The Original McDonald's in San Bernardino, California
Posted by Damon Gambuto, February 2, 2009 at 2:00 PM
During my recent road trip to Phoenix to visit my sis (and review a burger) I convinced my passengers to let me take a slight detour through San Bernardino, California, to check out the site of the original McDonald's. You know the one. It's where Ray Kroc, enthralled by the McDonald brothers' success, decided to leave his multimixer milkshake machine sales career behind and conquer the world with hamburgers.
Of course I wanted the place to still be serving up burgers (it's not), or—at the very least—be as shiny and meticulously kept as an actual restaurant (it's definitely not). Check out some photos after the jump.
Sadly and quite surprisingly, the McDonald's Museum—a Route 66 historic site—is a run-down mess of a place. The folks who maintain it are enthusiastic and—in an even stranger turn of events—owners of a restaurant chain called Juan Pollo. They sell rotisserie chicken. It was all very confusing.
@danielJ - Yes. It's the site of the original McDonald's restaurant that is now run as a museum. The "museum" interior looks like a messy collector's house.
Seems kind of fitting to me, McD's is just a monster corporation serving up subpar food, helping destroy our environment and clogging our arteries. The run down and confusing museum appears to be a fitting tribute, and that picture of the employees is priceless.
As far as I'm aware, the current McDonald's corporation has completely disowned anything having to do with the McDonalds Brothers. Once Ray Kroc bought the company, he had a falling out with the brothers. Therefore, McDonald's now has nothing to do with this San Bernardino museum. As far as they're concerned, the first McDonald's restaurant is in Iowa, not California.
Shoot. Does anyone know/remember what that Officer Big Mac playground toy did? It's in the first picture, left of center with the metal bars wrapping around it. I swore there was one in my local McDonald's but I don't think I even knew what it did when I was a child. Is it just to climb?
On topic, this shows you how far McDonald's has deviated from its original burger spot roots. At least they're not as detestable as they once were.
I live in Downey, just outside of Los Angeles and I've always been told that the oldest operating McDonalds is here. I'm a bit confused as to how the San Bernadino McDonalds is the first one' wouldn't that make it the oldest? Is my McDonalds a sham?
Ours has a crappy little museum, too. Homeless people sleep in it at night and teenagers use it for sex. It's pretty gross and stinky inside.
I used to live in San Bernardino and drove past this location on my way to Molly Cafe (located down near the courthouse). And YES this is the original and YES tragically it looks horrible but it is a little piece of americana and I still pride myself on its exsistence.
I grew up in Fontana and have great memories of "cruising E street" in my 57' vette with the Berdoo McD's as a turnaround point. Ahhh gas at 29 cents a gallon feedin that injected 283.
Raoul
@intel i was thinking that exact same thing -- i THINK you just climb up the ladder in there and then you're stuck in the burger part. and i'm pretty sure that was it. there definitely was one in my local mcdonalds growing up.
1948: McDonald brothers open circular drive-in restaurant at this location in San Bernardino, CA.
1952: Architect Stanley Meston designs iconic golden arched prototype building for McDonald's #2 in Phoenix, AZ. This design is replicated nationwide until a new prototype is introduced in 1968.
1953: McDonald's #3 opens in Downey, CA.
1954: McDonald brothers franchise additional stores in Pomona, Azusa and Alhambra. They franchise about a dozen stores before meeting Ray Kroc at the San Bernardino location.
1955: Ray Kroc buys a franchise, builds his first store in Des Plaines, IL.
1957: Original San Bernardino drive-in demolished and replaced with standardized prototype golden arched store.
1961: Ray Kroc buys out McDonald brothers for $2.7 million.
1976: Golden arched store in San Bernardino demolished. Current building constructed.
1984: Downey store added to National Register of Historic Places.
1984: Des Plaines store demolished and a replica built to house a McDonald's museum.
1996: Downey store restored and reopened as "World's Oldest McDonald's."
1998: Albert Okura buys the building as the HQ for Juan Pollo. Turns half the building into his personal museum of McDonald's memorabilia.
@Damon on a similar note there is an old McDonald's somewhere in east LA that is now a taco stand but the two separate golden arches remain. I will have to remember where it is exactly...
@intel There was a ladder up in the support tube, you climbed up into the burger and it was all smooth metal like a slide--but all you could to is pull yourself around in a circle. For some reason I thought it was a blast as a kid, but yeah...that's all it did.
My favorite was the Grimace 'cage' on springs. Fittingly ironice, when you think about it--being trapped inside this fat purple blob. As a child I liked to think that Grimace was the anthropomorphicaction of whatever they made the chicken nuggets out of.
Whoa, hold on a minute. I was led my whole life to believe that the original McDonald's was in Des Plaines, IL! It's not?! Then why is there a preserved old fashioned McDonalds there too? I'm confused.
Hillary: The McDonald's Corporation (founded 1955 by Ray Kroc) has always considered the location at 400 Lee St. in Des Plaines, IL to be the first store. However, there were about a dozen stores opened between 1948 and 1955 as shown above. They just predate Ray Kroc.
Nick Solares: You are probably thinking of the 1956 store at 1900 S. Central Ave. @ Washington. It's now called Tacos El Gavilan.
Those play ground ladders and cages were made for children with imaginations [ also the ad-mens brainchild of the '70's ] and the burgers in the '50's & '60's were cheap cooked on site on the flat-top and the potato's for the fries were cleaned sliced blanched and 2nd fried all on-site and actually tasted good for 15 cents a burger 12 cents for fries it wasn't a Bob's Big-Boy but all was relative wasn't it .
