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Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese bring sock hop era back to MB
by John Tawa
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The McDonald's restaurant on Artesia Boulevard in Manhattan Beach will be re-born by springtime into a Classic 50's style throwback to the original franchises, like this one. |
"Did somebody say McDonald's?"
Franchisee Dick Blade is counting on Manhattan Beach residents to say it for the Classic 50's style McDonald's restaurant he plans to open by spring of next year.
The building, which will replace the 39-year-old McDonald's on Artesia Boulevard near Prospect Avenue, will have an appearance inside and out fashioned after the first restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955 and the one that followed in Downey, California, later that decade. The Downey site, still in operation, has been designated a historical landmark.
Blade, who purchased the Artesia McDonald's with daughter Tawnie in January, 1998, said that the site was perfect for a Classic McDonald's with the arches coming out of the building and a neon band encircling it.
"Manhattan Beach has a lot of nostalgia," Blade said. "The things going on in the 50's: surfing, car hops. .. It's a perfect fit for the city. I'm not from Manhattan Beach, but I always went there in the late 50's. It just fits."
The new McDonald's will be 300 square feet smaller than its predecessor and won't have a play area. But the $1 million building will be fun for everyone, children and adults alike, Blade said.
"The classic theme will run inside and out," he explained. "It'll be a flashback. There will be a lot of uniqueness about it.
"We won't have car hops, but it's our desire to have employees dress a different way.
The music will be different. We're looking at things like jukeboxes, soda fountains, etc. We'll have promotions that go back to the 50's, possibly Coke floats and root beer floats. And, of course, we have 29-cent hamburgers and 39-cent cheeseburgers."
Blade, who owns the city's other McDonald's as well as franchises in Hermosa Beach and El Segundo, said this will be his only Classic restaurant.
"There are very few because it doesn't fit into every community and McDonald's doesn't want to over saturate the market with other classic buildings," he said. "It's a real draw, not just for this community but for adjoining communities."
Blade added that only a handful of Classic McDonald's restaurants are being built in the Western United States. The nearest one is in Carson at Avalon and Del Amo.
Blade hopes to break ground on the Classic 50's style McDonald's by early December with a grand re-opening three months later.
"The new one will totally efficient," he said. "The service will match the speed. And our equipment will be state of the art. The community will love it. I guarantee it." ER