What does this building in an old photograph of Toronto look like?

Well hold on, first of all let’s see that view today. I believe this is it:

You might think that this area has been fully urbanized, but not quite. We’re in the middle of the urban corridor in this image:

But anyway—yes, that old building looks like a classic McDonalds. Cool!

But also, not quite.

Here it is in what I believe is the chronological order:

And then the Dairy Bar photo at the top:

In the first image, which is from 1963, you can see the restaurant is called “Donald’s Hamburgers.” To the right of the name it has the company’s original mascot/logo if you closely: a little chef figure named Speedee. And it has more or less the same design as a McDonald’s of that era. It had the full arches, too.

The front and sign area look a little different, however; compare the front and sign placement to an official McDonald’s image of one such building, screenshotted from their Canadian division’s “about us” page:

The sign is usually under the little overhang. But this Toronto location had what looks like a metal, not neon sign, at the very top of the building near where the arches come out of the roof. It also lacks the classic freestanding sign.

Folks on Twitter and in this interesting Toronto-focused forum thread are divided over how this building began life. Some think it was an unlicensed copycat McDonald’s which was later forced to cease and desist, leading to the janky “Donald’s” sign and, possibly, the semi-removal of the arches (they were removed in 1967, though). Plus, the first Canadian McDonald’s opened in 1967, four years before this location.

Others, however, think it was a test store, or an official but abortive foray into Canada that the company wiped out of the official history. Given that McDonald’s may not have been well known enough in Ontario in 1963 to meticulously pirate it, this also makes sense.

Check out the forum conversation for more details. But even so, it’s an arch-shaped mystery.

Related Reading:

Raising the Roof

Turkey Hill Hunting

At Least the Pizza’s Clean

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