most people have heard of the fast food company McDonald's but have you ever heard of Rock and
Roll McDonald's that's right in Chicago Illinois there was once a massive McDonald's restaurant
bordered by Ohio Ontario Clark and LaSalle streets with a rock and roll theme it had an
enormous seating capacity and many exhibits for the public these exhibitions featured rock and
roll icons McDonald's history Chicago History and various pop culture artifacts from recent
decades the restaurant was wildly popular and frequented by hundreds if not thousands
of people daily The Rock and Roll McDonald's was considered a Chicago landmark and recommended for
tours and students trips to the city so the odds were that if you were a Chicago resident or even
resided in the nearby suburbs you had absolutely heard of Rock and Roll McDonald's surprisingly
though the original restaurant was torn down and rebuilt once in two thousand 5 was made
even bigger and more visually striking than ever but by the time the rebuilding was done it had
taken up a whole city block and paid respect to the nostalgic atmosphere of its predecessor for
a Time Rock and Roll McDonald's was the busiest most profitable McDonald's in the entire United
States however in 2017 the building was torn down once again and rebuilt in 2018 with the
intent to separate it from its gaudy rock and roll Roots completely The Rock and Roll McDonald's was
stripped of what made it unique and significant in the hearts of many but why why would this
beloved Chicago Landmark be removed stay tuned to find out as today we discover Chicago's lost
Rock and Roll McDonald's I'm your host Ryan so cash and you're watching it's history [Music]
let's start at the beginning when Dick and Mac McDonald opened the first ever McDonald's in
San Bernardino California in 1948. after just a few years of operation in 1954 the California
restaurant was visited by Oak Park salesman Ray Kroc who later became the brothers franchising
agent in 1955 Croc opened the first official restaurant in the McDonald's franchise in Des
Plaines Illinois on opening day the restaurant was such a hit that customers had to place orders
outside in the cold because there was nowhere to sit after a week sales were up over 800 percent
and the restaurant had made its place following this hit success McDonald's quickly became one
of the world's largest fast food franchises the franchise became known for the tagline
QSC in 1957 for quality service and cleanliness ultimately Roy Kroc bought out McDonald's Brothers
shares for complete control of the McDonald's company in 1961. franchise mascot Ronald McDonald
debuted in 1963 two years before McDonald's stock went public then McDonald's opened its first
International branches in Canada and Puerto Rico in 1967. the company officially hit one billion
dollars worth of sales in 1972. from the 60s through to the 80s the McDonald's menu began
introducing some of its most iconic food items such as the Big Mac the quarter pounder the Happy
Meals and the chicken McNuggets today McDonald's is the largest restaurant chain in the world with
over 47 million customers daily and restaurants in 119 different countries in 1983 McDonald's opened
its first Flagship restaurant in Chicago located at 600 North Clark Street the restaurant quickly
earned the name the Rock and Roll McDonald's because of its unique theme the red and yellow
building had two stories of seating and was the first McDonald's to have a two-lane drive-through
it had leather seating and televisions and was full of rock and roll memorabilia the restaurant
was filled with different memorabilia from various musical icons over the years although the rock and
roll contents of the restaurant mainly focused on the effects of Elvis Presley and the Beatles
there were references to many different Rock icons out to admire there was also a museum on the upper
level featuring the history of McDonald's as well as a separate exhibit about Chicago's history and
pop culture of the past decades the combined restaurant Museum shows and enormous parking
lot took up an entire city block rock and roll McDonald's was open for business 24 7. it was
one of the Chain's busiest restaurants during its operation in the 90s and there was always
an underlying sentiment of ambition here giving that it was the third most popular McDonald's in
the United States when in 2004 it was torn down only to be improved upon you see the building was
torn down as a part of a plan for a large-scale renovation the company stated in a press release
in the Chicago Tribune that they had quote some inspiring ideas for the Rock and Roll McDonald's
site and it would be a great destination for tourists and from everything said about the plans
for the new building it was clear that the company Executives were hoping to turn it into a sort
of tourist Mecca however there was some public controversy here you see during the planning and
construction phase of the new building the plans for the new design were ridiculed in the paper as
being just as garish and awful as the surrounding scenery others described it as being quote stuck
in a theme park stupor three other potential designs were considered for the new Rock and Roll
McDonald's but the one chosen was the most visibly retro the move caught Flack is being stuck to the
restaurant's roots and purely fueled by a desire to try and profit off Nostalgia from the previous
buildings look after all as well liked as the last structure had been no one was arguing that
it looked particularly beautiful I mean seriously have a look at this structure would you want this
to be next to your fancy Chicago condominium well apparently the yuppies of 2004 didn't think so
the general consensus was that the McDonald's company's desire to stick to their old look
and their need for more space was clashing and creating an overall effect that failed to impress
it would also seem that the company didn't want to take risks with their local constituents hence
the local City Board arised concerns that if the expansion of space wasn't carefully negotiated it
could interfere with the surrounding roads and sidewalks despite all this noise about the many
ways that the changes to the Beloved if not out of date local landmarks were failing to deliver
construction still went ahead as planned the renovated restaurant had its grand reopening
in 2005 and was the site for celebrating the 50th anniversary of that first restaurant opening in
Des Plaines when the construction was completed the Rock and Roll McDonald's reopening celebration
