In terms of restaurants, big names tend to crowd out the near-misses. Every once in a while, though, something surfaces that makes you stop and wonder how it ever slipped away. That’s exactly what happened when my friend Dylan stumbled across Golden Dome, a short-lived fried chicken concept from MCL. It seemed poised to be its next big thing! Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
I’ve loved MCL since I first went back in January, but its early history is convoluted since the company changed its name several times. Nevertheless, the chain of cafeteria-style restaurants opened on March 25, 1950. By 1969, it had grown to eight locations in Marion County, three more elsewhere in Indiana, and other establishments in Detroit, Lima, and Columbus, Ohio1.
In equal parts celebration of its impending twentieth anniversary and recognition of emergent business opportunities, MCL decided to expand into the carry-out restaurant space. In 1969, it announced the first Golden Dome fried chicken restaurant at 38th Street and Layman Avenue in Indianapolis. The 60×120 foot property featured what the company called “Early American” architecture, but no interior seating2.
“We feel our past food experience puts us in a good position with existing chicken carry-outs. We’re not convinced the potential is being tapped,” said a company official3. The first of five planned restaurants opened in April, 19704, and featured food like fried chicken, catfish, chicken and dumplings, salads, baked beans, and potatoes.
MCL’s second Golden Dome restaurant opened two months later at 6991 East 46th Street west of Shadeland Avenue5. A third, somewhere around 55th Street and Keystone, appears to have come online in 19716.
Golden Dome ads are fun to read. In 1970, MCL advertised a “Special For The ‘500’,” which included three pieces of fried chicken, baked beans, rolls and honey, and a Red Delicious apple for a buck-twenty-nine7. That’d cost $10.26 today! MCL no longer sells raw apples best I can tell, but a similar meal without one, but with only two pieces of fried chicken, would cost about fifteen dollars. I wish I could snag one locally! Unfortunately, Muncie’s MCL closed for good last month.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as though MCL’s Golden Dome concept really made it. Post-1971, advertisements drop off the map! By 1974, the first location on 38th Street became the Chop Stix restaurant8. Most recently, it appeared to be home to Sea Kings Seafood Kitchen. Now it’s closed and painted over.
The other two Golden Dome restaurants appear to have been demolished. The foundation of the second is hidden behind the BP station at 4590 Shadeland Avenue but, despite my best efforts, I’ve not been able to find a footprint of where the Golden Dome at 55th and Keystone once stood. Maybe it’s been repurposed and remodeled.
More than fifty years after it opened and closed, Golden Dome was one of those ideas that flickered just long enough to leave a trace until it vanished before anyone thought to write its story down. A handful of ads, a few addresses, and a single building are about all that remain.
MCL went on to build a recognizable brand that still resonates with generations of Hoosiers, but Golden Dome is a reminder that even successful companies experiment, stumble, and move on. Not every idea becomes a cornerstone. Some, like Golden Dome, simply become footnotes.
Sources Cited
1 Cory, R. (1969, December 5) MCL Set To Play the Chicken Game. The Indianapolis News. p. 43.
2 (See footnote 1).
3 (See footnote 1).
4 1st MCL Chicken Carry-Out Ready (1970, April 14). The Indianapolis News. p. 22.
5 2nd Golden Dome Opens Thursday (1970, June 30). The Indianapolis News. p. 23.
6 MCL Golden Dome (1971, March 24). The Indianapolis News. p. 65.
7 Special For The ‘500’ (1970, May 23). The Indianapolis News. p. 9.
8 Cashier Wanted (1974, June 29). The Indianapolis Star. p. 44.
According to the 1972 Polk’s Indianapolis city directory, the 55th/Keystone location was located at 5535 N Keystone, in a building that is now a Subway.
https://archive.org/details/polksindianapol1972unse/page/n183/mode/2up
I’d wondered if that subway had been it. Shares the same general footprint. Thanks!!
Indy has fantastic historic imagery on its GIS. The building still at this location appears to be the same one as from the 70s:
https://maps.indy.gov/Mapindy/
I was unaware of this resource. Thanks!!!
Is the original location in an economically disadvantaged area? It seems like there’s reasonably good access via the controlled intersection and there’s even a bus station across the street.
Yeah, the east side of Indy is the corner that time and new development sort of forgot.
These would have been decent locations but not great ones. I had no idea such a thing ever existed! Really, that was not a name that suggested fried chicken or anything else not affiliated with Notre Dame University. Good sleuthing!
Stuff like this reminds me of how many fast food and chain restaurants there were, and how many of them no longer exist. The 60’s through 80’s seem to be a heyday of them, as suburbia and car culture tightened its grasp on America, and so many businesspeople looked at the success of McDonalds and said “I want a piece of that”.
Ted, I don’t know if you have ever seen the blog “Broken Chains”, but it’s worth a look, especially if you are interested in the history of dead and nearly-dead restaurant chains. I think they are based in Michigan, and they’ve been visiting the restaurants that still exist of “dead” chains, much of them in the Midwest. The blogger has not been that active that much over the past few years, but there’s quite an archive:
https://www.brokenchains.blog/
I haven’t seen that blog before. Thanks! Eager to fall down the rabbit hole.
It’s quite the rabbit hole, and you’ll learn about so many obscure chains you did not know about!
I’ve already started diving and have encountered several places I’ve eaten at or remember. Including Muncie’s MCL that just closed!