McDonald's restaurants around town

When I was growing up we didn't have McDonald's restaurants on practically every street corner. There was only one in Surrey and none in Langley, so I really didn't grow up with the fast food joint.

Of course, we saw the McDonald's commercials on TV and wanted milkshakes, fries, and burgers. The closest McDonald's was in Whalley on the King George Highway and about 102nd Avenue. It still stands there today. Occasionally we'd get a meal from McDonald's, usually in Vancouver or some other town we were visiting. Maybe once at the Whalley McDonald's.

By the mid-70's a few more McDonald's had popped up around town. There was one at the Scottsdale Mall, Scott Road and 70th Avenue that I used to go to from time to time when visiting the mall. Back then I got a hamburger, large fries, and a large coke for one dollar.

That was around the time McDonald's was running the commercials about how you always get change for a dollar. Those days are long since past. Maybe change from a ten or twenty now depending on if you're eating alone or with someone else.

The first McDonald's in Langley opened around 1978, the one on the corner of the Fraser Highway and the Langley Bypass, so now we finally had a McDonald's that was somewhat closer to home. Though I think the one across the street from the Guildford Mall opened around the same time, perhaps a year or two earlier.

The McDonald's in Cloverdale opened around 1980 with a decidedly Western theme. Stools shaped like Western saddles adorned the counter tables. The Ronald McDonald statue wore a cowboy hat. Little things keeping with Cloverdale's country western town, and possibly a tribute to the Cloverdale Rodeo which was the second largest in Canada at the time.

I'm a vegetarian so I rarely go into McDonald's. I still like their fries and McFlurry's so I visit about 2 or 3 times a year for a snack. I was last in the Cloverdale McDonald's a little over a year ago and the stools shaped like Western saddles are gone, as is most of the other decor I remembered from after it opened.

But if you go through the drive-thru at McDonald's, you'll be on the east side of the wall at Stampede Tack and the mural is full of McDonald's characters in Western attire.

And why the sudden interest in McDonald's? Darned if my father didn't phone last night and is bringing his car into the mechanic around the corner on Wednesday morning and he wants to take us out to breakfast at McDonald's.

Hmm. I'm hoping I can persuade him to go to another fine dining establishment in town....