Open since the '70s, this Calif. McDonald's has never served a single customer

There’s a McDonald’s in Southern California that’s never served a single Big Mac or container of Chicken McNuggets to a paying public customer. At first glance, it has all the trappings of a suburban Mickey D’s: the oversized sign displaying the brand’s signature golden arches, the yellow-and-white accents and the drive-thru window.

But despite all of its very real, very visible design touches, you’ll never be able to place an order there.

You see, this particular 5,000-square-foot McDonald’s in the San Gabriel Valley’s City of Industry is used solely for filming and production. Tucked away in a warehouse park on a quiet U-shaped side street off the main drag of South Azusa Avenue — which is otherwise home to a massive Walmart, car dealerships and big-box stores including Costco-like Asian market Resco Food Service — this ghost McDonald’s is not open to the public. It’s a point driven home by an ominous 10-foot steel fence that surrounds the property, as well as multiple signs indicating that security cameras are in use.

Welcome to “MockDonald’s,” as some influencers have taken to calling the place.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the McDonald’s Production Center was built in 1978 for $1 million to give the company an easily customizable space to film commercials without disturbing business at an operating franchise. There are actually two MockDonald’s on the same site: one built to look like a suburban outpost, another to look like it’s smack-dab in the middle of a city.

Its location was intentional. Many of the company’s food suppliers are in the City of Industry. Plus, the proximity to Hollywood means that actors are readily available to shoot commercials alongside characters like Ronald McDonald, Grimace and the rest of the McDonaldland crew. By 1988, 1,000 commercials had already been filmed there, per the LA Times.

Of course, this being a working studio, there are some bells and whistles to create McMovie magic. According to the Times, the ceilings are higher than a regular McDonald’s so that lighting can be easily installed, and there are dressing rooms downstairs. In order to keep the space a blank slate, there are no prices listed on the menu above the cash registers. Outside, trees can be rolled around to accommodate different setups, and even the sign can be rotated to face any direction needed. 

But real food is made here. There are two kitchens within the production center, Los Angeles Magazine reports. One has the standard McDonald’s equipment (fry baskets, griddles, etc.), while another is stocked with accoutrements like dry ice and sesame seeds for food stylists to make Quarter Pounders ready for their close-ups. Dining room furniture and staff uniforms are also heavily stocked so that production teams can change the setup to mimic any sort of McDonald’s, whether domestic or international.

“We could be open for business tomorrow if we wanted,” Linda Magruder-Briggs, then the advertising production manager for McDonald’s, told the Times in 1988.

Even Hollywood itself has gotten in on the McPhoniness: Scenes from movies like “Mac and Me” have been filmed at the McDonald’s Production Studio.

It’s not hard to find cheeseburger history around Southern California, especially when it comes to home-grown brands like McDonald’s. The oldest operating McD’s location in the world is still going strong in Downey, southwest of City of Industry, and out east in San Bernardino, the lost site of the first McDonald’s stand has been converted an odd and very unofficial museum. 

Of course, anyone who seeks out or stumbles upon the studio shouldn’t despair if they need a meal. There’s an operating McDonald’s about 2 miles away on Colima Road in City of Industry — so piping-hot fries are attainable in a short drive.

SFGATE reached out to McDonald’s for additional commentary but did not hear back in time for publication.

McDonald’s Production Center, 17030 Green Drive, City of Industry.