04/16/2010 ... Sandy's fan Sarah Dickey - Starling sums up the Salina Sandy's experience and provides two of the greatest Sandy's pictures!!!!
I have been scanning pictures for a web site on facebook You Know You Grew Up in Salina Kansas If.... I have found several different pictures from Salina High School of Sandy's that was here in Salina.
Everyone that grew up in Salina knew where Sandy's was, it was at the south end of Santa Fe mostly known or referred to as just Fe. It was one of the main hangouts we had, where you could go even if you were broke, didn't cost anything to just sit. Nights were spent sitting there on cars or just driving through as it was the main turn around when Cruisin or Draggin Fe or whatever the terminology was during your time here.
My sister Marva graduated in 1963 her classmates all Cruised Fe and all though I don't remember her driving her own car she was usually riding in one of her friends cars or with a guy she was dating.
My older brother David was next inline and he to Drug Fe. I know he may not have had some of the more well known cool cars, but he had some pretty nice ones over the years he drug Fe in. I remember a White 57 Chevy that had a motor they took out of a car my Dad used to race at the race track north east of Salina. It could run pretty darn fast! I know he had a nice looking 1968 Yellow Chevy Corvette too. He was usually up on Santa Fe Draggin it and hangin out with the crowd at Sandy's on most every Friday and Saturday nights around 1965 to maybe 1969 or so.
My brother Steven wasn't to far behind him, usually where one was, so was the other. They had a lot of friends in common and they had a few friends of their own. If they weren't Draggin Fe or Hangin at Sandy's then they were somewhere working on one of their cars as they were always doing something to one of them, new tires or rims, new pipes or working on building up the engine. Or they were helping one of their friends get one of their cars running. I remember my brother Steven having a cool Black Dodge Charger and he did something a lot of Big brothers would never even consider. He felt sorry for me sometimes not being old enough to have a car yet and let me ride along with him for a hour or so as he scoped Fe out to see who all was out. I remember getting to ride in some of his friends cars with him too, like riding in Dwight Truler's Red 57 Chevy Station Wagon. I think it sat up kinda high as I remember having to step up to get into it and I was pretty tall. But we always ended up at Sandy's no matter where you started out for.
Steven's friends graduated in 1969 and 70 and then it was my turn. I got my first wheels before I even got my driver's license, a Candy Apple Green Honda SL100. I was ready when I turned 16 in the middle of Summer. It was hard watching the Summer go by and not being able to drive yet but I remember the day I got my license hitting the streets with my best friend on the back, filling the tank for a whole fifty cents and we headed straight for Fe. Of course we felt like we were the cool ones, girls on a motorcycle, but now we weren't with our parents and weren't with our brothers and we could Drag Fe and pull in and out of Sandy's like all the kids before us had.
That was a fun Summer and a fun time, but when Winter started setting in I found out how unfun a motorcycle can be Draggin Fe. Halfway into my Senior year my oldest brother David came across a great deal while working for Jim Sullivan's Auto body shop. Someone had brought in a 1962 Chevy Impala SS to be painted. He got the job of painting it, it's original color a bright Fire Engine Red. It had red leather bucket seats, radio with a 8 track player, chrome Krager rims, new tires and the back end was up but just barely enough to make it look cool. The engine was nothing big or really special but it looked "Cherry" as they used to say and it was for sale. The guy only wanted $350 for it and I needed a Car. Finally I had something to Drag Fe in and stay warm, so I was back in business and off to Sandy's.
Those were the good times, a time when life was simpler, when having a car and friends were all that really mattered.
Sarah Dickey - Starling
Class of 1971 Salina High Central
Sandy's fan Sarah Dickey - Starling provides more incredible Sandy's scans from the Salina Yearbook!!!!!!!
04/16/2010 ... From the You Know You Grew Up In Salina, Kansas If... This picture is from 1962 and was in our 1962 yearbook. I was the sports editor that year and as I recall, the entire Trail staff all went to Sandy's to celebrate something. That's yours truly (Roger Weis) in the middle of the picture in the light colored jacket. I think this may have been shortly after Sandy's opened.
