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Nostalgia. That’s what’s on the menu.

Retro Restaurant Revival Craze, Today, May 19, 2026




From a Yum! Brands press release:

Across 155 Pizza Hut restaurants in the U.S., guests are rediscovering iconic features from the brand’s earlier years, including red cups, checkered tablecloths, cozy vinyl booths, Tiffany-style lamps, classic arcade games and even the unmistakable red roof design.

I don’t have a ton of nostalgia for Pizza Hut, but this advert from Wyndham Hotels set off all kinds of emotional bells and whistles in my psyche.


Retro Modern Recharge, Howard Johnson by Wyndham

The color palette! The memories! Have they brought back the authentic restaurant experience? (probably not.) 

Nostalgia has been on my mind since this turned up on the Doodl app.

Draw something you feel nostalgic about.

Here was my response.



Here is my Cecil the Sea Serpent talking plush toy. You had to pull a string the hear him talk. I kept him until very recently, believe it or not. Cecil had lost one eye and his tongue was hanging by a thread. He was occasionally still able to say a few things, notably:

“Just a darn minute!” and “I’ll save you!”

We all pretty much know where our experience of nostalgia lies. I hadn’t thought much about this until I saw the responses of other Doodl-ers to this prompt. Often they seemed so recent to me. “That’s practically yesterday!” I thought.

  • Guitar Hero
  • Sony Walkman
  • Mix tapes
  • Wonder Pets
  • Nintendo DS
  • Game Cube
I hadn’t ever contemplated how much nostalgia is a moveable feast. Of course somehow I already knew. I had never felt those warm yet sweetly painful feelings about things my mother remembered and longed for - - streetcars, really good train service, clothes that really fit right from places like Peck & Peck, when radio was really radio and everyone listened…

It was all interesting, those stories from long ago, like a history lesson with more interesting examples. But nostalgia- - those feelings that call to you like nothing else - - is personal. 

What’s your sweet spot? What are the places and things you wish you could visit just one more time?

Let me know. 




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  1. Julia A. McCreadyMay 30, 2026 at 4:44 AM

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