The Oldest McDonald's Still in Operation (It Has a MUSEUM!!)

Michael Ornelas (0:00)

Is a McDonald's from 1958 better than a modern one? We drove down to Downey, California, to go to the third McDonald's ever built, and the oldest one still in operation. It's a historical landmark that's even attached to a museum, showcasing a stroll down McMemory Lane. But what's it like to eat there? The deep fried apple pie is served year round, and is delicious compared to its baked counterpart, but the menu is still literally modern McDonald's food, which is to say, not exactly impressive.

VyVy Nguyen (0:31)

The historic museum reminded me of all the positive ways McDonald's has influenced my life, but the lack of air conditioning had us melting faster than our Oreo McFlurry.

Michael Ornelas (0:41)

The Golden Arch frame around the building got the fast food nerd in me to jump out of my seat before I even parked the car, but the McCrispy Chicken Tender was one of the worst fast food products I've ever tasted. This week on the show, I'll sneak an extra bun of knowledge between your already too-bunned burger of curiosity so that you too may know everything I've learned about this historic McDonald's. Then we'll give it a full review, covering everything that was good, not good and just there about it, before seeing if it advances on in the Septemburger Tournament. This is the Fine Dining Podcast.

Hello, and welcome to the Fine Dining Podcast, the quest to compare all restaurants to chilies. I am your host, Michael Ornelas, and this is the podcast where we dive deep into the history of your favorite restaurants and then thoroughly review them by comparing them to chilies, the pinnacle of mediocrity.

This week, we're covering the number eight seed, the underdoggiest participant in this year's Septemburger tournament, McDonald's. But not just any McDonald's, the oldest one still in operation. And joining me to evaluate it is one of my favorite recurring guests on the podcast. You know her, you love her, from her rapping on the chilies episode of the show, and she's the human equivalent to the feeling of awe you get when you see fireworks for the first time as a young child, it's VyVy Nguyen. Aw, that's so nice.

VyVy Nguyen (3:15)

What a welcome back.

Michael Ornelas (3:17)

I hated fireworks when I first saw them.

VyVy Nguyen (3:18)

Oh yeah, you had fear. You were gonna blow your hand up.

Michael Ornelas (3:22)

How are you doing?

VyVy Nguyen (3:23)

I'm good. Thanks for having me back. I've missed you all.

Michael Ornelas (3:26)

Thank you for doing a road trip with me.

VyVy Nguyen (3:28)

Oh, thank you. Thanks for driving.

Michael Ornelas (3:30)

It wasn't too far. It wasn't too bad. What is your history personally with this brand?

VyVy Nguyen (3:35)

I have a deep history with McDonald's. And when you reached out to me being like, you want to do Septemburger with me and you gave me some options, I was actually really excited when...

Michael Ornelas (3:44)

You were stoked. You were like, McDonald's, if no one else has taken it.

VyVy Nguyen (3:48)

I wasn't sure if anyone else would be as excited as I was. But yeah, I love McDonald's. Growing up, my parents and I, whenever we did a road trip, we stop at McDonald's. I was really into the patini beanie craze. That was huge for me. And just even now, when I travel internationally, I like to try all the different menu items in different countries.

Michael Ornelas (4:09)

Yeah, I had McDonald's in a European country. I don't remember which one, but I did like a kind of a whirlwind tour as part of a band, like a high school concert band in 2005 or 2004 I was 15 and just went through a bunch of countries. I think we did like eight countries in three weeks or something like that.

And I remember going into McDonald's. And I expected it to be the same and it wasn't. So I didn't like it.

VyVy Nguyen (4:42)

OK.

Michael Ornelas (4:44)

But that doesn't mean it was worse. It just means it wasn't what I was expecting. I think the thing people like about fast food is the fact that it's consistent from location to location.

VyVy Nguyen (4:55)

Sure.

Michael Ornelas (4:56)

That's the promise that it makes.

And when it isn't, it's upsetting. And it often doesn't because like there's good locations, like there's a good McDonald's, there's a bad McDonald's, there's good Wendy's.

VyVy Nguyen (5:08)

I feel like it's also consistent for their palette out there. They've probably adjusted.

Michael Ornelas (5:13)

Sure, sure, sure. I'm talking about me as the diner, my expectation and why I wouldn't have liked it.