was attended by notable public figures such as Elton John and Colin Powell the newly renovated
McDonald's building was 24 000 square feet and had many Grand windows at 800 pounds apiece
what's more this new building had 60 foot tall golden arches a parking lot that could fit up
to 65 cars in a dining area that could exceed 300 people three times the amount of a regular
McDonald's there are massive plasma screen TVs for the patrons and replicas of famous furniture
for them to sit in while they enjoyed their Big Macs the second floor was home to a cafe meant to
rival Starbucks serving custom coffees gelato ice cream and pastries the building added two
green roofs to give customers outdoor seating with a view of course to properly maintain all
these extra Services Rock and Roll McDonald's was also more expensive than the other less
famous locations nearby the museum now also featured a history of this specific McDonald's
throughout the years with highlights such as the old uniforms discontinued Happy Meal
toys and pictures of what the restaurant used to look like at different stages of its existence
the general culture exhibits had items on display like an eight-track an Elmo doll and all the same
beetles and Elvis paraphernalia rock and roll guitars and a 1950s Corvette named Peggy Sue
well this version of Rock and Roll McDonald's was open the restaurant officially managed to become
the busiest McDonald's in the country which as you'll see in a moment was a Triumph that
wouldn't last forever after the 2005 Renovations the restaurants designers tried to maintain the
rock and roll theme to pay homage to the intent of the original Architects however the rock and
roll exhibits were moved to a separate outdoor Pavilion no longer kept within the restaurant
itself a greater emphasis was instead placed on the history of McDonald's and the advertising of
the McDonald's brand meaning that as the corporate aspect of the fast food restaurant was played up
the rock and roll theme that had drawn in so many customers began to be pushed aside around that
time the 2010s The Rock and Roll McDonald's foot traffic dropped as its popularity began to wane
in 2017 the building was once again torn down for renovation this time however the designers were
given many different priorities instead of the bright almost gear decorations that had defined
the restaurant's style before the company Executives told the designers to focus on a
more modern minimalist look the new building was designed with natural more discreet colors lots
of glass and lighting and heavy emphasis on being environmentally friendly to match the company's
new public Direction explicit instructions were given not to include the same nostalgic aspects
that had characterized the renovated version of 2005 when the newly designed version of Rock
and Roll McDonald's had its grand reopening in 2018 the building had only one level of seating
instead of the original two it was also smaller in square footage self-serve kiosks and solar
panels were added to modernize the building further the rock and roll theme had also been
completely abandoned The Pavilion where all the rock and roll memorabilia was stored had been
completely demolished during the renovation all items contained within were moved to a private
collection to be dealt with later The Rock and Roll McDonald's was rock and roll no more but
how could this be why would suburban school kids be denied a visit to the best McDonald's on Earth
the redesign of The Rock and Roll McDonald's was part of a more significant wave of activity from
the giant Corporation the McDonald's company planned to remodel all 14 000 of their American
restaurants to make each one an experience of the future the Des Plaines McDonald's store number
one housed in the same building as the first McDonald's franchise restaurant was also scheduled
for a demolition in 2017 as a part of this same movement to leave the company's Past Behind still
even as the chain that owns what was once a famous Chicago attraction moved to leave it in the past
the Rock and Roll McDonald's is remembered fondly by many people native chicagolands and tourists
alike who used to visit but don't take my word for it it's a notion perhaps put best in the
lyrics or might I say poetry of our late Chicago musician Wesley Willis an artist whose songs are
characterized by absurd eccentric imagery and themes he's saying McDonald's is the place to
Rock It is a restaurant where they buy food to eat it's a place to listen to the music people
flock here to get down to the rock music Rock and Roll McDonald's I can attest to this as I lived
in Chicago during that time frame and remember seeing Wesley Willis in the streets around that
McDonald's frequently I even had the pleasure of seeing him perform this classic hit when he opened
for the band Local H at the Metro my mistake was not realizing how legendary the song would
become in 1995 Wesley immortalized his special place in a song titled Rock and Roll McDonald's
which has since become known as the restaurant's unofficial theme song it also warns noting that
the song covers the harmful effects of most of the fast food franchises offering singing McDonald's
will make you fat they serve Big Macs they serve Quarter Pounders they will put pounds on you and
perhaps the artist was ahead of his time in this type of thinking as the song is Wesley Willis's
best known work and was featured in a documentary film from 2004 called Supersize Me overall the
musical pieces centered on a fond reminiscence of one of Chicago's best places to rock which is a
notion most of us Chicagoans probably agree upon Rock and Roll McDonald's spent years on lists of
recommended tourist destinations in Chicago a must-see spot its location is near one of the
major expressways leading into the City and was a landmark that hundreds of tourists passed by every
day one writer by the name of David Buck while discussing the total overhaul in 2018 recounts
childhood memories of the museum loving all the discontinued toys and seeing all the commercials
there are countless stories in Chicago newspapers of birthday parties school trips and first dates
that took place in this very special Chicago restaurant even if the building has been visually
severed from its roots Rock and Roll McDonald's was a deep part of Chicago culture for many years
which is in a way a tale not dissimilar to the town's lost great Railway terminal a story you
can learn more about by clicking right here and please consider subscribing or joining
our members area to support the channel until next time this is Ryan silkash signing off