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16 Comments:
So I'm a little confused. It's the original McDonald's, but it's not a McDonald's anymore? Now it's the McDonald's Museum?
DanielJ at 2:09PM on 02/02/09
The penultimate photo here looks inspired by communist propaganda posters. Brilliant.
Adam Kuban at 2:16PM on 02/02/09
@danielJ - Yes. It's the site of the original McDonald's restaurant that is now run as a museum. The "museum" interior looks like a messy collector's house.
Damon Gambuto at 2:19PM on 02/02/09
Seems kind of fitting to me, McD's is just a monster corporation serving up subpar food, helping destroy our environment and clogging our arteries. The run down and confusing museum appears to be a fitting tribute, and that picture of the employees is priceless.
stewmeat at 3:08PM on 02/02/09
As far as I'm aware, the current McDonald's corporation has completely disowned anything having to do with the McDonalds Brothers. Once Ray Kroc bought the company, he had a falling out with the brothers. Therefore, McDonald's now has nothing to do with this San Bernardino museum. As far as they're concerned, the first McDonald's restaurant is in Iowa, not California.
Tally at 3:26PM on 02/02/09
Shoot. Does anyone know/remember what that Officer Big Mac playground toy did? It's in the first picture, left of center with the metal bars wrapping around it. I swore there was one in my local McDonald's but I don't think I even knew what it did when I was a child. Is it just to climb?
On topic, this shows you how far McDonald's has deviated from its original burger spot roots. At least they're not as detestable as they once were.
intel at 3:41PM on 02/02/09
I live in Downey, just outside of Los Angeles and I've always been told that the oldest operating McDonalds is here. I'm a bit confused as to how the San Bernadino McDonalds is the first one' wouldn't that make it the oldest? Is my McDonalds a sham?
Ours has a crappy little museum, too. Homeless people sleep in it at night and teenagers use it for sex. It's pretty gross and stinky inside.
PumpkinBear at 4:18PM on 02/02/09
I used to live in San Bernardino and drove past this location on my way to Molly Cafe (located down near the courthouse). And YES this is the original and YES tragically it looks horrible but it is a little piece of americana and I still pride myself on its exsistence.
Lvn4life at 4:24PM on 02/02/09
I grew up in Fontana and have great memories of "cruising E street" in my 57' vette with the Berdoo McD's as a turnaround point. Ahhh gas at 29 cents a gallon feedin that injected 283.
Raoul
Raoul Duke at 5:07PM on 02/02/09
@intel i was thinking that exact same thing -- i THINK you just climb up the ladder in there and then you're stuck in the burger part. and i'm pretty sure that was it. there definitely was one in my local mcdonalds growing up.
megannesta at 5:22PM on 02/02/09
1948: McDonald brothers open circular drive-in restaurant at this location in San Bernardino, CA.
1952: Architect Stanley Meston designs iconic golden arched prototype building for McDonald's #2 in Phoenix, AZ. This design is replicated nationwide until a new prototype is introduced in 1968.
1953: McDonald's #3 opens in Downey, CA.
1954: McDonald brothers franchise additional stores in Pomona, Azusa and Alhambra. They franchise about a dozen stores before meeting Ray Kroc at the San Bernardino location.
1955: Ray Kroc buys a franchise, builds his first store in Des Plaines, IL.
1957: Original San Bernardino drive-in demolished and replaced with standardized prototype golden arched store.
1961: Ray Kroc buys out McDonald brothers for $2.7 million.
1976: Golden arched store in San Bernardino demolished. Current building constructed.
1984: Downey store added to National Register of Historic Places.
1984: Des Plaines store demolished and a replica built to house a McDonald's museum.
1996: Downey store restored and reopened as "World's Oldest McDonald's."
1998: Albert Okura buys the building as the HQ for Juan Pollo. Turns half the building into his personal museum of McDonald's memorabilia.
Nixols at 5:23PM on 02/02/09
@Damon on a similar note there is an old McDonald's somewhere in east LA that is now a taco stand but the two separate golden arches remain. I will have to remember where it is exactly...
Nick Solares at 3:16AM on 02/03/09
@intel There was a ladder up in the support tube, you climbed up into the burger and it was all smooth metal like a slide--but all you could to is pull yourself around in a circle. For some reason I thought it was a blast as a kid, but yeah...that's all it did.
My favorite was the Grimace 'cage' on springs. Fittingly ironice, when you think about it--being trapped inside this fat purple blob. As a child I liked to think that Grimace was the anthropomorphicaction of whatever they made the chicken nuggets out of.
Hercules Rockefeller at 12:05PM on 02/03/09
Whoa, hold on a minute. I was led my whole life to believe that the original McDonald's was in Des Plaines, IL! It's not?! Then why is there a preserved old fashioned McDonalds there too? I'm confused.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 12:15PM on 02/03/09
Hillary: The McDonald's Corporation (founded 1955 by Ray Kroc) has always considered the location at 400 Lee St. in Des Plaines, IL to be the first store. However, there were about a dozen stores opened between 1948 and 1955 as shown above. They just predate Ray Kroc.
Nick Solares: You are probably thinking of the 1956 store at 1900 S. Central Ave. @ Washington. It's now called Tacos El Gavilan.
Nixols at 4:20PM on 02/03/09
Those play ground ladders and cages were made for children with imaginations [ also the ad-mens brainchild of the '70's ] and the burgers in the '50's & '60's were cheap cooked on site on the flat-top and the potato's for the fries were cleaned sliced blanched and 2nd fried all on-site and actually tasted good for 15 cents a burger 12 cents for fries it wasn't a Bob's Big-Boy but all was relative wasn't it .
shipwreck at 6:15PM on 02/09/09