Sandy's in Lawrence, Kansas was yet another classic location in Kansas. Purchased by Duane Buck from the five original owners, the location remains a fast food restaurant to this day in 2005 continuing the tradition of fine food service started over four decades ago!
Instead of flipping to Hardees in 1973 with 90% of the other franchisee's, Duane Buck turned his Sandy's into Bucky's which retained the same high quality standards throughout its existance. Mr. Buck was managing a Sandy's in Illinois for the five owners and agreed to manage the Lawrence location for a year. He and his family liked Lawrence so well that he bought out the owners one by one until 1975 when he took sole possesion of the restaurant and changed it to Bucky's.
Sandy's building plans included being by a downtown, a residential section and a school and Lawrence was no exception. Sandy's in Lawrence was the hot place to go after a Kansas University basketball game and it was nearly impossible to find a parking spot.
Mr. Buck retired in 2004 and the location continues the tradition as Bucky's today as of March 2005. He was known as an excellent owner to work for. If you have any pictures or memories of Sandy's in Lawrence, please email me! The following is a small picture of a picture of Sandy's in Lawrence before the original sign was torn down and the original building was expanded and enclosed as it is today. This picture is believed to have been located in Bucky's before 2004. If you have access to this picture and can email a copy for placement on this Lawrence Sandy's page, please do!
Bucky's is unique in that it is one of the few locations which kept Sandy's going if not in name then by tradition and quality, Pat Buck explains; From Lawrence, Ks. Was scanning through Sandy's web pages & read where Muscatine, Iowa is most likely to be the last Sandy's. When Hardy's bought out Sandys each owner had choice of changing to Hardy's or changing name/franchise. Lawrence changed name to Bucky's. Which is still opened. So being the last Sandy's opened depends upon which franchise the writer is refering to.
Sincerely,
Pat Buck
Perhaps Bucky's is the last Sandy's! If you know any other Sandy's location which operates to this day in the tradition of Sandy's, email me!
Josh Garber of the Channel 6 News in Lawrence reported an excellent story of Bucky's and Mr. Buck's retirement. The following address will take you away from this website and to the actual film of the story which appeared on the local Channel 6 news.
http://www.6newslawrence.com/stories/2004/mar/12/buckys/
This picture is a freeze frame from the news clip and shows the interior of Bucky's. You can clearly see two of the original Sandy's beams which hold up the fins on the roof. The fins have been boxed in by facade. You can see the outline of the fins by following the angles of the interior roof in the picture! Bucky's is an original Sandy's building still standing! If you are in Lawrence and can take pictures of these beams inside of the building as well as interior and exterior pictures of the building, please do and email them to me for placement on this Lawrence Sandy's page!
D. Murphy remembers Sandy's in Lawrence. There was a Sandy's in Lawrence, Kansas in the early 1960's! We remember that when we ate out when my husband was going to school at KU, we ate at Sandy's. Hamburgers were like 15 cents and fries were 10 cents. That was a lot of money to us in 1962-63, but that was a treat for us. We were recently back to Lawrence and can remember the exact location and drove by. A building is still there(I don't know if it's the same one)----brought back neat memories.
D. Murphy Kearney, Nebraska
11/06/05 Special thanks to Chuck Kerls who just visited Bucky's and took some exciting stellar pictures of the location both inside and out! Notice the green interior beams. They are actually the beautiful hardwood original Sandy's beams with a coat of paint over them. These beams are holding up the original roof fins which are shown angling upward!
Here is a follow up on the old Sandy's location at 2120 W. 9th in Lawrence Kansas. I stopped by there today and shot a few photos of the building as well as the outdoor sign. I had not read the items on Lawrence till I got home tonight, but when my wife and I went into Bucky's I knew that it was a Sandy's right away. I asked the young lady behind the counter if this had ever been a Hardees, she replied no it was a Sandy's. She was not old enough to remember Sandy's.
The building still looks good and some of the old wood is still in the building up high. It is really hard to tell when the changes to the Sandy's buiding were done but it is obvious that it has been quite some time ago.
Chuck Kerls
Check out the original hardwood beams which are holding up the trademark Sandy's roof fins, now covered with facade!
The beams are now painted green to go along with the Bucky's theme color, however, just underneath is gorgeous wood! See examples of these beams in their original form on the Sheridan Road, Peoria page as well as the Rockingham Road, Davenport, Iowa page! The beams alone betray Bucky's as AN ORIGINAL SANDY'S BUILDING!
The Bucky's sign is too close to call as far as if it is an original Sandy's sign. The classic first generation sign which Sandy's in Lawrence had is long gone. This may be a third generation Sandy's sign.
Chuck's pictures reveal a subtle clue as to the past of Buckys.. right in the front window! Its the Pepsi Hour! Sandy's would play one distributor versus another to get a better cost or service at their locations. Pepsi hour was from 3 to 4 pm to bring kids in after school. Once they are hooked, they are trained to start craving a cheap Coke or Pepsi when it is near time to end school.
You can see a shot of the Coke hour sign from the 1960's on the Davenport, Iowa Harrison Street page!
If you have any memorabilia, pictures or stories of Sandy's in Lawrence, Kansas or elsewhere, please email me!