Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Clash of the Burger Titans

It’s been a while, but I’ve featured Sandy’s many times on this blog over the years. The Scottish-themed hamburger chain with Thrift ’N Swift service held the Grand Opening of its Meister Road location in the Lorain Plaza Shopping Center back on June 18th - 20th of 1965.

Since Sandy’s was so close to where we lived, it was the hamburger chain that my family patronized –although it was a rare treat. The nearest McDonald’s was down on West Erie Avenue, and consequently we only caught a glimpse of it on the way to Lakeview Park. (We never passed it when we went to Vermilion, as we always took the short cut via W. 21st Street.)

Since the McDonald’s on West Erie Avenue had opened in June 1960, however, it had a five year head start in Lorain on Sandy’s, which had some catching up to do.

Thus it’s not too surprising to see the section of the restaurants page of the June 24, 1965 Lorain Journal above. Note the ads of the two strange burger bedfellows, right next to each other: recently-opened Sandy’s (with its large ad featuring the winsome Miss Sandy) and McDonald’s (with the now forgotten, bizarre Archy McDonald in a puny ad).

Despite the sex appeal of Miss Sandy, however, McDonald’s eventually won the battle – conquering Hardee’s (the successor of Sandy’s) and even taking over the chain’s location on Meister Road. Today, only a few grizzled local Baby Boomers (like me) even remember that Sandy’s was ever there.

But hold on to your french fries – there’s a rematch of sorts about to happen.

A Hardee’s is planned for Avon as part of a proposed Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores truck stop complex on Chester Road. Its neighbor? None other than McDonald’s.

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Click here to visit a terrific, unofficial Sandy's website with tons of links to great vintage photos of store restaurants. Click here to explore three pages of Sandy's memorabilia, such as original napkins, cups and ads!

Finally, be sure to visit the RoadsideArchitecture.com website, which includes a page devoted entirely to former Sandy's restaurants!

2 comments:

Lisa said...

I remember the Sandy's on Cleveland St. in Elyria. If I recall correctly, the Scottish "Sandy" was motorized, twirling around on top of the roof.

Anonymous said...

I remember the Sandy's on Meister (maybe it was Hardee's at the time) had the bathrooms in the basement. You had to go through the outside back door and head down. I was surprised that they even had a basement.

Chuck
Jackson MI