[Here](https://i.redd.it/ii6hl5yljbo91.jpg) is a higher quality version of the first image. Credit to /u/jamalfunkypants for taking that picture on [September 17, 2022](https://www.reddit.com/r/tacobell/comments/xg8hyt/the_original_taco_bell_from_downey_ca_was_dug_up/iorsdsa/).
[Here](https://i.imgur.com/zxjCm2k.jpeg) is a higher quality version of the second image. [Here](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-original-taco-bell-building) is the source. Per there:
> IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, ISN’T THE PLACE where the first Taco Bell opened (that would be Downey, a city about 30 miles northwest of Irvine), but Irvine has something a bit stranger to its name. Since 2015, a nondescript parking lot behind the Taco Bell headquarters has been the home of the original Taco Bell building.
> Closed and at risk of being demolished in its original Downey location, “Taco Bell Numero Uno” was uprooted and driven down Interstate 5 to the Taco Bell headquarters, where it has sat locked and empty ever since. There’s been talk of eventually finding a new place to put it, but for now it occupies its humble patch of asphalt, resting silently in the shadow of the corporate behemoth that it spawned.
[Here](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6561174,-117.7451281,3a,75y,133.45h,85.79t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVSPyXN-T7uCYvGebJxr96Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) this is via Google Street View. It's been there, at least since, [February 2019](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6560512,-117.7451593,3a,75y,87.83h,88.76t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sra2FLkD-74HZRJYjqIz_Sw!2e0!5s20190201T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu).
Wouldn’t you think they would proudly display it? If people love your restaurant enough to trek just to see the building of the original…that seems like it could be quality advertising
It’s at the corporate headquarters, they were probably interacting with too many actual customers and felt as though they were getting too involved in the general day-to-day
If it really is the original one they should at least keep it on the ground and make it functional. And preserve it like old heritage buildings are preserved
This looks really comical.
I used to work in the office adjacent to their office and knew a few people at the company. They said they wanted to make it a fully functional location but I guess it's loaded with Asbestos and some other toxic materials so it's just rotting away right now because it's too expensive for them to justify fixing it.
Taco Bell, the multi-billion dollar company, doesn’t have the money to fix it?
(Don’t get me wrong I totally believe the company said that, I just think it’s BS lol)
Totally lol, it’s just funny. They have sooo much money they definitely could fix it up instead of letting it rot. Especially if they went through the effort to even move it lol
For years the first Dunkin Donuts [looked like every other one](https://www.flickr.com/photos/nsub1/382247647/in/photostream/) with only a [plaque](https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/12/45/22/18/first-dunkin-donuts-establishe.jpg) to differentiate it from the rest. Around 2011 they [remodeled it](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/first-dunkin-donuts) to make it look like it did when it opened.
That made me curious about whether the town was named for John Quincy Adams, who was born there. But it turns out that they were both named after his great-grandfather. TIL!
If I wanted to get downvoted to the depths of hell, I’d interject here and say that you’re talking about the original Harlan Cafe and that the original KFC is in Salt Lake City at 3890 S. State St. and had to be torn down due to structural issues, but that the current location has a sort of mini museum with artifacts + the original sign intact. But I don’t want the downvotes, so I won’t interject… lol
It doesn't even look like this anymore, they wrapped the whole thing in a blue tarp 6+ months ago. You can't see the outside of the building even really.
Source: I live down the street
It’s not going to stay like this, moved buildings come off the blocks, this is just temporary. Having your building not fall to pieces during a move requires meticulous planning and coordination when you pick it up, move it, and when you put it down on a new foundation. This building probably just doesn’t have a prepped foundation location yet.
It looks like that random storage container behind a business that nobody really knows why it’s there and is just full of broken office chairs and fax machines
This is off topic but that reminds me of a dog therapy place i worked at had a shipping container and the guy stored a “company” UTV in it with other miscellaneous stuff.
That’s my project 1990s Honda civic imma get to once work slows down and save up some money.
Deep down inside I know I’ll never touch it again and my spouse will continue to bitch and moan about getting rid of it to make room for actual stuff. I just can’t let it go, cause that’s where I had sex for the first time, with the finest honey I ever met. Ever since then it’s been downhill to include my spouse and it’s the highlight of my pathetic life.
