10 McDonald's Stores Worth Knowing

McDonald's is probably the best known fast food chain on the planet. Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald in the United States, the brand has spread worldwide and is now present in 119 countries with over 35, 000 stores. With such a monstrous amount of restaurants like this, it's no surprise that some of them stand out in this crowd, whether for their beauty, historical significance or, say, exotic look.

Check out our list of 10 memorable and different McDonald's stores:

1 - Where it all began

McDonald's very first store - located in San Bernardino, California - today is no longer a restaurant, unfortunately. However, much of its original appearance is intact, as the place has become an unofficial museum of the brand.

It happened when businessman Albert Okura decided to buy the first store building to set up the office of fast-food chain Juan Pollo Chicken, of which he is a founder and CEO. Also a big fan of McDonald's, he found it unfair that the location of the brand's first restaurant was not a point of reference for other aficionados like him.

Because the space he needed for Juan Pollo Chicken's office was small, everything he didn't use was turned into a McDonald's “temple”. Here you can find relics that have been shipped from all over the United States: vintage restaurant toys, old-fashioned mascot clothes, Ronald McDonald dolls, giant fiberglass burgers, and of course an original menu. from 1940 and the plaque that was in front of the establishment when it was acquired by Albert Okura in 1998, announcing hamburgers at 15 cents (the original prices at the time of foundation).

2 - The McAvião

A McDonald's store on a plane? No, it's not an in-flight service that bestows its customers with Big Macs. This retired DC-3 was once part of South Pacific Airlines in the 1960s and, as an old man, served as an agricultural aircraft spraying chemicals on crops. Today, he has a franchise-filled restaurant inside, with seating and everything. It is located in Taupo City, New Zealand, and is considered one of the top local sights.

3 - The McBanco

You can find a McDonald's inside a former bank branch in Kristiansand, Norway. But not any agency: The restaurant was set between the marble columns of a pompous building, which looked like a Greco-Roman temple. Inside, cashiers, managers, forms, checks, and promissory notes gave way to hamburgers, chips, soda, and milk shakes that, unfortunately, can no longer be accessed through the leafy front door, but through a new side entrance.

4 - Rock N Roll McDonalds

One of the most flashy McDonald's in the world is in Chicago, United States. The huge building, which holds 300 customers, is built between two large yellow arches and is nicknamed Rock N Roll McDonalds. In addition to all the normal functions of a chain restaurant, it houses a small museum named after rock'n'roll music, with special attention to singer Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

5 - Italian Class at a McDonald's

In the heart of Piazza di Spagna, one of Rome's most famous sites, is perhaps McDonald's most elegant restaurant. Decorated with marble, fountains and mosaics, this shop is one of the largest in the world, with seating for 800 people, and does not present anywhere on its facade the famous golden arches, symbol of the brand.

The opening of this McDonald's, even more so in such a classic place of the Eternal City, has generated a huge controversy in Italy. Italian traditional chefs declared the culinary death with the establishment of the fast food chain. One could imagine the awful reception of this kind of food in such a famous place for food.

6 - A McDonald's from Another World

Just as we have in Brazil the municipality of ETs, Varginha, in Minas Gerais, the inhabitants of other galaxies also feel at home in the city of Roswell, New Mexico, in the United States, popular for having been the scene of the first world famous report involving the UFO sighting and space creatures. It was there that the flying saucer allegedly crashed into the infamous Area 51.

But what does this have to do with McDonald's? Ask at the craziest restaurant in the franchise, ready to welcome and serve hot snacks to aliens from all over the universe. Made in the shape of a flying saucer, the place is all decorated following this theme, entitled Ronald McDonald dressed as an astronaut and more. At night, the lights of the store make it far away to think that it is indeed a large UFO resting on the ground. What do ETs think of our fast food?

7 - The chic train station

This McDonald's store in Hungary is quite special. It was built at a train station in Budapest, which makes it look like a grand five star restaurant. The vaulted marble ceiling gives a whole 19th century feel exactly when the building was built.

The station is still one of the most important in Budapest and in the past has hosted European political celebrities such as the famous Empress Elizabeth of Austria, affectionately known as Sissi.

8 - Go to Cuba!

Yes, you can go, there's McDonald's there too. Only it's not any store. Cuba's only restaurant in the chain is within the controversial Guantanamo military base and serves only the barracks officers there. In other words, the Cuban population cannot yet indulge in the greasy McDonald's snacks, but that could be short-lived with the fall of the American blockade.

In addition to the Golden Arches restaurant, Guantanamo base houses other American fast-food chain stores, such as KFC, Starbucks and Subway.

9 - The McMansion

Have you ever imagined tasting McDonald's delicacies inside a mansion? For this is perfectly possible on Long Island, in the United States, where a fast-food restaurant is housed inside an 1860s house, Denton House.

When the land on which the mansion is located was purchased by McDonald's in 1985, local residents filed a lawsuit to topple the building, preventing it from being demolished. One of the locals, Larry Anderer, later known as Larry McDonald, bought the franchise to open a franchise and installed the restaurant inside the mansion. Soon the place became known as "McMansion" and was the most successful.

10 - The Giant Happy McLanche

They say in the United States that everything is bigger in Texas. Here in Brazil, this maxim goes to the city of Itu, in the interior of São Paulo. Unfortunately, McDonald's out there are full-size, but a store in Dallas, Texas, doesn't let us down. It was built in the shape of a Happy McLanche box, but large enough to house the kitchen, counter and all the seating and tables for customers to settle.

And the eccentricities don't stop there: the restaurant features Austrian crystal chandeliers, mahogany booths and wallpaper by Ralph Lauren. Exotic, no? Texans thing ...

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And you, do you know any special McDonald's stores? Different? Exotic? Tell us there in the comments.