[TheStranger]

Saw this on Del Paso Boulevard northeast of El Camino Avenue in the North Sacramento area, a block away from a former Safeway/Super S combo. Photos were taken by a friend after we went to dinner at the venerable Jim-Denny's burger joint in downtown.

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/sac.htm

[runchadrun]

I was up in Sacramento last April and stayed at the hotel next door to Jim-Denny's and walked by it several times on my way to and from the convention center. I commented to my friends that it looked like the place that needed to run a special of "One free Lipitor with each cheeseburger!" I have other friends who work in the Capitol and eat there regularly--and it shows.

(Since I'm a vegetarian I didn't dare eat there. I went to the Thai place on the next block a couple of times and it was very good.)

[Groceteria]

Per the question posed in the subject, it's definitely not an original. McDonald's has a prototype that's reminiscent of the original locations but is also two to three times larger. I've seen them in several cities.

BTW, Sacramento was the home of the first McDonald's franchise, I believe. This was the first franchise that the McDonald brothers sold, several years before Ray Kroc was in the picture. It was located on Fruitridge Avenue near Stockton Boulevard. They tore down the original (very much modified) building a few years ago and built a new unit there.

[runchadrun]

(Sorry for going off topic for a minute there...)

McDonalds has been using the original Downey store as a prototype for a few years. For many years they tried to shut down that store since it was a pre-franchise store but McDs got new leadership who saw the value in the architecture and preserved it. Some pictures of the Downey store are at http://www.downeyca.org/visitor_mcdonalds.php

The first McDonalds (not the first franchise) was opened by the McDonald brothers in San Bernardino in 1948. San Bernardino County was where several other fast food chains started. Glen Bell started Weinerschnitzel and Del Taco there, and then opened the first Taco Bell in Downey.

[Groceteria]

(Sorry for going off topic for a minute there...)

I don't think you were really particularly off topic; it's just that the question was only posed in the subject line so I couldn't quote it from the original message :)

The Downey McDonald's is definitely worth a visit, particularly since it's original and still a functioning unit. There's a museum version of a "red and white" on the site of Ray Kroc's first unit in Des Plaines IL, but it's mostly a reconstruction and it's not a working store. And, as mentioned in another thread, there's the one in San Jose which now operates as a dining room for a brand new unit behind it.

[TheStranger]

Since you mentioned the San Jose location, I think one nice shot of the front (from the storegeeking trip Charles Hathaway, Justin Karimzad, and I had last Friday) would be pertinent to this thread :)

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/sj.htm


It is one block away from the Safeway with beautiful 1960s decor (and two Circle S shelf dividers!), on Almaden Road.

Interestingly, not only are both the San Jose original and North Sacramento retro McDonald's near 1960s Safeways, they are both near Burger King units as well. The difference in neighborhood affluence is obvious though comparing the two areas: the Safeway a block from that North Sacramento McDonald's closed in 1986 (and is now a Kragen), and the Burger King on El Camino Avenue has been closed for some time as well:

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores2/103/dcfc0026b.jpg
http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores2/103/dcfc0027b.jpg

[jamcool]

BTW, Sacramento was the home of the first McDonald's franchise, I believe. This was the first franchise that the McDonald brothers sold, several years before Ray Kroc was in the picture. It was located on Fruitridge Avenue near Stockton Boulevard. They tore down the original (very much modified) building a few years ago and built a new unit there.

Actually, the first McDonalds franchise (offered by the McDonald Bros) was built in Phoenix by a gas station owner with the last name of Fox. It was at Central Ave & Indian School Rd

<<<Edited by moderator to properly frame quoted material. Please read this post for info on how to quote messages.>>>

[jamcool]

Quote-The McDonalds sold their first franchise license to Phoenix gasoline retailer, Neil Fox, in 1952 for a one-time fee of $1,000. Once the "Speedy Service System" restaurant design was completed, the brothers anticipated no further connection with the operation, receiving no revenues from the store, and exercising no control. They expected Fox to call his store "Fox's". When he informed them that he wanted to call it "McDonald's", the brothers were floored! "'What the hell for?' Dick McDonald asked Fox. ' 'McDonald's' means nothing in Phoenix."

Per- John F. Love, McDonald's, Behind the Arches, Bantam Books (New York, 1986)

[Groceteria]

Actually, the first McDonalds franchise (offered by the McDonald Bros) was built in Phoenix by a gas station owner with the last name of Fox. It was at Central Ave & Indian School Rd

You're absolutely right. I may have been thinking that Sacramento was the first California franchise sold. Or I may just not have been thinking at all...

[javelin]

(Sorry for going off topic for a minute there...)

