<P> The oldest operating McDonald's restaurant is a drive - up hamburger stand at 10207 Lakewood Boulevard at Florence Avenue in Downey, California . It was the third McDonald's restaurant and opened on August 18, 1953 . It was also the second restaurant franchised by Richard and Maurice McDonald, prior to the involvement of Ray Kroc in the company . The restaurant is now the oldest in the chain still in existence and is one of Downey's main tourist attractions . Along with its sign, it was deemed eligible for addition to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, although it was not added because the owner objected . </P> <P> The McDonald brothers opened their first restaurant adjacent to the Monrovia Airport in 1937 . It was a tiny octagonal building informally called The Airdrome . That octagonal building was later moved to 1398 North E Street in San Bernardino, California, in 1940 . It was originally a barbecue drive - in, but the brothers discovered that most of their profits came from hamburgers . In 1948, they closed their restaurant for three months, reopening it in December as a walk - up hamburger stand that sold hamburgers, potato chips, and orange juice; the following year, french fries and Coca - Cola were added to the menu . This simplified menu, and food preparation using assembly line principles, allowed them to sell hamburgers for 15 cents, or about half as much as at a sit - down restaurant . The restaurant was very successful, and the brothers started to franchise the concept in 1953 . </P> <P> The first franchisee was Occidental Petroleum executive Neil Fox, who opened a restaurant at 4050 North Central Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona, in May, for a flat fee of $1,000 . His restaurant was the first to employ the McDonald brothers' Golden Arches standardized design, created by Southern California architect Stanley Clark Meston and his assistant Charles Fish . Fox's use of the "McDonald's" name evidently came as a surprise to the brothers, but all subsequent franchises (except for the third location in North Hollywood, CA, which operated as Peak's,) used the "McDonald's" brand . (Although there was also a "Peak's" that had been franchised by McDonald Brothers on Foothill Blvd. in Pasadena, Golden Arches and all, at the foot of Hastings Ranch). </P> <P> Fox's brothers - in - law and business partners, Roger Williams and Bud Landon, were the franchisees for the fourth McDonald's, and used their expertise in siting gasoline stations in choosing the Downey location . Like the McDonald brothers' other franchisees, they were required to use Meston's design . </P>

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