San Bernardino, California, was home to the first McDonald’s restaurant opened by Richard and Maurice McDonald.
The brothers opened their restaurant in San Bernardino in 1940. It began as a drive-in barbecue restaurant before they redesigned the business around a smaller menu, self-service, and rapid food preparation. That reorganization produced the Speedee Service System and laid the foundation for the modern McDonald’s format.
The San Bernardino location is sometimes confused with the famous Downey restaurant. Downey is associated with the oldest surviving McDonald’s building and the early golden-arches design, but San Bernardino was the brothers’ original restaurant location. Ray Kroc later expanded the system through franchising, turning the local California operation into an international chain.