The First Original McDonald’s and Its Museum in California

The First Original McDonald’s Museum is a fun little stop close to Route 66 in San Bernardino, California. It is definitely worth a visit if you are passing by!

We often visit Southern California because my husband grew up there and we have many family members living there. While we are there our family always plans something fun to do together, and a while ago they suggested a visit to the birth place of McDonald’s.

Even though we spend a lot of time very close to it, we had never heard of this place before. But it sounded a lot of fun and we thought it would be interesting to learn about the history of McDonald’s, so we decided to head over there.

It was great little place to spend a couple hours from our day, and we learned a lot about McDonald’s chain. Our kids were excited to see all the colorful figures they had outside and I even found some items from my birth country, Finland.

Where was the first McDonald’s?

The very first McDonald’s was located at 1398 North E Street in San Bernardino, California. San Bernardino is a city in the Inland Empire region about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. It is also very close to famous Route 66.

The restaurant was opened by Dick and Mac McDonald in 1940, and it quickly became very popular. Their large menu had 25 items which were mostly barbeque, and they had 20 carhops. Carhops are staff members who bring the food to the car either by foot or by roller skates.

In 1948 the brothers decided to explore another type of business idea. They limited the menu items only to the best sellers such as burgers, chips, coffee, pie and sodas. Next year they replaced the chips with french fries and added milkshakes to the menu.

The main idea of the new concept was fast service. Dick and Mac wanted to serve people delicious food with good quality but without making customers wait for long. They came up with a new technique for cooking food faster.

At the same time without even knowing it, the McDonalds brothers created the world’s first fast food restaurant.

The sad story of the McDonald Brothers

If you haven’t seen the movie Founder then I recommend watching it before visiting the museum if possible. It sums up really well what happened to the brothers and their business.

A shameless businessman and salesman Ray Krock, visited the restaurant after they had ordered an unusual amount of multimixers from him. He got intrigued by their business model and capability to serve food so quickly, and offered them a franchising deal led by him.

Krock started to build more restaurants and negotiate with investors, and doing things behind the McDonald brothers back. Eventually he ended up pressuring Mac to sell the company to him while Mac was in the hospital due to diabetic shock.

The movie is really well made and quite sad honestly. The McDonald brothers got a tiny payment compared in what the company is really worth, and even the royalties promised to them were never payed.

After watching the movie you will see the First Original McDonald’s Museum with a different set of eyes, and know the history behind the world famous restaurant chain.

If you are looking for a place to stay close by, we recommend this Best Western hotel.

Visiting the First Original McDonald’s Museum

The museum was started by Albert Okura who bought the building where the restaurant used to be in 1998. It was used as the headquarters for his chicken restaurant: Juan Pollo. Mistakenly, some people thought he was opening a museum, and they sent him some original items from the first McDonald’s that used to be there.

He later decided to showcase the McDonald’s items to the public, and people started sending him even more things. And that is how the First Original McDonald’s Museum got started.

The museum is very easy to find. The area is not the best part of town, but you will definitely recognise the building when you see it. There is a huge McDonald’s sign in front which is the only original item left from the McDonald’s brothers era.

There is also a colourful mural going around the building and a lot of old playground equipment from restaurants. I think our kids actually enjoyed the outside area more than the inside of the museum.

Inside the museum you will find different kinds of mementoes and collectibles from all over the world. They have cups, paper bags, menus, packaging and adds for example. They also have some old furniture and McDonald’s uniforms.

We enjoyed looking at old Happy Meal toys the most, and everyone was trying to spot something they used to have.

Everything in the museum is organised by the year and by countries where the items are from. It was interesting to see how different McDonald’s items had changed or developed, or how different they looked somewhere else.

They also had some items from the Founder movie.

Unfortunately, Albert Okura passed away in January 2023 so it remains to be seen if someone else will be carrying on his legacy and will keep the museum open.

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Even though the museum is very small and you can walk through it pretty quickly, it is a fun place to visit. McDonald’s for sure is a big part of American culture, and many people think it is the only “real” fast food restaurant. So even if you are not a fan of McDonald’s food, you should still make a quick stop here if you are close by.

If you are in Southern California and heading to Las Vegas, Joshua Tree National Park or Palm Springs, it might very well be along the way. Or if you are travelling through the Route 66 you will be very close by. Also people on they way to the Lake Arrowhead will pass this place.

Unfortunately there is no restaurant by the museum, so we ended up leaving for lunch somewhere else. And this time, it was not to McDonald’s.