I don’t eat animals yet am still fairly obsessed with fast-food restaurants. Not with the horrible, terrible meals that no one should devour, especially children, but the history of the restaurants, the design, the branding and the architecture of the experience–the way the assembly line was introduced into the food-preparation process.

In San Bernardino, the site of the world’s first McDonald’s, Albert Okura, who claims to have eaten 10,000 of the chain’s burgers and has somehow made it to 63 years old, has built a shrine to his beloved patty pusher. From Gareth Platt of the International Business Times:

At the front of the complex Okura has erected a sign from the 1960s, advertising those 15 cent hamburgers. Inside visitors can find everything from an old merry-go-round to toys from the original Happy Meals.

McDonald’s anoraks will doubtless rejoice in the novelty gimmicks the corporation rolled out over the years in response to various fads and fashions; there’s even a Michael Jordan flying disc, a relic of McDonald’s attempt to ride the b-ball wave back in the early 1990s.

And then there are the mascots. Dear God, the mascots. The old Ronald McDonald figures are so creepy they probably inspired Stephen King. The old Hamburgler design is pretty dark as well; one can only surmise that kids of the mid-twentieth century were less susceptible to nightmares than their modern counterparts.

Most of the items have come from fans and collectors. Okura explains: “We have lots of things people have donated. The original Ronald McDonald character, and the hamburgler, they date from the late 1960s when [McDonald’s supremo] Ray Kroc started getting to the character.

“Customers have donated hats from the 1960s, one lady brought the original McDonald’s straw wrapper, they are probably 70 years old, and we also have old potato slicers. I’ve also got pictures of people who worked there, and their stories, which are on the wall.”•