GaryMrMets
08-19-2003, 02:41 PM
http://wcbsfm.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_230220743.html
Oldest Operating McDonald's Marks 50th Anniversary
Workers At Downey, Calif., Burger Stand Maintain Original Flavor
Aug 18, 2003 7:00 pm US/Eastern
DOWNEY, Calif. (AP) Fifty years after it opened, the third ever McDonald's hamburger stand is still wrapped in red and white tiles flanked by two golden arches. Workers still wear the original uniform: white shorts, bolo tie and paper hat.
Although Ray Kroc would build McDonald's into a worldwide chain, it was brothers Dick and Maurice McDonald who opened the first stand in San Bernardino in 1940. The Downey restaurant was opened on Aug. 18, 1953, and is the oldest operating McDonald's location.
The restaurant, which is in the National Register of Historic Places, marked its birthday Monday with a performance by the 1950s singing group Sha Na Na, a sock hop and a classic car show.
The Downey McDonald's is often called Speedee McDonald's after the restaurant's first mascot, a 60-foot neon chef logo. The restaurant was closed after being damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, but was reopened in 1996 along with a gift shop and museum that includes the original wooden doors from the first McDonald's Hamburger University.
Kroc became the exclusive national franchise agent for the restaurant in 1954 and opened his first restaurant the following year in Des Plaines, Ill.
Kroc bought the chain from the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million in 1961.
(© 2003 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. )
http://images.viacomlocalnetworks.com/images_549883639/xl
Oldest Operating McDonald's Marks 50th Anniversary
Workers At Downey, Calif., Burger Stand Maintain Original Flavor
Aug 18, 2003 7:00 pm US/Eastern
DOWNEY, Calif. (AP) Fifty years after it opened, the third ever McDonald's hamburger stand is still wrapped in red and white tiles flanked by two golden arches. Workers still wear the original uniform: white shorts, bolo tie and paper hat.
Although Ray Kroc would build McDonald's into a worldwide chain, it was brothers Dick and Maurice McDonald who opened the first stand in San Bernardino in 1940. The Downey restaurant was opened on Aug. 18, 1953, and is the oldest operating McDonald's location.
The restaurant, which is in the National Register of Historic Places, marked its birthday Monday with a performance by the 1950s singing group Sha Na Na, a sock hop and a classic car show.
The Downey McDonald's is often called Speedee McDonald's after the restaurant's first mascot, a 60-foot neon chef logo. The restaurant was closed after being damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, but was reopened in 1996 along with a gift shop and museum that includes the original wooden doors from the first McDonald's Hamburger University.
Kroc became the exclusive national franchise agent for the restaurant in 1954 and opened his first restaurant the following year in Des Plaines, Ill.
Kroc bought the chain from the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million in 1961.
(© 2003 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. )
http://images.viacomlocalnetworks.com/images_549883639/xl