"Why Waffle House?"

I lived in Charlottesville, Virginia for a few years while doing an M.A. and failing to do a Ph.D.  And I realize anyone who lives or has lived south of Charlottesville, or even the entire state of Virginia, would claim I never experienced the "real" south.

Scientifically speaking, fuck those guys.  I saw plenty enough Confederate flags and monuments to their dead traitors to make it real enough.

Anyhow, I enjoyed this piece on the enduring comfort and legacy of the humble, often gritty, Waffle House franchise:

"There was no way around it. These photographs contemplate our volatile political and economic climate and do so explicitly from the vantage point of Waffle House restaurants. My approach had its own rules: I would eat at every Waffle House I entered and make images only from where I was seated. I wanted to have a complete Waffle House experience every time. Not only did it give the photographs the authenticity I wanted, but it also compensated the restaurant for taking up a table, especially during prime dining hours. I ordered a full breakfast at the first restaurant of the day and would order coffee and a side of toast at the remaining stores, as it was customary for me to visit multiple locations in one day while I was traveling.

Why Waffle House? Why not McDonald's or Hardee's? Three reasons: consistency, personal relationship, and the chain's iconic status. 

I felt that I needed a constant from which to study our built environment, and the relative sameness of Waffle House restaurants allowed me that ability. Whether you like it or not, Waffle House is your neighborhood diner, replicated thousands of times over. The restaurants are relatively the same, architecturally speaking, as are the menu, the prices, and the experience. This replication of experience was the conceptual underpinning of this project, and that repetition is illustrated in the images."

Obviously, you have to click through for the great photographs.