Pleasure Palate McDonald's History Tour & Lunch April 22, 2006

Time to tempt your palate with all the pleasurable flavors that Southern California has to offer. Join Pleasure Palate as we do some culinary exploring of restaurants (both high-end and holes in the walls), various food and beverage tastings, cooking classes, potlucks and so much more. From savory to sweet, from salty to sour, from spicy to tangy, from exotic to All-American, we'll taste it all, so come along and take your taste buds on the ride of their life. While today's event will include a tasty lunch, it truly is more about delving into the history of fast food giant, McDonald's!

McHistorian Chris Nichols presents a bus tour exploring the legacy and hidden history of brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald, founders of McDonald's restaurants. We will travel historic Route 66 into the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire, visiting the birthplace of the fast food industry.

Through museums, site visits and the personal recollections of the people who were there, you will learn the true story of the world's largest restaurant chain and all for $50. The McDonald brothers moved to California in 1932 and started an

eclectic collection of businesses before trying their hand at hamburgers and changing the way the world eats.

Sites will include the colonial home of the brothers, store #7 in Pomona, the moody industrial machine shop/museum where many fast food innovations were created and the 3rd McDonald's ever built, the landmark Downey store opened in 1953. Invited guests include former carhop Mildred "Skeeter" Kobzeff, early franchisee Jack R. Widmeyer and neon man Ray Quiel. Rare films and still photos of these early days will be screened on the bus.

Yes, we know FAST FOOD NATION, we know McDonald's owns over 28,000 restaurants, is the nation's largest purchaser of beef, pork and potatoes, is the largest owner of retail property in the U.S. and that McGlobalization is a bad thing. We'll see Southern California before all that and learn about the orange groves, hot dog stands and homemade shacks that paved the way for this Modern world.

A day learning more about history of the largest fast food chain in the world will definitely give you an education unlike any you may have ever experienced, so please join us for what will be a fun day!

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