You are bidding on an original July 1969-October 1970 metal calendar ruler advertising the

Sandy's Restaurant which used to stand at 1423 Harrison Street in Davenport IA. 

The famous phrase "The Home of the Plaid Beret Come As You Are...Hungry" is inscribed below the address.  

Sadly, the building is gone, but the memories are still very strong. 

Ruler has been hanging on the wall of my dad's shop for all these years, so it does have some scratches and is a little rusted

around the edges. But all writing is perfectly legible. 

HISTORY OF SANDY'S RESTAURANT

McDonalds... Burger King.... Hardees... names that are all familiar in fast food. However, if you were born before 1969, you may just remember a fast food franchise that rivaled them all. The name was Sandy's.

Sandy's took on McDonalds for hamburger supremacy in the United States in the 1960's! Yet today, with our high speed information highway, one is hard pressed to find information on this historical restaurant from the dawn of time of the fast food wars. This is a tribute to the memory of one of the greatest places to eat of them all.

In 1956, four business men from Kewanee, Illinois, Gus "Brick" Lundberg, Robert C. Wenger, Paul White and W.K. Davidson set out to start one of the first McDonalds franchises outside of the state of California. They acquired the rights to open a McDonalds in Champaign-Urbana (home of the University of Illinois). The McDonalds was such a success that they planned on opening another McDonalds in Decatur, Il., as well as one in Peoria, Il. but were distraught to find that Ray Krok had changed the leasing agreement which meant more expense for the business. That, coupled with Mr. Krok claiming that Peoria was not within the territory agreed upon led to the four men deciding to pursue their own fortune and copied the McDonalds play book, calling their new venture Sandy's. Sandy's Scottish name was a copy/play on the Irish "McDonalds" and was intended to present a theme of swift service. Sandy's was involved with an on going lawsuit with McDonalds which finally ended in an out of court settlement in 1965.

 The first store opened in 1958 in Peoria, Illinois followed by another location in St. Louis, Missouri. Within 10 years, the franchise had exploded to 100 locations with the 100th as well as the new company headquarters opening in Kewanee, Illinois, amidst much fanfare. Incredible as it sounds today, Sandy's was the first fast food experience for many midwest towns, introducing burgers on the go years before McDonalds arrived in many cities in this part of the country! As with all 1950's and early 1960's fast food hamburger joints, Sandy's copied McDonalds as a walk up, order and go restaurant and later expanded into sit inside and eat dining.

The company stretched throughout the midwest including locations in; St Petersburg, Florida, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Colorado Springs, Co. and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1972 the chain had grown to 240 locations. Sandy's merged that year with Hardees. The new company with over 540 locations originally retained the two names. However, by 1973, ninety percent of Sandy's locations had switched over to the Hardees name.

Not only did the signs change but the concept was gone forever as well. Gone were Sandy's classic 1960's fins jutting from the roof of the buildings. The gigantic marque signs with the Sandy's trademark flasher bulbs and Scottish girl twirling in a diamond on top of the sign were lost as well. Never again would one get to taste the delicious milk shakes or order a tenderloin, big scot burger or a box of fish and chips. It was the end of an era. All that was left were great memories of one of the greatest fast food restaurants of all time.

Amazingly, one Sandy's icon building remains. One mile south of Kewanee on Highway 34, the original franchise headquarters still stands as a historical monument to what became and still is known as "the burger wars" and to the growth of three decades of American pop culture. It is now a United Methodist Church and the only change that appears to have been made is a cross on the roof. The original fins as well as the late 1960s tile motif on the walls are exactly as they were some 35 years ago.