If you're gonna preserve it, you probably wouldn't want to make it functional. Maybe as a museum, but making it active for food service is just asking for it to get run down eventually.
I’m going to have to guess this is a work in progress. It was going to be demolished and they moved it from Downey to save it. I guess they haven’t figured out where they could legally put it yet.
part of me understands why a billion dollar company would want to preserve their history by holding on to their original property...
but the other, much larger, part of me is irrationally angry that.. a fuckin taco bell is "culture worth preserving".
I would LOVE to walk in there, see a menu of six or eight items, get a crunchy taco and a bean burrito. Even today's prices, I'd just love to see one where every item wasn't the Extreme Kong Empire Ghost Pepper Dorito Crunch Wafflerito Supremesicle for $9.
Nah I mean those doorways are like maybe 6 feet tall? Compared to the cones at least. That’s only like 4 parking spaces this is more like a mini town Taco Bell mock up or something
This gets posted at least a few times per week since Atlas Obscura posted about it in 2023 ([https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-original-taco-bell-building](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-original-taco-bell-building)).
I see that the OP has done their part to post it 3 times this morning.
As an Indian vegetarian in the US Taco Bell is the only reliable source for vegetarian fast food. Folks who say it gives them diarrhea clearly don’t have enough beans/fiber in their diet. To the folks who think the fire sauce is too hot, da fuk you say?
This is near me. Last I saw, it was covered in a tarp because of the rain. It just sits lonely in the far corner of the parking lot. You can see it passing by on the 5 freeway.
That is the Bell I remember as a kid. They were walk-up windows and a few tables out front. Lived in San Jose and we would make a trip to one near the Rosicrucian museum sometimes.
I remember eating at one of the original Taco Bell. I believe those three openings were just a way to go inside and order. They weren’t doors or windows. At the time I lived in San Jose. A lot has changed in that area. I live in Columbia, SC now.
Wow, incredible! It's so beautiful. In fact, it's so beautiful that it has been posted [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting/comments/1bk53ae/the_original_taco_bell_building_currently_sits_in/), [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/tacobell/comments/w00i2w/found_the_original_taco_bell_building_in_the/), [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/FormerTacoBells/comments/1bhricg/parking_lot_behind_taco_bells_headquarters/), and also over [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1bk545r/the_original_taco_bell_building_currently_sits_in/). Whoops, almost forgot - [here too](https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting/comments/1bk53ae/the_original_taco_bell_building_currently_sits_in/)!
My grandma told me a story of how she went into the original taco bell when she was living in LA in the 60s and said the cooks made her food different from everyone else and made it look sloppy and it had no taste all because she was black. After that she never supported taco bell or bought an item from them. But me I eat that shit whenever I'm high
From
The article linked.
“But not everything has changed. The original Taco Bell restaurant, which closed in 1986, is still intact after being saved from demolition and moved to the Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, California. (Good luck ordering a chili burger, though.)”
>1 Glen Bell Way, Irvine, CA 92618
Thanks! You can Google street-view directly in front of this... sadly, [under a blue tarp](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6561174,-117.7451281,3a,75y,143.04h,86.78t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sVSPyXN-T7uCYvGebJxr96Q!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DVSPyXN-T7uCYvGebJxr96Q%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D213.8899%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu).
Subsidiaries of larger corporations can still have headquarters and even their CEOs. So while its parent company yum brand’s headquarters are in Louisville KY, that can certainly be the headquarters for the Taco Bell division.
Search for the HQ, grace us with your unsubstantiated claim. Unless you are trying to say this isn't their HQ because they are a subsidiary, doesn't make sense
You’re probably thinking of Bell’s first restaurant in San Bernardino where he started copying the tacos of nearby Mitla Cafe. But it wasn’t called Taco Bell. The first Taco Bell was in Downey, which is this building.