McDonalds has been using the original Downey store as a prototype for a few years. For many years they tried to shut down that store since it was a pre-franchise store but McDs got new leadership who saw the value in the architecture and preserved it. Some pictures of the Downey store are at http://www.downeyca.org/visitor_mcdonalds.php

The first McDonalds (not the first franchise) was opened by the McDonald brothers in San Bernardino in 1948. San Bernardino County was where several other fast food chains started. Glen Bell started Weinerschnitzel and Del Taco there, and then opened the first Taco Bell in Downey.

Brings back memories of when Market Basket was next door and a DeLorean dealership down the street. That was probably the first McD's I had ever been to, certainly the 1st one I remember. We'd pass the newer location a few blocks away just to go to the old one.

Did you mean Glen Bell started all three chains? Del Taco started in Barstow and is still there (the 2nd one opened in Corona (Riverside County), 3rd one in Victorville). But Wienerschnitzel wasn't started in San Bernardino County. I got this from Wikipedia:

"The first Wienerschnitzel was opened by John Galardi in 1961, at a hot dog stand along Pacific Coast Highway east of Figueroa Street in the Los Angeles community of Wilmington. This location is still in operation as of today."

Galardi also converted some of the original restaurants to the Original Hamburger Stand format.

While true Glen Bell started off with a hot dog stand (so did Carl Karcher), his first try at mexican food was the Taco Tia chain (which still exists in these parts). He then opened the first Taco Bell in Downey.

[justin karimzad]

Per the website with photos of the Phoenix McDonalds; "This was the 2nd McDonald's in the U.S. and the first to have the double gold arches."
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... D%26sa%3DG

[TheQuestioner]

Since you mentioned the San Jose location, I think one nice shot of the front (from the storegeeking trip Charles Hathaway, Justin Karimzad, and I had last Friday) would be pertinent to this thread :)


It is one block away from the Safeway with beautiful 1960s decor (and two Circle S shelf dividers!), on Almaden Road.

I need to get off my butt and post the pics I got of the inside of this Safeway. I had to make two seperate trips due to overzealous employees. They really seem to be on the lookout for people taking pictures. I managed to get a couple of pretty nice pics of one of the Circle S dividers right before a stock girl popped up in my face with a faux-friendly "hi there" and inevitable kibosh on further pictures (that day) I was even followed to make sure I left the store!

I also got some nice shots of that McDonald's, it's the only working "red and white" store other than Downey that I have been to. There was a decently-preserved one in Portland OR whose interior had been gutted for use as a kiddie-party room next to a 70's-80's era McDonald's. Does anyone know of any other 50's or 60's McDonald's that are still in use as restaurants? I know McD's is very aggressive about forcing franchisees to "upgrade", I never even see any more of the transitional stores that were brick-and-mansard, but also had Golden Arches poking out of the roof. There was a nice one of those in New Carrolton, MD that was torn down, to be replaced by one of these new "retro" stores! I would have preferred an actual 60's McD's to a fake 50's one, but then wouldn't we all?

[runchadrun]

Did you mean Glen Bell started all three chains? Del Taco started in Barstow and is still there (the 2nd one opened in Corona (Riverside County), 3rd one in Victorville). But Wienerschnitzel wasn't started in San Bernardino County. I got this from Wikipedia:

"The first Wienerschnitzel was opened by John Galardi in 1961, at a hot dog stand along Pacific Coast Highway east of Figueroa Street in the Los Angeles community of Wilmington. This location is still in operation as of today."

Galardi also converted some of the original restaurants to the Original Hamburger Stand format.

While true Glen Bell started off with a hot dog stand (so did Carl Karcher), his first try at mexican food was the Taco Tia chain (which still exists in these parts). He then opened the first Taco Bell in Downey.

Upon further review...I'm wrong on a couple of points but there is a Glen Bell connection to all of them.

If you go to http://www.tacobell.com/ and click on Our Company, then History there's a detailed story about Glen Bell. He started a hot dog & taco stand in San Bernardino with a second stand in Barstow that he later sold and it became Del Taco. He did found Taco Tia (where I ate a lot while in college) and El Taco in Downey (where I ate as a kid). Weinerschnitzel was started by John Gallardi, who was the commissary manager for El Taco.

I had seen an episode of California's Gold where Howell Howser interviewed Glen Bell and I thought Bell had founded all of those chains in San Berdoo, so either my memory is wrong (which is likely) or the history was a little embellished in the show.

[TheStranger]

I need to get off my butt and post the pics I got of the inside of this Safeway. I had to make two seperate trips due to overzealous employees. They really seem to be on the lookout for people taking pictures. I managed to get a couple of pretty nice pics of one of the Circle S dividers right before a stock girl popped up in my face with a faux-friendly "hi there" and inevitable kibosh on further pictures (that day) I was even followed to make sure I left the store!

OT for this thread, but Charles, Justin, and I were much more successful in capturing the 1960s decor the day we went, and I've posted links to those photos in this thread:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=972

[Paper or Plastic]

that Del Paso Blvd McD's was built in 98 or 99. There was an old 70's one there before.