Focusing on the "DONALD'S HAMBURGER" sign: beginning is jagged with "Mc" missing, like it's been ripped off. In contrast the other end of that sign is perfectly straight. Near this end, directly to the right & below there seems to be a cartoon-like character (credit goes to Jonathan Buchanan who identified it after running the black & white image through colorization software).
This cartoon-like figure has oversized round hamburger head, wearing white chef hat, white shirt and dark-blue and white striped pants.... that's Speedee! Huh? WTF is Speedee???
McDonald's I'm speedee 15 cent coast to coast Sign11.75 Round Porcelain Heavy Metal Sign.Sign show scratches, nicks, chips, dents, scuffs, and rust, A great looking sign. View all pictures for cond
www.worthpoint.com
"Speedee was the first McDonald's mascot before Ronald McDonald was created and portrayed by Willard Scott. He was also the first company logo before the use of the Golden Arches design from 1962. Some older McDonald's stores still have a Speedee sign in front (as well as some re-built ones without updating the sign). Speedee was a man with a chef's hat on top of a hamburger shaped head. He was replaced by Ronald McDonald in 1967 and did not appear in any commercials."
Speedee was the first McDonald's mascot before Ronald McDonald was created and portrayed by Willard Scott. He was also the first company logo before the use of the Golden Arches design from 1962. Some older McDonald's stores still have a Speedee sign in front (as well as some re-built ones...
mcdonalds.fandom.com
In 1963-65, Willard Scott created and portrayed Ronald McDonald in TV ads for a local Washington DC area McDonald's franchise.
In 1967, Ronald McDonald replaced Speedee as McDonald's mascot
Willard Herman Scott, Jr. (March 7, 1934 - September 4, 2021) was an American media personality and author best known for his work on NBC's The Today Show and as the creator of the Ronald McDonald character, in Washington, D.C. area for TV commercials in 1963-65. Scott showed an early interest...
mcdonalds.fandom.com
Ronald McDonald is a clown who is the primary mascot of the McDonald's all-American restaurant chain for over 50 years. He is the "Chief Happiness Officer" of the company since 2003. In television commercials, the clown inhabits a fantasy world called McDonaldland, and has adventures with his...
mcdonalds.fandom.com
Original McDonald's first started in 1948. "In 1952, brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald decided they needed a new building to house their popular, efficient hamburger restaurant in San Bernardino, California." Architect Stanley Clark Meston and his assistant Charles Fish parabola at opposite side of restaurant "design which included two 25-foot yellow sheet-metal arches trimmed in neon, called "golden arches" even at the design stage. His design also included a third, smaller arch sign at the roadside with a pudgy character in a chef's hat, known as Speedee, striding across the top, trimmed in animated neon."
"The first franchised outlet bearing Meston's design opened in May 1953 in Phoenix, Arizona. Subsequent franchisees of the McDonald brothers were also required to use Meston's design, although Meston adapted the plans for each to the conditions and building codes of each site."
The Golden Arches are the symbol of McDonald's, the global fast-food restaurant chain. In 1952, brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald decided they needed a new building to house their popular, efficient hamburger restaurant in San Bernardino, California. They wanted this building to have an...
mcdonalds.fandom.com
en.wikipedia.org
The future fast‑food giant started out as anything but swift, serving up slow‑cooked barbecue. How did it become the behemoth it is today?
www.history.com
Ray Kroc's corporate McDonald's started in 1955 and brought out the McDonald's brothers in 1961.
McDonald’s is an American fast-food chain that is one of the world’s largest; it is known for its hamburgers, especially Big Macs. Other popular items include Egg McMuffins, Happy Meals, and Chicken McNuggets. Learn more about McDonald’s, including its history.
www.britannica.com
This 1963-67 Yonge-Finch McDonald's had the correct architectural design and even signage of the mascot for a McDonald's restaurant of that time period. If this is a copycat McDonald's, then someone spent a lot of effort to copy everything from a foreign restaurant chain that in mid-1960's basically nobody in Canada would have been familiar with since McDonald's were still starting out in USA and only had maybe 1-2 stores per larger American Cities.
I suspect this McDonald's was part of the first Canadian franchise-license,... but they messed-up and screwed corporate American McD, so they lost the contract-license; the Eastern & Western Canada license were rewarded to others around 1967. These (new and now current) licensee focused on Canadian supply chain and tried to be as independent from American corporate McD as possible - McDonald's Canada is only McDonald's with their own golden arches logo with "Canadian Maple Leaf".
Interestingly, we only have these Toronto archive photos of this Yonge-Finch McDonald's thanks to Metropolitan Toronto & TTC
- 1963 image of "Donald's Hamburgers" with dual golden arches and Speedee - because Metro Toronto/TTC was examining feasibility of extending Yonge Subway line to Finch & where to put subway stations entrances & bus terminal
- 1972 image of Wimpy's with chopped arches - Metro Toronto/TTC re-examining progress (images show cut-&-cover wooden cinder blocks covering Yonge Street) since Yonge subway extension was late - huh, Transit project in Toronto behind schedule? Unbelievable!!!
So it's really by pure dumb luck these photos are available in Toronto's archive,... question is, were there other McDonald's in Toronto before 1967 when Ray Kroc (McD's corporate builder) granted George Cohon McDonald's Eastern Canada license???
