Rock N Roll McDonald's
Encyclopedia
The Rock N Roll McDonald's (formerly The Original Rock 'N Roll McDonald's) is a flagship McDonald's
restaurant located in Chicago
, Illinois
. It is one of the most famous McDonald's locations in the world and was once the busiest in the United States
. The restaurant/museum, located in the Near North Side
community area
(neighborhood) of Chicago
in Cook County
, Illinois
, United States
a few city block
s west of the Magnificent Mile
, has been a tourist attraction
since it opened in 1983. Its present building opened in 2005. The restaurant has a maximum occupancy of 300, which is about three times the standard patron capacity
. The site has a rock and roll
exhibit in a building adjacent to the restaurant and a small upstairs McDonald's museum
display. The building features the first two-lane McDonald's drive-through
, relatively luxurious decor, a café, plasma display
flat screen television
s and a green roof
.
has had a restaurant at the 600 N. Clark Street
address since 1983, but the new building was redeveloped and reopened on April 15, 2005 as a bilevel flagship restaurant/museum with a two lane drive through. This is the first McDonald's location with a two lane drive-through. The reopening coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Des Plaines, Illinois
restaurant which was opened by Ray Kroc
on April 15, 1955. Rock N Roll McDonald's is the location where the corporation kicked off its celebration of the 50th anniversary of the franchise. Among the celebrities in attendance were Colin Powell
and Elton John
. At the time of the 2004 demolition, the location was the 3rd busiest in the United States and 12th in the world. In the early 90s, it had been the busiest in the United States. It was expected to increase its sales revenue rankings from 3rd in the United States and 12th in the world with the renovation and redevelopment.
The restaurant is one of the highest priced McDonald's, in order to subsidize the interior decor which includes numerous plasma display flat screen televisions and expensive Italian lighting. Its second floor includes a coffee bar serving latte
s, gelato
and biscotti
and lounges that pay homage via museum display, music, and decor to every decade the chain has been in business. The 2nd floor McCafe is designed to compete with Starbucks
by serving cappuccino
, espresso
, gelato
and Italian pastries
. The building features a pair of 60 foot arches and two stories worth of windows that weigh 800 pounds apiece. It has 10 cash register stations to complement its 300 patron capacity, which is about 3 times the normal McDonald's capacity. The restaurant has three front walls of glass.
Franchisee Marilyn Wright and her husband Ralph Wright have operated 10 McDonald's locations for the past 12 years. In addition to a perimeter of trees, the building has two green roof
gardens on two levels. The lower one is visible from inside. However, the upper roof is only visible from surrounding high-rise buildings. Neither accommodates customer access. The trash cans in this tourist mecca say thank you in ten languages. The restaurant has separate preparation lines for white meat and red meat in the giant kitchen. The demolished building faced Ohio Street, but the new building is rotated 180 degrees to face the Ontario Street tourist pedestrian strip.
The restaurant was sung about by the cult Chicago musician Wesley Willis
in a song entitled "Rock N Roll McDonald's". The song was featured in the movie Super Size Me
.
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The restaurant/museum, its rock and roll exhibit and its parking lot occupy the entire block bounded by West Ontario Street to the north, West Ohio Street to the south, North LaSalle Street
to the west and North Clark Street to the east in the River North neighborhood of the Near North Side community area. The building is situated near several other theme restaurants. It is across the street (Clark Street) from the Hard Rock Cafe
and the Rainforest Cafe
.
in an exhibit in a separate structure on the same lot. The exhibit includes a set of Beatles statues reminiscent of their Abbey Road album cover
.
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
restaurant located in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. It is one of the most famous McDonald's locations in the world and was once the busiest in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The restaurant/museum, located in the Near North Side
Near North Side, Chicago
The Near North Side is one of 77 well-defined community areas of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located north and east of the Chicago River, just north of the central business district . To its east is Lake Michigan and its northern boundary is the 19th-century city limit of Chicago,...
community area
Community areas of Chicago
Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
(neighborhood) of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
a few city block
City block
A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...
s west of the Magnificent Mile
Magnificent Mile
The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, that runs along a portion of Michigan Avenue extending from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side community area. The district is located adjacent to downtown; it is also one block...
, has been a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
since it opened in 1983. Its present building opened in 2005. The restaurant has a maximum occupancy of 300, which is about three times the standard patron capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
. The site has a rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
exhibit in a building adjacent to the restaurant and a small upstairs McDonald's museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
display. The building features the first two-lane McDonald's drive-through
Drive-through
A drive-through, or drive-thru, is a type of service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was first pioneered in the United States in the 1930s but has since spread to other countries. The first recorded use of a bank using a drive...
, relatively luxurious decor, a café, plasma display
Plasma display
A plasma display panel is a type of flat panel display common to large TV displays or larger. They are called "plasma" displays because the technology utilizes small cells containing electrically charged ionized gases, or what are in essence chambers more commonly known as fluorescent...
flat screen television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
s and a green roof
Green roof
A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems...
.
