Jim Keith was a familiar face in all of the St. Louis/bi-state area comedy clubs and also spent over thirty years in public and private law enforcement. Today he is actively involved in film making and acting and his work has appeared on the SCI FI Channel! He also worked at Sandy's Rock Hill/Warson Woods location in 1959/60!
Please visit his website soon at http://www.comedy.com/thedad
Big thanks to Jim as he made a special trip to take a picture of what the Sandy's location looks like today in 2005 and also researched Sandy's to determine location and possible picture leads.
I actually worked for Steak N Shake down the street, as a curb boy, making one dollar a night plus tips. I worked from about 4 pm until 1 am and usually made about 50 dollars a week in tips, however, working outside in the dead of winter really got to me after awhile.
One of the Sandy's guys came to Steak n Shake and mentioned that they might be hiring some new help.....INSIDE....HOURLY WAGE....sounded GREAT to me!
Something which I remember while working at Sandy's was going outside to shovel the snow on the parking lot and taking a smoke at the same time. It was always so warm inside. We also had to keep track of what items we ate and had to use a little check off sheet if I remember correctly. We did make malts as well as shakes! I believe my salary was about 70 cents per hour at that time.
I do think that the actual location was just inside Warson Woods, Missouri city limits. I am not one hundred percent sure but I do believe that the building is still standing but is a dry cleaners now.
- Jim Keith
Jim was so nice as to drive to the location where he used to work and take a picture of what Sandy's looks like today!
.... Went by the old Sandy's....shot the attached pictures....it seems that the building has some new attachments......but the ORIGINAL Section is still there!
I also checked the County Directory and found ONLY one listing for Sandy's from 1950 thru 1968.
Incredibly, Jim has discovered a second Sandy's St. Louis address in the phone directory. 9901 Manchester Road in Warson Woods is listed at the top of the directory listing in addition to the Rock Hill location! Jim explains, the Sandy's Thrift and Swift is the same as Sandy's in the listing. I noticed the address difference 9901 and the 98 are pretty much the same building according to a Rock Hill Police Officer. The building itself is actually in two different cities, Rock Hill and Glendale! Its hard to imagine but apparently the city limits crosses diagonally through the parking lot catching part of the building!
I have also determined that St. Louis Sandy's was officially in ROCK HILL, the GLENDALE, MO limit sign 50 ft or so away from Sandy's and the WARSON WOODS City limit sign less than 100 yrds west of GLENDALE sign.
Perhaps they were scampering to get all the tax bases they could get?! I just didn't realize that GLENDALE had that tiny section of Manchester Road.
Jim Keith has just obtained legend status on this site. He has provided an ARIAL VIEW OF THE ORIGINAL SANDY'S BUILDING. Jim said The WHITE OUTCROPPED is a cell phone business and it is NEW. The Larger flat area is totally open inside and its a dry cleaning business and quite large. When I look at it....it is much larger than what I remembered the old Sandy's to be. The right front corner on the roof, darkened in the photo is above the area that was the original Sandys.
"Image courtesy of the USGS".
What it appears to me to be the original building, L/R corner, was added onto on the left and going back.....and then later the cell phone offices were added.
Special thanks again to Jim as he has scanned in copies of the phone directory in which Sandy's St. Louis appears. The problems regarding the Sandy's property lying in two cities is clearly shown as the directory sways back and forth trying to decide which of the two or both addresses to include in the listing! 1961
1962
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1973
1974 As mentioned previously, Jim is a renown St. Louis actor, comedian and also has spent over thirty years in public and private law enforcement. Here is a copy of a article from February 2005 in the Jefferson County Life! Big thanks to Sandy's fan Jim Keith and even bigger thanks to him for working with the area's troubled youth!
Jim is not the only one who remembers Sandy's in Warson Woods. Erica Wallace has great memories of it as well!
In the early 1970's, my mother, sister, and I lived in Brentwood, MO. . We often did our grocery shopping at a supermarket, National's, IIRC, next to the Sandy's on Manchester Rd in Warson Woods. Sometimes we'd go to Sandy's for supper before doing the grocery shopping. My mom figured it was cheaper to eat fast food than to go to the grocery store on an empty stomach!
I honestly can't remember the food, but I do remember liking it, and being very disappointed when they closed.
Thank you for the website!
Erica Wallace
Patti Liermann also remembers Warson Woods Sandy's! It was a great place to go after checking out the toys and fun stuff at the Ben Franklin dime store!
Growing up in Warson Woods in the 60's I definitely remember Sandy's... occasionally going there after riding my bike to the nearby Ben Franklins!
I had forgotten about Sandy's until I was google-ing "Warson Woods" and came across it. Living in California now I am nostalgic for the more civil Midwest. I remember the sign at Sandy's the most with the girl w/ plaid skirt & muffler-type thing around her neck, with one had on her black beret hat and doing what now I guess would be the Riverdance :-)
Patti Liermann
Warson resident from 1959-1997
Jan Baumgartner remembers how fantastic Sandy's was and she has quite a Sandy's "to go" story as well!
I loved Sandy's hamburgers!......The only memory I have is that every Friday night, our family would get to have Sandy's Hamburgers! Their burgers and shakes were the BEST!
The one memory I will never forget was the night....I went with Mom to pick up our dinner, at the Rock Hill Sandy's. We went in a Plymouth Station wagon we had, (I don't know what year it was). This particular style of car, had buttons in the dashboard as the gears. We got our hamburgers and were getting ready to leave, Mom pushed the button to put it in reverse, and the buttons went into the dashboard!............we always joked about the night the car ate its buttons!
Jan Baumgartner
If you have any memorabilia, pictures or stories of Sandy's in St. Louis or elsewhere, please email me!
