Decades

As part of their 50th anniversary celebration, McDonalds opened a new flagship restaurant in downtown Chicago (River North). They tore down the old Rock n' Roll McDonalds (which I never had a chance to visit), and put up (at amazing speed) the new McDonalds, modeled in design after the first. It opened Friday to much media fanfare and there were lines around the block waiting to get in.



The McDonalds itself isn't anything spectacular on the ground level; the food's the same, just more expensive. Well, there's plasma TVs, but that's about it.

But if you take the escalators upstairs to the "living room", it's pretty amazing. They have a "bistro" bar where they have various desserts and gelato, as well as coffee and cappuccino. The front half of the floor has black leather couches and modern decor with clear display cases in the walls holding McDonalds souvenirs and Happy Meal toys. Not what you'd expect from a McDonalds.

But my favorite part was the back half of the floor. If you follow the curve around, you pass through every decade of McDonalds history - in two different ways. One way to see the changing decades is through the seats and the overhead lamps; they change based on the style of the decade. The second is through display cases on the walls - it's like a museum of McDonalds memorabilia and American history! And if you know me, you know that's right up my alley. Pet rocks, Rubik's Cubes, etc... the decade section was so much fun. :)

But no, I didn't eat at the overpriced McDonalds. We put our money to much better use at Portillo's. :)