UPDATE 02/22/06 Collin Francis wrote; I purchased a 1966 Salina High School yearbook off ebay and just got it.....(I never went to school there but had scads of friends and was curious).......when it came, this Salina Sandy's picture jumped right out of the book into my lap!..............I bet you enjoy it!..............Collin Special thanks to legendary Sandy's fan Collin Francis for this which may just be the greatest black and white picture of Sandy's known to exist! Three cheers for the high school yearbook staff member who took it, four cheers for Collin who found it!
Salina, Kansas Sandy's was another incredible walk-up Sandy's which not only met the needs of Salina but also provided great memories to the Sacred Heart High School and Salina High School students. Special thanks to Collin Francis, an alumni of Sacred Heart High School who provided this picture out of the Sacred Heart High School's yearbook. One can just imagine walking up and joining the people standing in line for Sandy's incredible french fries, a hi-lo double decker burger and a triple-thick shake! Collin captured the general feel of after hours at Salina Sandy's. To read his account please go to http://www.shhs1966.com/sandysgang.htm this will take you off of this site so please remember to bookmark this page or hit your back button when done. If you scroll down past the picture of Sandy's on this page, you can read his account as well. Collin also wrote... it was located in the south part of town on main street, two blocks from the college. At the time two of the three Salina high schools existed and the kids from both schools frequented Sandy's. We have several stories about Sandy's on our web page. We were called Sandy's bums as we stayed up all night there until 5 a.m. in the summer. It was the greatest place and the best of times....I lived one block from there. If you have any memories to share of this Sandy's or any other pictures which you may be able to find in any of the Salina High School's yearbooks (check from around 1963 thru 1973), please let me know!click here to email me with Salina Sandy's information and/or pictures!
I was a Sandy's bum as my mom used to call us..........After work or after a date I would hurry to get there , to get a good parking stall to back my car into and to not miss any of the conversation. There were some real nice guys there like Bob Saltzman, Steve Rivir, Steve Thorpe and Ted Ludes.. Very rarely was there ever any girls..........We always hoped for some but rarely saw any.........In 1965 and 1966 it looked like straight out of American Graffiti even before the movie came out....We might be sitting on the fenders of our cars, listening to the Beach Boys and speaking to kids who drove by. We were so cool, We really were..
All the parents of the Catholic boys just knew it was a cesspool of hoodlums after midnight at Sandy's...Actually there were some hoodlums from time to time but generally we just sat around and smoked cigarettes, maybe had an occasional quart of beer Falstaff as it was the cheapest...It was there that most of us learned to blow smoke rings.. Only the coolest could do that....We had lots of intellectual conversations about Viet Nam, Catholic school , girls, and anything else we wanted to discuss in detail...It was, after my weekly date, the weekly highlight.
I only ever got into one fight there and that was with Lynn Buhler and it was before Midnight...I saw several fights there but most of them were with Dean Endsley and Duane Gust. Dean would always kick his tail at every opportunity..... I spent many a night there watching the sun come up.........It was so much fun.... Almost every night we made it to Sandy's we went to the Bee Cafe to eat breakfast, unless we were broke then we went to Fred Biekers dads 5th Street Cafe...It was Free there..
Some nights there would be 20 or 30 people there, and of course Dan Carlins family pet "Socrates" the family mutt........We all got to know each other .. There were some very strong friendships made there...Some that have lasted this long.............I was there the night the kid got killed there in a fight.. Boy my Mom was deathly against me going there for a while so we all went to the old Sears store and sat.. It was not the same without the rest of the gang so soon we returned....
Every so often just for something different we might take a lap down Santa Fe and hurry back to Sandy's hoping some one new had shown up that night.. Sometimes Jerry Ryan would show up in the Hearse. That was very cool.. I never even heard the word marijuana at anytime while sitting in Sandy's from Midnight till 6 A.M. for any of those many many nights. There certainly never was any use of it to our knowledge, but definitely there was never any use by any our classmates, This I swear!!!
