TOD
I distinctly recall my first McDonald's experience. My dad and mom had heard about the first one opening near us when we were still living in Whitehall on the east side of Columbus, ca 1959. It was a big deal with the big golden arches and all, and a novelty in that the menu only included several things, so they had what seemed like piles of everything hot and ready and that new concept of "fast food" was exciting. I still have this vision of my dad taking us to pick up our first load of hamburgers and fries, which I'm pretty sure we took home to eat (our house was only a few minutes away). There were no quarter-pounders or even double burgers then, just the single hamburgers and cheeseburgers. And oh, those fries. First time we'd ever had anything like "shoestring" fries, and those especially were to die for.
We moved to Florida the following year and I know we went to McDonald's occasionally, but in those years we went to a lot of other fast food places as well, so it wasn't our main thing. And there weren't that many locations everywhere like in subsequent years. My next solid memory is when I was in school at Cleveland and my part-time job one year was driving a cab, a job I really enjoyed for the most part. I have this memory of pulling the cab into a McDonald's on the west side of town (I don't recall them being around University Circle on the east side then) for a food break and having my first DOUBLE cheeseburger and of course those wonderful fries. It was still special then, and the most satisfying thing ever.
From there, living in L.A. and beyond, it became more of a frequent thing -- but, while usually very tasty, somewhat less of a special thing than it had been in those earlier years. But it still always managed to be a fast, easy "treat" somehow, as long as I didn't overdo it by having it too often. Which, trust me, I did sometimes. That's still a danger because, for one thing, certain of their items are great "car food", being easy to handle and eat while driving. (I know, I know...)