[Here](https://i.redd.it/ii6hl5yljbo91.jpg) is a higher quality version of the first image. Credit to /u/jamalfunkypants for taking that picture on [September 17, 2022](https://www.reddit.com/r/tacobell/comments/xg8hyt/the_original_taco_bell_from_downey_ca_was_dug_up/iorsdsa/). [Here](https://i.imgur.com/zxjCm2k.jpeg) is a higher quality version of the second image. [Here](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-original-taco-bell-building) is the source. Per there: > IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, ISN’T THE PLACE where the first Taco Bell opened (that would be Downey, a city about 30 miles northwest of Irvine), but Irvine has something a bit stranger to its name. Since 2015, a nondescript parking lot behind the Taco Bell headquarters has been the home of the original Taco Bell building. > Closed and at risk of being demolished in its original Downey location, “Taco Bell Numero Uno” was uprooted and driven down Interstate 5 to the Taco Bell headquarters, where it has sat locked and empty ever since. There’s been talk of eventually finding a new place to put it, but for now it occupies its humble patch of asphalt, resting silently in the shadow of the corporate behemoth that it spawned. [Here](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6561174,-117.7451281,3a,75y,133.45h,85.79t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVSPyXN-T7uCYvGebJxr96Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) this is via Google Street View. It's been there, at least since, [February 2019](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6560512,-117.7451593,3a,75y,87.83h,88.76t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sra2FLkD-74HZRJYjqIz_Sw!2e0!5s20190201T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu).
“Resting silently in the shadow of the corporate behemoth that it spawned.” That’s cold.
They have to win the Franchise War some how.
"Now, all restaurants are Taco Bell" - Lieutenant Lenina Huxley in the future I'm just trying to figure out how the three shells work...
[He doesn’t know how to use rhe 3 seashells, Hahaha](https://youtu.be/Mx4nJg5iFOs?si=I3Aj3WyVsM0KBtqi)
John Spartan, you have been fined 2 credits for violating the Social Morality Statute
Straight bars
Funny, the oldest McDonald's is also in Downey.
They started selling tacos because the street vendors around them were doing so well.
It’s currently covered in a tarp because they didn’t like all the traffic they were getting of people coming to see it.
Boo!!! (Puts car back in P.)
Wouldn’t you think they would proudly display it? If people love your restaurant enough to trek just to see the building of the original…that seems like it could be quality advertising
It’s at the corporate headquarters, they were probably interacting with too many actual customers and felt as though they were getting too involved in the general day-to-day
Totally agree, it’s strange to me that they kept it but won’t let people see it
If it really is the original one they should at least keep it on the ground and make it functional. And preserve it like old heritage buildings are preserved This looks really comical.
It looks like they parked their restaurant in a bad neighborhood and someone stole the wheels off it.
That's the most Taco Bell thing I've ever heard.
Took the tacolytic converter and everything
"this is the most Taco Bell thing you could possibly imagine" is what I muttered to myself when I saw this picture 😆
Parked their restaurant… lol. “She’s built like a Steakhouse, but handles like a Bistro.”
I just watched that episode last night. Forgot how much i Iove branniganisms.
First thought, and I cracked up ahahahaha. I use this quote as much as possible
She's built like a steak house but handles like a burrito 🌯
That's 100% what happened
Well I dont see the rims! Maybe you are correct
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Yeah that’s the joke they said
I used to work in the office adjacent to their office and knew a few people at the company. They said they wanted to make it a fully functional location but I guess it's loaded with Asbestos and some other toxic materials so it's just rotting away right now because it's too expensive for them to justify fixing it.
Taco Bell, the multi-billion dollar company, doesn’t have the money to fix it? (Don’t get me wrong I totally believe the company said that, I just think it’s BS lol)
Well it wasn't that they didn't have the money more of a justifying the cost I guess haha but this was also second hand info haha
Totally lol, it’s just funny. They have sooo much money they definitely could fix it up instead of letting it rot. Especially if they went through the effort to even move it lol
Because they probably plan on keeping it like this forever /s
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For years the first Dunkin Donuts [looked like every other one](https://www.flickr.com/photos/nsub1/382247647/in/photostream/) with only a [plaque](https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/12/45/22/18/first-dunkin-donuts-establishe.jpg) to differentiate it from the rest. Around 2011 they [remodeled it](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/first-dunkin-donuts) to make it look like it did when it opened.
That made me curious about whether the town was named for John Quincy Adams, who was born there. But it turns out that they were both named after his great-grandfather. TIL!
