McDonald’s

Mishawaka, Indiana.

It was the 1950’s, when Neon, Milk Shakes and cool cars came on the scene.  In the midst of it all, we had heard of a new restaurant that had burgers, fries and shakes.  You couldn’t go inside to eat and they didn’t have car hops that brought it out to your car.  The way it worked was, you walked up to the window on the outside of the building and ordered your food, they prepared it, put it in a bag and you either sat in your car or took it home to eat. They called it “Fast Food”. The even had a sign that told you how many hamburgers they had sold nationwide.

These places started in Chicago and were popping up in other states.  In January of 1959, the first local McDonald’s opened just one block from the dividing line between South Bend and Mishawaka, Indiana, on Lincolnway West on the Mishawaka side.

As I was traveling and painting for Art Shows, the pubic was excited about my diner and restaurant pictures. Since I did several shows in this area, and was raised in South Bend, I decided to include McDonald’s, as it would have looked, when it first opened here.

While on the road in in Louisville Kentucky, at St. James Court, one of the top shows in the country, we were approached by a family, whos’ father had just retired and sold his collection of a large number of McDonald’s restaurants he had built up, during his restaurant years.  The children wanted to pool their money and buy him the painting as a retirement gift.

The McDonald’s painting was my first experience with Classic Cars and Neon, which became a popular theme in later paintings.