There’s a McDonald’s in Southern California that’s never served a single Big Mac or container of Chicken McNuggets to a paying public customer. At first glance, it has all the trappings of a suburban Mickey D’s: the oversized sign displaying the brand’s signature golden arches, the yellow-and-white accents and the drive-thru window.
But despite all of its very real, very visible design touches, you’ll never be able to place an order there.
You see, this particular 5,000-square-foot McDonald’s in the San Gabriel Valley’s City of Industry is used solely for filming and production. Tucked away in a warehouse park on a quiet U-shaped side street off the main drag of South Azusa Avenue — which is otherwise home to a massive Walmart, car dealerships and big-box stores including Costco-like Asian market Resco Food Service — this ghost McDonald’s is not open to the public. It’s a point driven home by an ominous 10-foot steel fence that surrounds the property, as well as multiple signs indicating that security cameras are in use.
Welcome to “MockDonald’s,” as some influencers have taken to calling the place…