Back in October 2000, GlobeSt.com spoke with a source at Atlanta-based RTM who said property owner John Biggi Jr. of Portland-based Biggi Investment Co. was in negotiations with a McDonald's franchisee that wanted to lease the site.

Coming into a suburban-style drive-thru location in a hip and relatively non-nationalized retail district like Hawthorne will be rough for McDonald's. Most business owners and residents have never liked the property, which devotes most of its lot to parking in stark contrast to the rest of the pedestrian-oriented district.

The source at RTM said the firm closed up shop in Hawthorne because the neighborhood "didn't fit our customer profile" and wasn't turning a profit. Indeed, Hawthorne residents and businesspeople have shown a distinct lack of interest in the biggest of the national fast food chains. Kentucky Fried Chicken and Arctic Circle also have come and gone from Hawthorne, and Burger King, which wanted to open at 39th and Hawthorne ultimately canceled plans due to neighborhood operation.