Most of you already know that the Goo Goo Dolls released their fourth album “Superstar Car Wash” in 1993, and they named it after a real place in their native hometown, a real car wash which at the time was located at 226 William Street, Buffalo, NY.
Below is how the car wash looked like in real life.
Below is a snapshot of the car wash still retaining part of its original business name, which ended up providing the album with its famous title. You can see the sale sign on.
The car wash was then sold and tore down a few years ago. Below is a picture of the demolition process taking place. This photo is known as the last picture of the iconic place before it became something else.
Google is an amazing tool when looking for dated information. My googling skills helped me find this very interesting blog post (apparently it is down as I write this, but you can check an archived copy by clicking here) where more details about the car wash are available, including a fun story from the guy who took pictures of the place. I encourage you to read that post, as it also features pictures and information about other places photographed in the album inlay.
Within the comments of the aforementioned blog post, a wild creature appears! Joking. The original photographer for the album, a gentleman named Frank M. Luterek, published a comment claiming to be the one who actually worked on the car wash photos for the band, which he personally took. Below is his comment. Interestingly, he also took pictures of former drummer George Tutuska‘s and John’s sister Gladys’ weddings.
He also provides more information about the format and the methodology used to take those album pictures. Another interesting detail emerges. I always took for granted that the photo in the back cover of the album, posted below, was taken at the car wash, and considered the door they leaned on against the car wash back entry. Turns out, that was not the case.
What happened to the car wash after it was tore down? Believe it or not, it became this.
It turned into a storage unit. Checking out Street View, it appears to be attached to a very small office, most likely owned (at the time I’m writing this) by a trash removal company.
Time goes by, everything changes. I hope you enjoyed this small dive into a beautiful past, an era in which the Goo Goo Dolls shaped some of their most amazing crafts.
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It looks like they didn’t demolish the side walls, and incorporated them into the new building
I literally teared up when I first saw the parking lot Continental had become. Tragic. I’m still angry no one of means stepped up to save it.
But this … well, the new place is nicely tidied up, more presentable, certainly cleaner. But it lacks the personality and the soul of its earlier incarnation. And that’s all I’m going to say about that, yk?
Oh so did I! I was hoping I could go visit it. I’m quite a few years late obviously. I was going to visit that, superstar car wash and 164 clark street (the house John grew up in) but the only one of the three that still exists is the last one. . .