Big Chicken

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Big Chicken

The Big Chicken is a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant prepares and serves food and drink to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery ....
in Marietta, Georgia

Marietta, Georgia

Marietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, and is its county seat.As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,748, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs....
, which features a large steel-sided structure designed in the appearance of a chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a Domestication fowl. Recent evidence suggests that domestication of the chicken was under way in Vietnam over 10,000 years ago....
rising up from the top of the building. It is located at the city's biggest intersection of Cobb Parkway

Cobb Parkway

Cobb Parkway is a major arterial road which runs northwest and southeast through Cobb County, Georgia. It concurrency carries both U.S. 41, and the much less-recognized Georgia 3....
(U.S. 41) and Roswell Road

Roswell Road

Roswell Road is the name of at least two roads leading to Roswell, Georgia:*in Fulton County, Atlanta's Roswell Road through Buckhead and then Sandy Springs is Georgia State Route 9 and U.S....
(former Georgia 120) and is a well-known landmark

Landmark

Originally, a landmark literally meant a geographic feature used by exploration and others to find their way back or through an area.In modern usage, a landmark includes anything that is easily recognizable, such as a monument, building, or other structure....
in the area. The exact address is 12 Cobb Pkwy N, Marietta GA 30062.

restaurant was originally built in 1956, its location the result of the then-new Cobb Parkway being constructed as the first divided highway

Divided Highway

Divided Highway is a compilation album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers, released in 2003. . All tracks are taken from the albums Cycles and Brotherhood ....
in the county (20 years before the freeway

Interstate 75 in Georgia

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Encyclopedia

The Big Chicken is a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant prepares and serves food and drink to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery ....
in Marietta, Georgia

Marietta, Georgia

Chicken

Cobb Parkway

Roswell Road

Landmark

History

The restaurant was originally built in 1956, its location the result of the then-new Cobb Parkway being constructed as the first divided highway

Divided Highway

Interstate 75 in Georgia

In the U.S. state of Georgia , Interstate 75 runs north-south through Atlanta . It is also designated - but not signed - as State Route 401. In downtown Atlanta, I-75 joins with Interstate 85 as the Downtown Connector....
). Taking advantage of the prime location on the new and quicker route for travelers on U.S. 41, Johnny Reb's Chick, Chuck and Shake owner S.R. "Tubby" Davis erected the 56-foot (17-meter) tall structure over his restaurant in 1963 as a method of advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to Purchasing or to consume more of a particular brand of Product or Service ....
. The novelty architecture

Novelty architecture

Novelty architecture is a type of architecture in which buildings and other structures are given unusual shapes as a novelty, such as advertising, notoriety as a landmark, or simple Eccentricity of the owner or architect....
was designed by Hubert Puckett, a Georgia Tech

Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly known as Georgia Tech or simply Tech, is a public university, coeducational research university in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States....
student of architecture

Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
, and fabricated by Atlantic Steel in nearby Atlanta (of which Marietta is a suburb

Suburb

Suburbs are commonly defined as the residential areas which surround the central area of the urban area of a town or city. In the United States, suburbs have a prevalence of usually detached single-family homes.....
). Davis later sold it to his brother, and it became a franchise

Franchising

Franchising refers to the methods of practicing and using another person's philosophy of business. The franchisor grants the independent operator the right to distribute its products, techniques, and trademarks for a percentage of gross monthly sales and a royalty fee....
of KFC

KFC

KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky. KFC was a wholly owned subsidiary of YUM! Brands from 1997?2002, and has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Yum! Brands since 2002....
.

In January 1993, storm winds damaged the structure, and rather than tear it down KFC was forced by public outcry to re-erect the building. Among those who complained about the Big Chicken being torn down were pilots, who actually used the building as a reference point when approaching Atlanta and Dobbins Air Reserve Base

Dobbins Air Reserve Base

Dobbins Air Reserve Base or Dobbins ARB is a United States air reserve base located in Marietta, Georgia, Georgia , a suburb about northwest of Atlanta....
. The new Big Chicken even includes the original design of beak and eyes which move, although this time the vibrations which plagued the first structure (even to the point of breaking window

Window

File:OldShipWindows.jpgA window is an opening in a wall that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparency or translucent material....
s) have been eliminated. Pieces of the original structure were sold to collectors as souvenir

Souvenir

A souvenir , memento or keepsake is an object a traveler brings home for the memory associated with it. Souvenirs include clothing such as T-shirts or hats, postcards, refrigerator magnets, miniature figures, household items such as mugs and Bowl , ashtrays, egg timers, spoons, notebook, and many others....
s. In early April 2006, the structure narrowly escaped a small eastward-moving nighttime tornado

Tornado

A tornado is a violent, rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud....
, which overturned a tractor-trailer at the Kmart

Kmart

Kmart is a chain of discount department stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam. The chain merged with Sears, Roebuck and Company in 2005, creating the Sears Holdings Corporation....
across the street, and damaged another building just down the street to the east.

The Big Chicken is commonly used as a landmark for driving directions. Locals will often include "make a [turn] at the Big Chicken", or "it's about x miles past the Big Chicken". Even prior to its geographic coordinates being added to Wikipedia, it was automatically marked on Google Maps

Google Maps

Google Maps is a free web mapping service application and technology provided by Google that powers many map-based services including the Google Maps website, #Google Ride Finder, Google Transit and embedded maps on third-party websites via the Google Maps Application programming interface....
.

It has also led to a small cottage industry of sorts, selling souvenirs emblazoned with the monument, including one sweatshirt showing Big Ben

Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster

Big Ben is the nickname for the great Bell of the clock at the north-eastern end of the Palace of Westminster in London. The nickname is often also used to refer to the clock and the clock tower....
in London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is an Puddle iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine River in Paris. The tower has become a global Cultural icon of France and is one of the most recognizable structures in the world....
in Paris

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
, the Colosseum

Colosseum

The Colosseum or Roman Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire....
in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, and of course, the Big Chicken in Marietta. A board game

Board game

File:Game_of_life_board.jpgA board game is a game in which counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across a "board" . As do other form of entertainment, board games can represent nearly any subject....
featuring the Big Chicken and other local landmarks was also produced. There was also a comedy Big Chicken Chorus in the 1990s

1990s in music

The decade of the 1990s was possibly the most diverse period of pop music in history. Soon after the 1980s ended , musical trends quickly shifted from the 1980s standards, most notably from synthpop to house music from the years 1989 to 1991, the replacement of hair metal and classic rock with alternative rock and grunge music, and the popularity o...
, which produced an album called Poultry In Motion
Poultry In Motion

Poultry In Motion is the fourth album by Dustin the Turkey, released in 1999. The title puns Poetry in Motion ....
, and another called We Need a Little Christmas
We Need a Little Christmas

"We Need a Little Christmas" is a popular Christmas song originating from Jerry Herman's Broadway musical, Mame, and first performed by Angela Lansbury in that production....
.

Big Chicken

History

See also

Further reading

External links