How California Became The Unofficial Birthplace Of Fast Food

If you name some of your favorite fast food chains, whether McDonald's, Taco Bell, or Panda Express, you may be surprised to learn that they all have one thing in common: They all got their start in California. And these are only a few of more than a dozen that call the Golden State home. While some of these well-known restaurants began in the early 20th century — like A&W, which launched in Lodi in 1919 as a root beer stand — it was the 1940s and 1950s that saw the biggest boom in fast food, mainly centered in Southern California.

Among them was a small roadside burger joint in San Bernardino owned by two brothers, Maurice and Richard McDonald. McDonald's would eventually become one of the largest fast food chains in the world with more than 41,000 locations and counting across the globe. But back in the 1940s, McDonald's and several other restaurants, including In-N-Out Burger and Carl's Jr., were just small businesses trying to cash in on California's new car culture, able to do so partly thanks to the cheap and plentiful land that had formerly been used for agriculture.

Car culture blossomed in California earlier than anywhere else in the U.S. By the 1930s, Los Angeles alone boasted nearly a million car owners, more than 80% of other states, according to Adam Chandler's book "Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom." On top of that, California's new suburban sprawl also meant more drivers on the road. All those commuters were looking for fast, convenient meals to eat while on the go, and a new breed of restaurateurs were eager to help.

While Wichita, Kansas, was the birthplace of White Castle, the first fast food restaurant, California has played host to the most fast food companies by far. Besides those already mentioned, the 1950s saw the founding of Fatburger and Jack in the Box, among others. The early 1960s seemed to be the heyday for a new kind of fast food — Mexican — with both Taco Bell and Del Taco coming along in 1962 and 1964, respectively, back when you could get 19 cent tacos. Panda Express arrived on the scene in 1983. With the creation of the Interstate System beginning in the late 1950s, the rest of the country quickly caught up to California's sprawling roadways. Before long, many of the state's small roadside restaurants spread across the country and, in some instances, the world.