It was the cheapest place to go if you were broke....Burgers were 19 cents, fries 10 or 15 cents, cokes 10 cents.......If you had a couple dollars you could put 1 dollars worth of gas in , buy a pack of smokes, and have enough to eat something later in the night and never move your car. It was not a place to take your girlfriend to, and no one ever did. I could only afford one date per weekend, and that was plenty, since I had Sandy's to fall back on.......
We even developed friendships which I still have today with the local cops. The ones we knew then are retired now but now closer than ever.. One of them even worked for me for a couple years...
The usual gang of Sacred Heart Kids was Carlin, Bieker, Me, Larry Martin, Mike Moylan, Bill Vering, Dan Breault, Jerry Ryan and once in a while Steve Gans. Mrs. Gans would drive through once in while if Steve was late. He was so embarrassed. We actually thought it was pretty cool. We bridged the gap with the Salina High Boys like Saltzman, Rivir, Ludes, Webster, They just fit right in and were welcomed to do just that.
Would I allow my kids to do the same thing, sit in Sandy's all night. No way.... If you were one minute late in my house you may be grounded for a month, and have no phone calls, no visitors, etc. It was not a pretty site and it happened only a few times, but my kids were quick learners...I once grounded my oldest daughter for the entire summer ( she reminded me of me) on the first day of her summer vacation. That was way too severe but I never caved in after the punishment was set. Never.. She was mad at me for years but she knew the rules and then so did her sisters.
Sandy's was one of my favorite things and I would not change any events that ever happened there and I am so happy for the time I was allowed to spend there. It may have not been time well spent but it was time spent well....
Collin Francis
One of the original goals of this website was to find a Sandy's building still in existance. Since the vast majority of Sandy's were changed into Hardees between 1972 through 1973 and were subsequently torn down and replaced along the way, it was unknown to many if an original building still existed. Salina's Sandy's was turned into Hardees but at some point it did not continue. Hardees never upgraded the building and when it went out of business, this incredible building was preserved now into its fourth decade.
Collin Francis has now obtained legend status. He has presented the first pictures of an existing Sandy's building. For those who remember the buildings and for those who have seen the pictures, the sight of the pictures brings changing thoughts to mind. One first is amazed to see a Sandy's for the first time in years. Then the reality of the once vibrant bright building now turned into a somber brown color really makes you sad. However, it is fantastic to once again see a Sandy's and you can see where the building could once again be back to original form after restoration. One thing to point out is that Sandy's started as a walk up drive-in. Doors were added along with a walk-in order area along the way. As the business grew, more expansion took place. Sandy's classic trademark roof fins began to disappear as the building itself grew outward. When you look at the pictures, look at the roof-line. The parts of the roof that jut out on the left and the right are the original fins that helped make Sandy's famous. Finally, more seating was added which made Sandy's a sit-down restaurant. You can see the exact same metamorphis with McDonald's and the other restaurants of the 1950's and 60's.
If you were to take Salina's Sandy's building and scale back the exterior walls, you would be able to re-create the original walk up drive-in. With the expansion to sit down dining, the building unfortunately lost some of its charm. Sandy's was heading in the right direction in 1972 when they re-designed the buildings (see the franchisee information section on the home page for a concept picture).
Again, huge special thanks to Collin for these pictures. Incredible.
Salina Kansas Sandy's today compared to Davenport, Iowa Harrison Street Sandy's late 1960s.
7/30/04 Sedonaks48 wrote a reply to Collin's classic recollections -
Hi, loved your page about Salina Sandy's. Just a few minor corrections need to be made so that it will be accurate. Collin was from Sacred Heart High School, not Salina High. (Corrected!)
At that time, when Sandy's was there, there were only 2 highschools. I've got some photos of Sandy's in color with girls there. Collin just forgot about the girls that came by, we rarely stopped but just cruised through. We we looking for older more mature men (HA HA).
I'll try to find my photos and send them all on to you. Thanks for the memories!
