McDonald's Memories

The 1970's were the golden age of fast food, and the toys of the era reflect that.  From Pizza Hut playsets and ovens to Pepsi fountains to Kentucky Fried Chicken playsets.

But the fast food king is, and has always been, McDonald's.  As a child, we went so infrequently, to me, it was a magical experience when we did.  One Christmas in the early '70's, my cousin received a Playskool McDonald's playset. I was so envious.  I recently came across some home movie footage of my aunt handing it to my cousin.

Then years later, I found one at an estate sale.  It was still magical.

I love the era-correct uniforms on the little cooks and cashier.

It came with the famous "Billions Served" sign, a merry-go-round and cars.  My set was missing the base for the sign which included a picnic table.

I'll take a burger, fry and a chocolate shake. Oh, and a fried cherry pie.
 

Of course there's a shrine to the man, er, clown himself, Ronald.

I like that they included Rest Rooms.  Unfortunately, it looks like you'll have to relieve yourself against the wall.

I don't recall outside tray returns, but they may have had them when there was outside dining.

As I said, it did include a merry-go-round to emulate the then outside playground McDonald's had before they went to the inside hampster tubes.  It would have been cool if they had included replicas of the actual McDonald's playgrounds of that era.

McDonald's didn't get a drive-thru until 1975, so this playset pre-dates that.  These cars were strictly for pretending to drive to and from the restaurant.

There was a brief period in my teenage years when I had my first job and first car that I ate at McDonald's fairly regularly.  That dropped off significantly in later years and I only find myself there a couple times a year when we're on the road.