McDonald's 19956

McDonald's #19956 is a McDonald's restaurant located at 10207 Lakewood Boulevard in Downey, California. The oldest operational McDonald's restaurant in the world, the restaurant was originally opened in 1953 as McDonald's #3 by. The restaurant was renumbered following a restoration of the building between 1994 and 1996. A separate building adjacent to the original building contains a gift shop, a museum, indoor seating and a drive-through. The original building, along with its sign, are listed on the.

History
Not to be confused with the former McDonald's #3 at 57-25 Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, Queens, New York City, New York.

opened their second McDonald's franchise, store #3, at the southwest corner of Lakewood Boulevard and Florence Avenue on August 18, 1953. The location was unaffected by 's purchase of the chain from the McDonald brothers, as it was franchised under an agreement with the the McDonald brothers instead of Kroc's McDonald's Systems, Inc., which later became McDonald's Corporation. As a result, the location was not subject to McDonald's Corporation's modernization requirements, and its menu developed a major difference from that of other McDonald's restaurants, and even lacked corporate-developed items such as the Big Mac. In 1984, the building and its sign became eligible for the, but it was not added as the owners objected.

The restaurant was sold to McDonald's Corporation in 1990, and the location had by this point became the only remaining McDonald's to be fully independent of the chain. Due to years of low sales following the early 1980s opening of McDonald's #6407 a half-mile to the north at Lakewood Boulevard and Gallatin Road, closer to the Santa Ana Freeway, Interstate 5; damage from the, and the lack of indoor seating and a drive-through window, the restaurant was closed in 1994. Following demands from the public and preservationists after it was listed among the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Register of Historic Places; McDonald's spent two years restoring the building and including indoor seating and a drive-through window in a new, adjacent building; reopening it in 1996 as McDonald's #19956.