McDonald’s Mural in San Bernardino By Phil Yeh
Photo by Allen Freeman As we go to press with this edition of Uncle Jam (May 2015) there has been a lot happening at the original site of McDonald’s in San Bernardino. Over three years ago, we started painting a massive mural on the south side of the building that serves as the headquarters for Juan Pollo and the unofficial McDonald’s Museum. Albert Okura, the owner of Juan Pollo, purchased this site in 1998. The site has a number of buildings located there, including The Inland Empire Military Museum. This museum was where Jim Valdez actually talked me into painting a POW/MIA logo after my stroke in 2011. Juan Pollo presents an annual Veteran’s Day Parade hosted by E St. Cruizers Car Club and The Inland Empire Military Museum. This year the 16th annual parade is Photo by Allen Freeman being held on November 7, 2015 from 8 am until 4 pm at 1398 North E Street in San Bernardino. Next door to the military museum is the unofficial McDonald’s Museum. I started painting the south wall of this McDonald’s Museum in 2012, with the help of Rory Murray, Jan Windhausen, and others. My old friend, Sandy Fischer Cvar, from Los Alamitos High came and added the portraits of noted people who were from San Bernardino or who visited. My good friend from Hawaii, Jon J. Murakami, actually flew out to paint some of his Dragons of Hawaii on this mural. The south wall faces the sun and it got really hot while we were painting. The one man who stood out for me was Chester Carlson; Cvar painted him on our mural. A graduate of San Bernardino High School in 1924, his life should be turned into a film. There is a wonderful book about this man called Copies in Seconds, Chester Carlson and the birth of the Xerox Machine by David Owens (Simon & Schuster 2004). Carlson’s mother died in 1923 and he and his father McDonald’s Mural continued on page 39
Phil Yeh photo by Allen Freeman Uncle Jam Quarterly, Volume 42, #105 Summer 2015
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