OP
OP
Scene: A lone restaurant in San Bernadino, California. A lone man stands looking at it. Camera zooms in. A single tear falls down his cheek.
A month and a half back I was driving through San Bernadino on the way back from a camping trip, and I was looking up things to see out there. And that's when I realized... McDonald's original restaurant was there. Upon a single google search I found out that the site of the original McDonald's (though not the building, which has been torn down) is now a museum dedicated to McDonald's. It's run by a man named Albert Okura, who also owns a chain of chicken restaurants named Juan Pollo. He's made it a bit of a goal to preserve the legacy of Route 66, and while his entire life story is interesting, it's not why I'm discussing this.
I'm discussing it because of its ability to act as a holy site carrying on the memory of McDonaldLand.
Outside of the restaurant is all sorts of playground equipment from the old restaurants. Unfortunately, due to the California sun, a lot of the paint is faded and worn out, but it's still amazing to see a lot of this stuff in working condition:
While all this is well and good, the building itself houses all sorts of memorabilia. It is, what the guy working there disdainfully told me, "the result of people cleaning up their attics and thinking what they find is important," but honestly it has some really fascinating pieces!
Such at this model of the original golden arches building.
Or this fry basket used by the McDonald brothers.
(Also an original straw, which is kinda hilarious to me to see preserved)
They also have TONS of cases of happy meal toys, some separated by geographic location:
And of course character merchandise:
(A little something for you Birdie fans ;) )
There's even some other McDonald's store fixtures inside:
And a Grimace costume!
Overall, if you for some reason ever find yourself in San Bernadino you should stop by. There's not much else to see in that town anyhow, but the museum itself is actually surprisingly well done and maintained. It's a pretty fascinating stop, and one of the few places you can still feel the magic of McDonaldLand in the world today.
With that, I think this about wraps up the major part of our journey. There's still a few characters I've found to write up on (and I will get them, just probably on a bit less regular of a cadence). Thanks for joining me on this journey, it's been a lot of fun :)
A month and a half back I was driving through San Bernadino on the way back from a camping trip, and I was looking up things to see out there. And that's when I realized... McDonald's original restaurant was there. Upon a single google search I found out that the site of the original McDonald's (though not the building, which has been torn down) is now a museum dedicated to McDonald's. It's run by a man named Albert Okura, who also owns a chain of chicken restaurants named Juan Pollo. He's made it a bit of a goal to preserve the legacy of Route 66, and while his entire life story is interesting, it's not why I'm discussing this.
I'm discussing it because of its ability to act as a holy site carrying on the memory of McDonaldLand.
Outside of the restaurant is all sorts of playground equipment from the old restaurants. Unfortunately, due to the California sun, a lot of the paint is faded and worn out, but it's still amazing to see a lot of this stuff in working condition:
While all this is well and good, the building itself houses all sorts of memorabilia. It is, what the guy working there disdainfully told me, "the result of people cleaning up their attics and thinking what they find is important," but honestly it has some really fascinating pieces!
Such at this model of the original golden arches building.
Or this fry basket used by the McDonald brothers.
(Also an original straw, which is kinda hilarious to me to see preserved)
They also have TONS of cases of happy meal toys, some separated by geographic location:
And of course character merchandise:
(A little something for you Birdie fans ;) )
There's even some other McDonald's store fixtures inside:
And a Grimace costume!
Overall, if you for some reason ever find yourself in San Bernadino you should stop by. There's not much else to see in that town anyhow, but the museum itself is actually surprisingly well done and maintained. It's a pretty fascinating stop, and one of the few places you can still feel the magic of McDonaldLand in the world today.
With that, I think this about wraps up the major part of our journey. There's still a few characters I've found to write up on (and I will get them, just probably on a bit less regular of a cadence). Thanks for joining me on this journey, it's been a lot of fun :)