Restaurant
The franchiseChain store
Chain stores are retail outlets that share a brand and central management, and usually have standardized business methods and practices. These characteristics also apply to chain restaurants and some service-oriented chain businesses. In retail, dining and many service categories, chain businesses...
has had a restaurant at the 600 N. Clark Street
Clark Street (Chicago)
Clark Street is a north-south street in Chicago, Illinois that runs close to the shore of Lake Michigan from the northern city boundary with Evanston, to 2200 South in the city street numbering system...
address since 1983, but the new building was redeveloped and reopened on April 15, 2005 as a bilevel flagship restaurant/museum with a two lane drive through. This is the first McDonald's location with a two lane drive-through. The reopening coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Des Plaines, Illinois
Des Plaines, Illinois
Des Plaines is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It has adopted the official nickname of "City of Destiny." As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,720. It is a suburb of Chicago, and is next to O'Hare International Airport...
restaurant which was opened by Ray Kroc
Ray Kroc
Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc was an American fast food businessman who joined McDonald's in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century, and amassed a fortune during his lifetime...
on April 15, 1955. Rock N Roll McDonald's is the location where the corporation kicked off its celebration of the 50th anniversary of the franchise. Among the celebrities in attendance were Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
and Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
. At the time of the 2004 demolition, the location was the 3rd busiest in the United States and 12th in the world. In the early 90s, it had been the busiest in the United States. It was expected to increase its sales revenue rankings from 3rd in the United States and 12th in the world with the renovation and redevelopment.
The restaurant is one of the highest priced McDonald's, in order to subsidize the interior decor which includes numerous plasma display flat screen televisions and expensive Italian lighting. Its second floor includes a coffee bar serving latte
Latte
A latte is a coffee drink made with espresso and steamed milk. Variants include replacing the coffee with another drink base such as masala chai, mate or matcha...
s, gelato
Gelato
Gelato is the italian word for ice cream and sorbet. Italians use the word gelato to mean a sweet treat that is served frozen. Indeed, gelato, just like ice cream, is made with Milk, cream, various sugars, flavoring including fresh fruit and nut purees....
and biscotti
Biscotti
Biscotti more correctly known as biscotti di Prato , also known as cantuccini , are twice-baked biscuits originating in the Italian city of Prato...
and lounges that pay homage via museum display, music, and decor to every decade the chain has been in business. The 2nd floor McCafe is designed to compete with Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
by serving cappuccino
Cappuccino
A cappuccino is an Italian coffee drink prepared with espresso, hot milk, and steamed-milk foam. The name comes from the Capuchin friars, referring to the colour of their habits.- Definition :...
, espresso
Espresso
Espresso is a concentrated beverage brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee. Espresso is widely known throughout the world....
, gelato
Gelato
Gelato is the italian word for ice cream and sorbet. Italians use the word gelato to mean a sweet treat that is served frozen. Indeed, gelato, just like ice cream, is made with Milk, cream, various sugars, flavoring including fresh fruit and nut purees....
and Italian pastries
Pastry
Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...
. The building features a pair of 60 foot arches and two stories worth of windows that weigh 800 pounds apiece. It has 10 cash register stations to complement its 300 patron capacity, which is about 3 times the normal McDonald's capacity. The restaurant has three front walls of glass.
Franchisee Marilyn Wright and her husband Ralph Wright have operated 10 McDonald's locations for the past 12 years. In addition to a perimeter of trees, the building has two green roof
Green roof
A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems...
gardens on two levels. The lower one is visible from inside. However, the upper roof is only visible from surrounding high-rise buildings. Neither accommodates customer access. The trash cans in this tourist mecca say thank you in ten languages. The restaurant has separate preparation lines for white meat and red meat in the giant kitchen. The demolished building faced Ohio Street, but the new building is rotated 180 degrees to face the Ontario Street tourist pedestrian strip.
The restaurant was sung about by the cult Chicago musician Wesley Willis
Wesley Willis
Wesley Willis was a musician and artist from Chicago. A diagnosed chronic schizophrenic, he gained an enormous cult following in the 1990s after releasing several hundred songs of simple but unique music, with emphasis on his humorous, bizarre, and frequently obscene lyrics...
in a song entitled "Rock N Roll McDonald's". The song was featured in the movie Super Size Me
Super Size Me
Super Size Me is a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003 during which he eats only McDonald's food...
.
Museum
The south (rear) half of the upstairs portion has a series of displays of McDonald's paraphernalia. Much of it is arranged by decade going back to the 1950s when McDonald's first opened and is accompanied by pop culture artifacts. Downstairs there is a section on the first floor entitled "Chicago Firsts," featuring events and organizations that originated in Chicago.Neighborhood
LaSalle Street
LaSalle Street is a major north-south street in Chicago named for Sieur de La Salle, an early explorer of Illinois. The portion that runs through the Loop is considered to be Chicago's financial district...
to the west and North Clark Street to the east in the River North neighborhood of the Near North Side community area. The building is situated near several other theme restaurants. It is across the street (Clark Street) from the Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2006, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and...
and the Rainforest Cafe
Rainforest Cafe
Rainforest Cafe is a themed restaurant chain owned by Landry's Restaurants, Inc. of Houston, Texas. It was founded by entrepreneur Steven Schussler. The first location opened in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota on February 3, 1994. In 1997, the chain consisted of only six restaurants,...
.
Rock and roll Exhibit
There is display of rock and roll memorabilia focusing mainly on Elvis PresleyElvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
in an exhibit in a separate structure on the same lot. The exhibit includes a set of Beatles statues reminiscent of their Abbey Road album cover
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
.