BY MATT LaWELL
SAN BERNARDINO, California | Near the end of old Route 66, in a part of the city where drivers and dreamers once cruised on toward the coast and where better days appear to be pretty much in the past, the Hamburglar grins from on high. His cape is open and his prison garb is faded. He looks old and loved. He also looks a little out of place.
To a city and a nation raised on McDonald’s — especially during the 1970s and ’80s, when the Hamburglar, Grimace, Mayor McCheese and a cast of other cartoon characters joined Ronald McDonald in selling fast food — the statue is tremendously familiar. It stands on the top of an old roadside sign near the corner of 14th and E streets, not far from where the Inland Empire 66ers play baseball, and delivers a hit of nostalgia. It is one of the thousands of pieces of McDonald’s memorabilia collected over the years by Albert Okura and deposited here, in a building on the site of the first restaurant. The collection and devotion are, in equal amounts, staggering.
“This is where it all started,” Okura said in a conversation with the Orange County Register in 1998, not long before he opened the museum. “This is history.”
A quick lesson in history, for those who jumped straight into hamburgers, fries and the monolithic enormity of McDonald’s without wondering how it grew from a California hangout to the global restaurant.
Albert Okura owns a chain of chicken restaurants called Juan Pollo. The corporate offices are in the same building as his monument to McDonald’s and Route 66. There are old statues and playground pieces. The walls are covered with framed photos and eyewitness history. Glass display cases are filled with Happy Meal toys. A milkshake mixer sits in one corner. Metal highway signs are bolted to the back wall.
In 1940, brothers Dick and Mac McDonald (and, yes, Mac was a large man who earned the moniker Big Mac) opened McDonald’s Barbecue Restaurant in San Bernardino. That restaurant featured coed carhops and a menu filled with two dozen items. It did well financially, but developed into a hangout for teenagers and its turnover rate slowed. Couple that with a nation in full bloom after World War II and the brothers decided to shut down, redesign, rebrand and reopen a few months later, with just burgers, fries, shakes and sodas on the menu. Three more locations in the city followed.
Then blender salesman Ray Kroc heard about how the brothers sold 20,000 milkshakes a month and wanted to expand it nationally. The brothers said no. Kroc persuaded them to let him franchise.
Within a decade, Kroc purchased the business for less than $3 million. Today, McDonald’s sells more than 4 million hamburgers every day.
The last seven decades have also been filled with memorable marketing, some of it collected by Okura and deposited lovingly “where it all started.” Okura owns a chain of chicken restaurants called Juan Pollo. The corporate offices are in the same building as his monument to McDonald’s and Route 66. There are old statues and playground pieces. The walls are covered with framed photos and eyewitness history. Glass display cases are filled with Happy Meal toys. A milkshake mixer sits in one corner. Metal highway signs are bolted to the back wall.
The museum is not all that aesthetically pleasing, but what it lacks in display and budget it makes up in content. It has no official ties to McDonald’s — there is another museum out in Illinois owned and operated by the company that aims to provide the official history — just lots of Golden Arches. Everything here has been donated out of some sense of loyalty and love.
The museum is open seven hours a day and seven days a week, free for everybody to walk and linger and reminisce. Tours are available during weekends. Drive quickly enough along the road that provided passage west from from Illinois to California and you might miss it. Slow down, though, and you can dive deep into a sliver of history.
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Time for minor league trivia. The Inland Empire 66ers are one of five affiliated minor league baseball teams — all located in the Mountain and Pacific time zones — owned by Dave Elmore and the Elmore Sports Group. How many of the other four can you name? (Keep reading for the answer.)
Down three runs with six outs left, the 66ers mounted a tremendous rally and delivered one of their signature moments of the young season with a 6-5 win Tuesday over the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. Catcher Jose Jimenez doubled to lead off the inning, moved to third on a ground out and scored after centerfielder Travis Witherspoon singled to center. Then Witherspoon stole second, scampered to third on a passed ball, leftfielder Drew Heid walked and rightfielder Randal Grichuk tripled to center to drive in both and tie the game. One pitch later, Grichuk scored on a wild pitch, the 66ers grabbed the lead, held on for the win and snapped a five-game skid.
For years, the 66ers played at Arrowhead Credit Union Park. Before that, they played at San Bernardino Stadium. Before that, they played at The Ranch. Now they play at San Manuel Stadium — four names, one stadium — named for the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians, who purchased the naming rights prior to this season. The San Manuel reservation, established in 1891 by the indigenous people of San Bernardino, is about 10 miles northeast of the stadium. The 66ers asked the tribe last August whether they would be interested in purchasing the naming rights. “I had to go in front of the council, which is like going to the Senate or Congress,” says Byron Marquez, director of business relations and president of the 66ers family outreach. “I’m addressing the whole forum of tribal members and telling them about our stadium, our history, what we’re looking for.” The seven-member tribal council agreed to a five-year naming deal less than an hour after Marquez presented them the idea. “Having that naming right shows we have a strong bond with the community,” Marquez says. And no new name until 2017 at the earliest.
The 66ers have one of the more iconic caps in the minor leagues — a modified Route 66 shield, with baseballs in place of road sign screws — but they didn’t wear them Tuesday, opting instead for throwback San Bernardino Spirits caps and uniforms. The team played as the Spirits during the 1993, ’94 and ’95 seasons, their first three in the city after moving south from Salinas. They also played as the Stampede from 1996 until 2002, when they switched to their current name and logo.
Want the answer? The Elmore Group also owns the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Triple-A affiliate of the Rockies), the San Antonio Missions (Double-A, Padres), Eugene Emeralds (Low-A short season, Padres) and Idaho Falls Chukars (Rookie, Royals). The group had also owned the Bakersfield Blaze (High-A, Reds) until earlier this year.
And in random statistical news, the game started two minutes later than scheduled, the first pitch was a strike, the first batter singled to right and Mia Rodriguez sang the “Star-Spangled Banner” in 1 minute and 27.1 seconds. We each ate a hot dog — our first in three weeks and part of Two Dollar Tuesday — and watched all nine innings down in the lower bowl with our uncle Tom and aunt Bonnie. Always good to spend time with family.
Matt@AMinorLeagueSeason.com ♦ @MattLaWell ♦ @AMinorLgSeason
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