I’m working on a slideshow for the blog based on the shots I took recently in Chicago. Every time I go through the pics I keep looking at this monstrous McDonald’s that is right in the middle of town. I’m not sure when this was built, but it’s not old. It looks like an airport terminal or something from a movie. There is nothing like it in the country.



  1. andrew says:

    the mcdonalds building was rebuilt and revealed this year to celebrate the 50 year university of the first restaurant in Des Plaines, il

  2. Adam says:

    Jeebus! That monster is HUGE! Also, it kind of looks like the first one (now a museum) in Des Planes, IL.

    -A

  3. Nick says:

    Nothing like a bigger Micky D’s to help our society become bigger and unhealthy. Oh well time for a Big Mac…..

  4. We actually have one similar somewhere on the Thruway here in New York State–I remember seeing it a few weeks ago while going south to New Jersey–it’s not as huge as that one is, but, it has the big arches cutting down through the building like that. It’s actually part of a rest area as well.

  5. David M. Bishop says:

    Actually, that’s more of a retro look, although the scale is much bigger (can’t imagine any 3 story McD’s back in the 60’s). There’s one near me on Long Island that has the same style (again, not as big). It’s also only about 3-5 years old.

    Here’s a link to another blog about the same store:
    http://www.dynamist.com/weblog/archives/001692.html

    Dave

  6. I move from Chicago for four years, and they tear down that classic McDonald’s to put in a big box McDonald. Lame.

    I must admit, I haven’t eaten any fast food but in-n-out burger since I moved to cali, but I still loved that place, and my Dad used to take me there when I was a kid. What an eyesore.

    P.S. — your button ‘say it’ drops out of view in Safari 2.0, make sure you don’t hide your overflow on your body, or the containing elements for that #commentform. Let me know if ya’ want a screen shot.

  7. Sam says:

    There’s a McDonald’s on I-44 near Vinita, OK that arches over the highway. It was purportedly the largest when it was built in the ’70s, but it may not be true today.

    http://photos.nondot.org/2001-08-06-New-Mexico-Trek/05%20-%20oklahoma%20misc/normal/%233%20-%20Worlds%20Biggest%20McDonalds.jpg

  8. Floyd says:

    Lived in the Chicago area for two years in the early 80s. For fast food in Chicago, we ate Vienna hot dogs or Italian Beef sandwiches. For pizza, Gino’s East (which has moved since I lived there). Chinese food in Chinatown is usually much better than it is elsewhere in the area. The Berghof in the Loop had excellent German food at the time, and had their own microbrewry before it was “in.” Never went to the Billy Goat Tavern (which IIRC is the bar you can see just past the Wrigley Field outfield).

    Formerly, the world’s largest McDonalds was at a service area on the Will Rogers Turnpike in Oklahoma. This McD’s spanned the highway, like an Illinois Tollway oasis.

  9. Noah says:

    I saw it from the lounge on the Handcock tower…it looked big enough from up there. I was told Elton John played the place when it opened.

  10. Ein says:

    I guess the contractor must have said ” Do you want to Supersize it for another 5 million.”

  11. Christopher Coulter says:

    Ahhh old old news, like still in hieroglyphs. 🙂 Lots of ‘protests’, at the time,as the classic Rock and Roll one, was a real tourist spot, actual great ambience for a McDonalds, which is a feat. But the opening was a party fest for days and days, real huge event, all over the news. I used to live somewhat near LaSalle and State, and the Hard Rock and Rock and Roll McDonalds where half parta my childhood landscape. Alas, this doesn’t cut it. But maybe for the next generation.

    Not specific to you, but West Coasters, heh. All that flyover land to them, they get the Midwest and Southern news light years later. New York and Bay Area, aren’t the only places in the USA. 😉

  12. C++ says:

    I have a Big Mac from the original McDonald’s from the 50’s that’s been sitting in the sun in the yard & in an old musty basement @ various times & it still hasn’t become moldy. It is NOT of this world!

  13. Teyecoon says:

    What next? McDonald’s buys the St.Louis Arch then adds another and paints it yellow? I find it embarrassing that a city would allow a fast food restaurant to be so big and display itself like a tourist monument. Does this country not have a bad enough reputation across the world for fat overindulgent slobs? Couldn’t they be a little more discreet? Maybe McDonald’s should try harder and put Big Macs in the mouth of the President’s at Mount Rushmore to attract a little more attention to their obscure name and trademark symbol. This country seem to just relish (pun intended) in the negative opinions and stereotypes that the rest of the world has of it which are mostly justified.


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