Pretty cool story, at least to us. Last week, our very own “Mr. MoCo,” Alex Tsironis, shared a piece of local history that connects Montgomery County’s first McDonald’s to the origin of Ronald McDonald and a family tradition that’s still going strong more than 60 years later in Rockville.
As we’ve noted before, Montgomery County’s first McDonald’s opened on January 6, 1960, during the fast food chain’s earliest years of expansion. The restaurant sat on the 1300 block of Rockville Pike, near where Best Buy is today, and more than six decades later, a McDonald’s still operates on that same site.
Back then, the original Rockville Pike location was a simple hamburger stand, built for quick service and takeout. Indoor seating and the larger dining room model did not become standard until the mid-1970s, when McDonald’s shifted toward a more sit-down experience with room for over 100 customers.
Although it was Montgomery County’s first (and possibly Maryland’s too), it was not the region’s first. The Rockville Pike restaurant was the fifth McDonald’s in the DC metro area and the 241st nationwide. In those early days, a full meal of a burger, fries, and a drink could be had for under 50 cents.
Behind the scenes, the location played a much bigger role than most people realize. The restaurant was owned by Oscar Goldstein, who partnered with John Gibson to form the Gee-Gee Food Corporation. Together, they went on to open the DC metro area’s first 16 McDonald’s locations, helping shape how the brand took hold locally.
One of the most fun pieces of history tied to those early openings involves a familiar face. For a Northern Virginia store opening, Goldstein hired Willard Scott, dressed as Bozo the Clown, to make an appearance. The promotion was such a hit that when Bozo was canceled in 1962, Goldstein brought Scott back for future openings under a new name: Ronald McDonald. What followed became one of the most recognizable mascots in American advertising history.
The legacy is still personal for the Goldstein family. Natalie, Oscar’s granddaughter, recently shared with us that she and her mother continue a weekly tradition, having lunch every Monday at the Rockville Pike McDonald’s, the same site where it all began more than 60 years ago.
