Which McDonald's restaurant building is recognized as the oldest surviving McDonald's site?

The oldest surviving McDonald's restaurant site is in Downey, California.

The Downey restaurant opened in 1953 and is notable for preserving the early McDonald's building style, including the distinctive Golden Arches. Its design provides a visible link between the company's early roadside restaurants and its later worldwide branding.

The location is often confused with San Bernardino, where Richard and Maurice McDonald operated the restaurant that began their business in 1940. San Bernardino is crucial to McDonald's origins, but the Downey site is the oldest surviving McDonald's restaurant building.

It is also different from the Des Plaines, Illinois, restaurant associated with Ray Kroc's first franchised McDonald's location. These sites represent separate milestones: the original McDonald brothers' restaurant, the surviving early building, and Kroc's first franchise.