Traditional Burger Bar, Des Plaines, ILLINOIS

size: 606mm height, 400mm width

construction: styrene sheet, foamex board, wire

finish: acrylic, ink, oil paint

This is one of the original McDonalds sign constructed in the 1950's, before the rebranding with the double golden arch as this has the original single arch. The original sign has been preserved and is now part of the store museum on the site of the former McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, opened by Ray Kroc in April 1955. The company usually refers to this as The Original McDonald's, although it is not the first McDonald's restaurant but the ninth; the first was opened by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California in 1940, while the oldest McDonald's still in operation is the third one built, in Downey, California, which opened in 1953.