland, Maine. The structure was built in 1909 and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. • Architect: Carrere & Hastings. – From Wikipedia.

• Portland is Maine's business, financial and retail capital and the largest city in the state. Seascapes and cityscapes blend harmoniously in Portland, perched on a peninsula, jutting out into island-studded Casco Bay. The metropolitan hub of Maine's south coast region, Portland is a progressive, lively city incorporating the character of yesteryear into a modern urban environment. Historic architecture blends gracefully with the new as you stroll along her working waterfront or the cobblestone streets of the restored Old Port section of the city.

With a metro population of 230,000, the Greater Portland area is home to almost one quarter of Maine's total population. The population of the city is 66,363.

Portland is an easygoing city with friendly, hardworking people. Ranked nationally as one of the ten safest, culturally most fascinating US Cities and one of the top cities for doing business, housing is affordable, the schools and healthcare are outstanding.

Recreation, entertainment, scenery, culture -we've got the market cornered. Just ask the 3.6 million tourists who visit each year. And, the same things that attract vacationers make Portland a wonderful place to live, to work and to do business. – From the City's website.

☞ On May 7, 1973, the National Park Service added this structure and site to the National Register of Historic Places (#73000119).

• GeoHack: 43°39′33″N 70°15′26″W.