The Shoney’s Sign That Told Titans Fans Where They Parked Is Gone
For years, anyone leaving a Tennessee Titans game on the east bank of the Cumberland River could find their way back to the car by looking up. A tall Shoney's sign beside the interstate was as dependable as the stadium lights. On the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, it came down.
The restaurant at 110 Interstate Drive had already closed. Crews took down the sign, repainted its pole and put up a parking sign in its place, erasing a fixture that drivers along the interstate had used for navigation for as long as many of them can remember.
A landmark more than a menu
For plenty of Nashvillians, the sign was never really about breakfast. Fans said they used it to locate their cars after games. One longtime regular recalled sharing the restaurant's skillet cookies with a best friend over roughly twelve years. A lifelong Nashville resident said Shoney's was where families gathered, and that the sign's removal felt like one more marker of a city making room for what comes next. After that resident posted a photo of it online the night it came down, the messages piled up, and several people asked how to buy the sign outright. They were pointed to the company.
The sign did not go far. It is sitting for now outside a sign company on Murfreesboro Pike, and community interest in finding it a permanent home has been strong. No new home has been announced.
The timing is not an accident
The landmark is leaving as the neighborhood changes around it. The new Nissan Stadium is scheduled to open in February 2027, and the existing stadium is slated for demolition afterward. Read our earlier coverage of what is already booked for the new venue, including the Banana Ball championship game on Sept. 25, 2027 and Zach Bryan's May 22, 2027 show, and you can see how quickly the surroundings are being redrawn. The Shoney's property itself sits on a site of less than an acre.
Shoney's is not leaving town
The parent company, Best American Hospitality, which also owns 7Pie Pizza, says Shoney's still has three restaurants in the Nashville area, on Donelson Pike and in Lebanon and Dickson. A company statement called the sign's removal the start of a new era and said it plans to grow in Nashville through franchise and corporate openings and is hiring for those locations. Next up is Memphis, where a Shoney's is expected to reopen in early 2027 as a co-branded spot with 7Pie Pizza, serving both menus along with the chain's all-you-care-to-eat fresh food bar.
The brand's story goes back to a drive-in that opened in Charleston, West Virginia, in 1947. In 1977 the company ended its Big Boy affiliation and introduced its own Shoney Bear mascot, a long evolution that helps explain why the signs carry so many memories.
Planning a game-day or visitor weekend near the river? Browse our guide to the best restaurants in Nashville and book your stay before the new stadium's calendar fills up.
Image: illustrative, AI-generated – not the actual location.
