Phoenix was the Arizona city where McDonald's first restaurant featuring the Golden Arches opened.
The arches began as architectural elements rather than as a purely graphic logo. Architect Stanley Clark Meston designed the restaurant buildings with large yellow arches intended to make them visible to passing motorists. The Phoenix location helped establish that recognizable roadside identity.
The arches later became the basis of McDonald's corporate symbol. This history is sometimes confused with the company's first restaurant in San Bernardino, California, which the McDonald brothers opened in 1940, or Ray Kroc's first McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, opened in 1955. Those locations are important to McDonald's history, but Phoenix is the answer for the early restaurant associated with the Golden Arches design.