Atomic Dining Room

If you were driving in Augusta, Ga. in 1952, it would be hard to miss this head-turning sign for the Atomic Dining Room and Drive-in. The eatery sprang up during the Atomic Age, served workers at a nearby government energy complex and offered “popular prices,” not to mention strange and quintessential 1950s signage

“In this pleasant land where the greatest tension ever felt by most people in the past was the pull of a fish on a baited line all the countryside is now taut with the strains of the Atomic Age,” The Times wrote about Aiken, S.C., in an article titled, “The H-Bomb Town,” published November 30, 1952. The article was accompanied by a series of photos by Times staff photographer George Tames, who was on assignment to document the sprawling Savannah River Project.

The Atomic Energy Commission’s would build a vast complex to produce materials for its latest nuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb. The $1.25 million project created an entire town of government employees, though most of the area was shrouded in mystery and red tape. Many commercial projects, such as the Atomic Dining Room in Augusta, chose to cater to these workers and market themselves “by the potent word.” Other such utilities included the Atomic Propane Gas Co. and the Atomic Real Estate Co.