Special thanks to Sandy's fan Fred Love for providing this article from the hutchnews.com 03/11/2010 - Sandy's #11, Hutchinson, Kansas building is still standing!!!!
Main St. site to revive again as restaurant
Building that housed Luigi's, other eateries, to be soup-sandwich hub.
By John Green - The Hutchinson News - jgreen@hutchnews.com
A North Main Street building that's had several incarnations as a restaurant since first built in 1960 will become one once more.
The newest owner plans to return the building at 2609 N. Main St., at least architecturally, back to its roots.
"I don't think it will be open until about Christmas of this year," said Peter Charer of Hutchinson. "We've gutted the building inside and we're building an entirely new restaurant. People will probably see more progress on the building in July or August," when work on the exterior begins.
Plans for the business, to be called Wilders on Main, originally started as a coffee shop and bakery, Charer said, but "it's expanded from there."
It will offer its own baked artisan breads and bagels for breakfast, along with quality coffee. For lunch, it will offer specialty soups, sandwiches and "upscale salads," Charer said.
"It will have lunches similar to Panera," he said. "We'll probably do dinner four or five nights a week, but that might take a few months longer to institute. We plan to have a full liquor license."
He grew up in Hutchinson, Charer said, but then moved to Southern California, where he lived the past 25 years. During that time, he and his wife were partners in a bed and breakfast in wine country for about 15 years.
"We came back for family reasons," he said. "We've been going back and forth over the years for business and always wanted a restaurant in Hutchinson."
When first built in 1960, the structure was a Sandy's Thrift and Swift Drive-in. It housed the hamburger chain, started by some businessmen who split off from McDonald's in a franchise dispute, for 20 years.
In the early 1970s, the Sandy's franchise merged with Hardee's and the Hutchinson restaurant switched to that brand in 1974. It remained a Hardee's until 1994. When that restaurant closed, the building remained vacant for a couple of years before reopening as the North Main Diner in 1997.
The diner operated until 2000, when it became El Jalisco Mexican Restaurant. It closed in 2003. After a remodel, it reopened as King's Buffet. That operation lasted only a year and the building remained vacant until 2006, when it reopened as Luigi's Italian Eatery. Luigi's lasted less than a year, and the building has been vacant since.
"It's a really cool building inside we've discovered," Charer said. "It had a really mid-century architecture. The building inside is supported by very large beams that are 50 feet across. There are angular pieces that come up to support the ceiling, but other portions just have the beams going across. There are no interior walls."
When converted to a Hardee's, the building's interior and exterior were both substantially changed, adding drop ceilings and the brick façade, Charer said.
"The roofing and all that was built on to make it an institutional burger joint," he said.
Current plans for the new restaurant include the beamed high ceilings, and interior fireplaces and outdoor fire pits, said Charer, who has hired Mann and Co. to design the building.
"It will be completely modernized and have a totally different look," he promised. "We'll be spending time there ourselves, so we want a nice area to work."
The restaurant will seat about 70 and include eight bar seats, Charer said. He expects to employ about a dozen people.
09/16/2010 ...Sandy's fan Max Bringle wrote;
In Hutchinson Kansas, a Sandy’s was the designated “turn-around” spot for kids dragging main street. Sandy’s was located between 26th and 27th Street and was about as far North as you could go. At that time, there was not a lot of town left to the North
The location changed to a Hardees and remained that until the late 70’s and has served as a variety of restaurants. During that time it was unrecognizable as a drive-in because of the remodeling.
Recently the location was purchased and the new owners plan a different restaurant. But in the process, they completely stripped the shell of the building exposing the original angled roof supports which had held up the Sandy’s roof system. And, they also changed the roof system.
Because the new shell completely encloses the inside structure within a larger building, It may be that plans are to use that as part of the interior décor. Attached is a photo taken Sept 7, 2010. If you look closely, you can see the supports inside the building.
Max Bringle
10/06/2010 ... Hello, My name is Steve Harmon, I have been hunting for an old photo of Sandy's in Hutchinson, in the 1960's. If you have anything like that in a JPG. form I would like to get with you. I have other historic photos I could trade like the Larkland shopping center across the street.
Let me know if you have anything like that.
Thanks for your time!
07/23/2011 ... 
I've finally found my elusive copy of "Sandy's # 11 of Hutchinson Ks." 2609 N. Main 1960 to 1974. And what a quality image it is !!
Credits go to Susan Bowers. Daughter of the original franchise investors, Don and Jean Crawford, in 1960.
She graciously allowed me to scan & add to the historical cache. It is a high quality image I can reproduce in up to 11 x 17 size, in heavy weight paper suitable for framing if anyone is interested.
Keep in touch,
Steve Harmon
If you have any memorabilia, pictures or stories of Sandy's in Hutchinson, Kansas or elsewhere, please email me!
