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Photos show what it was like to eat at McDonald's in the 1980s
Photos show what it was like to eat at McDonald's in the 1980s
Erin McDowellJul 13, 2023, 00:22 IST
<p class="ingestion featured-caption">A drive-thru McDonald's in Los Angeles, March 1983.Barbara Alper/Getty Images</p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong><strong>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/weirdest-coolest-glamorous-mcdonalds-restaurants-in-the-world-2020-5" rel>first McDonald's franchise</a> opened in</strong></strong> Des Plaines, Illinois, on April 15, 1955.</li><li>Chicken nuggets were introduced to the menu in 1983.</li></ul>
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By the 1980s, McDonald's was already a well-established fast-food chain with an iconic menu and signature branding.
McDonald's restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1980.Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
While some restaurants continued to feature the golden arches, other storefronts looked more modern.
The exterior of a branch of a McDonald's in London in 1985.Harry Dempster/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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Some restaurants were built into large colonial-looking buildings.
Outside a McDonald's as people eat at picnic tables in August 1985.Steve Liss/Getty Images
This Sydney restaurant featured a large skylight and modern seating.
A McDonald's restaurant in Sydney, Australia, circa 1986.Stuart William MacGladrie/Fairfax Media/Getty Images
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By the 1980s, many of McDonald's iconic menu items had been rolled out.
A London McDonald's restaurant in January 1985.Harry Dempster/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Chicken McNuggets were added to menus in 1983.
A woman holds a tray of McDonald's food circa 1988.Steve Kagan/Getty Images
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Employees wore striped bowling-style shirts and hats.
An employee puts orders onto a conveyor belt which delivers food to the drive-in section of the McDonald's restaurant in 1984.Alan Gilbert Purcell/Fairfax Media/Getty Images
Celebrities like British metal band Motorhead were spotted taking photos at McDonald's.
British metal band Motorhead at a McDonald's restaurant in Chicago, Illinois, August 5, 1983.Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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Even then-President Ronald Reagan was photographed chowing down on a McDonald's burger.
President Ronald Reagan takes a bite of a Big Mac, as Charles Patterson chats with him during a brief campaign stop in 1984.Bettmann/Getty Images