UPDATE 6/13/05!!!! Liz wrote.... In response to Collin Francis's report that "Very rarely was there ever any girls" at Sandy's, I'm writing to say Oh yes there were! Maybe he was too busy thinking about his girlfriend to notice the rest of us ;o) We may not have "hung out" as late as the boys, but we were there. Sandy's was our place to meet, eat and turn around while dragging Santa Fe. I met my first real boy friend and eventual finace' at Sandy's. The first meal he ever bought me was at Sandy's in 1965. We used to park our cars in Sandy's looking for guys (yeah, I admit it) and for seeing who all was there on any given day or evening. He's right about a couple of bucks being all you needed to have a good time. If you had as we usually did, more than two people in the car even less was needed. We all pitched in our money for gas at the "filling station" across the street and food or drinks at Sandy's. There's a lot of good memories there, makes you wish that Sandy's was still serving Hamburgers and Fries. Our ghosts will surely haunt the place after we are gone ;o)
Liz Pahls-O'Byrne SHHS grad 1966
Wichita, KS
Sandy's Salina building popped up on geocaching.com website. Member saso792 wrote on July 2nd, 2003 the following; An old timer, who happens to work for the Salina Police Department here in Salina, Kansas supplied the history on this building. Originally it was built as a Sandy's Restaurant and then Hardee's Restaurant bought it and used it as the first Hardee's here in Salina. After that it was used as Terrible Terry's Takeaway Restaurant and is now used as a Human Resource Center for handi-capped people.
Here is the picture which saso792 provided.
UPDATE 12/31/05 ... Sandy's Superfan Terry provides pictures of Salina, Kansas Sandy's new makeover!
El Sandy-O ?
07/28/2009 ... UPDATE! Sandy's fan Troy Smith presents pictures from the newly named Sandy's Salina location;
12/27/2009 ... Sandy's fan Jacquelyn Jones wrote;
“Look for the wee Scottish Lass on the sign and then drive right in to Sandy’s … you’ll get your fill and be satisfied you will …. The food‘s so delicious at Sandy’s”
Of course this was sung with a Scottish accent.
(I can still remember the day my dad, a depression baby, who traveled on the road and ate out M-F …. Came home and told my mom we’re “going out to eat” wow, what a shock, and then he took us to Sandy’s.
We had 10 cent hamburgers, 10 cent fries and a splurge 25 cent choc. shakes … $1.35 fed a family of three. That was 1964 … the day I turned 16 in 1965, my best friend and I had to “drive-thru” Sandy’s on our way to school at Salina High School … (Salina, Ks) There’s no better memory than a fond old memory!
02/16/2010 ... Sandy's fan and alumni Bryan Appleby wrote;
Hi, what about the Sandy’s on S Santa Fe in Salina Kansas? I worked there from the summer of 72 to the Spring of 1973.
- Bryan
06/20/2010 ... Sandy's fan Ron remembers Salina Sandy's ...
I remember Sandy’s although I hung out more at GiGi’s downtown (owned my Mr. Draper) and the Lamplighter on weekends shooting pool for money. I was at KWU from 65 to 68 and had the white fastback Mustang which was always getting tickets. I was the baseball pitcher and went to all-conference with coach Cochrane. I dated one or two girls from Salina High but mostly stuck to chicks from Shilling AFB, and worked part-time for a free apartment for the Rush-Smith Funeral home… which I understand is now some sort of youth center. Man, there are stories I could tell about that place! I always liked Salina and was there recently to get an award from KWU for the baseball thing, and really liked driving down Santa Fe toward the school. That street with all those Victorian style homes almost looks like it could be in a Coca-Cola commercial.
08/31/2011 ... Great site! I fondly remember the Salina Kansas Sandy's (second only to Cozy Inn burgers), along with KLSI (Klassy) radio blasting the great hits of the 60s!
We need to talk the Salina historic society into declaring it as historic building and knocking off all that god-ugly cheap plywood facade added over the years, under which we might find the original classic Sandy's architecture!
Jim Pettey