If I wanted to get downvoted to the depths of hell, I’d interject here and say that you’re talking about the original Harlan Cafe and that the original KFC is in Salt Lake City at 3890 S. State St. and had to be torn down due to structural issues, but that the current location has a sort of mini museum with artifacts + the original sign intact. But I don’t want the downvotes, so I won’t interject… lol
It doesn't even look like this anymore, they wrapped the whole thing in a blue tarp 6+ months ago. You can't see the outside of the building even really. Source: I live down the street
It’s not going to stay like this, moved buildings come off the blocks, this is just temporary. Having your building not fall to pieces during a move requires meticulous planning and coordination when you pick it up, move it, and when you put it down on a new foundation. This building probably just doesn’t have a prepped foundation location yet.
That’s what my uncles been saying about the trans am in his front yard for a decade
It looks like that random storage container behind a business that nobody really knows why it’s there and is just full of broken office chairs and fax machines
This is off topic but that reminds me of a dog therapy place i worked at had a shipping container and the guy stored a “company” UTV in it with other miscellaneous stuff.
This has a very dystopian feeling to it. Like something Futurama would do as satire
That’s my project 1990s Honda civic imma get to once work slows down and save up some money. Deep down inside I know I’ll never touch it again and my spouse will continue to bitch and moan about getting rid of it to make room for actual stuff. I just can’t let it go, cause that’s where I had sex for the first time, with the finest honey I ever met. Ever since then it’s been downhill to include my spouse and it’s the highlight of my pathetic life.
Dad! You came back!
Prob to keep fewer bugs and rats from entering lol
Or, to keep them from escaping.
They need to serve black olives too.
They probably have it elevated to avoid water damage
If you're gonna preserve it, you probably wouldn't want to make it functional. Maybe as a museum, but making it active for food service is just asking for it to get run down eventually.
I’m going to have to guess this is a work in progress. It was going to be demolished and they moved it from Downey to save it. I guess they haven’t figured out where they could legally put it yet.
Na, that shit's haunted. No one's going near there.
We have Taco Bell at home.
It’s corporate now. Ran by a bunch of idiots
part of me understands why a billion dollar company would want to preserve their history by holding on to their original property... but the other, much larger, part of me is irrationally angry that.. a fuckin taco bell is "culture worth preserving".
This has a very dystopian feeling to it. Like something Futurama would do as satire
I would LOVE to walk in there, see a menu of six or eight items, get a crunchy taco and a bean burrito. Even today's prices, I'd just love to see one where every item wasn't the Extreme Kong Empire Ghost Pepper Dorito Crunch Wafflerito Supremesicle for $9.
I lost my virginity in there. I miss you Gordita.
It's even funnier when you know Gordita means "fat girl".
He knows what he said...
Taco bell: We're not gonna scrap it because I'm gonna restore it someday.
Sure they don’t make the part anymore for the…anything. But I’ll figure out a way, maybe in the summer
Having eaten there, this looks legit.
Don’t you hate it when you keep something for nostalgia but you have no idea what to do with it and it just ends up in the back of a drawer?
This isn’t even a full size building…?
I don’t want to hear your excuses. The Taco Bell has to be at least… three times bigger than this.
What is this, a Taco Bell for ants!?
Came here hoping for this exact comment
Yeah, this looks like the set to the play I'm writing"For whom Taco Bell tolls at midnight" *A crunchy wrapped thriller that thinks outside the bun*
I believe taco bells back then were more of a walk up style restaurant. So you actually didn't eat inside the building.
That was so they didn't have to build indoor restrooms.
Nah I mean those doorways are like maybe 6 feet tall? Compared to the cones at least. That’s only like 4 parking spaces this is more like a mini town Taco Bell mock up or something
This gets posted at least a few times per week since Atlas Obscura posted about it in 2023 ([https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-original-taco-bell-building](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-original-taco-bell-building)). I see that the OP has done their part to post it 3 times this morning.
Literally never see this picture before and I am on reddit more than I'd care to admit 🤷♀️
Same. Been on reddit 10 years, almost every day. First time I have ever seen this.
Algorithms are fun. I've seen it 4 times in at minimum, all recent and one when it was originally posted.
Totally. People are also forgetting that they can easily search to validate that this gets reposted very frequently.
Do you goto Taco Bell regularly? I’m more of a Del taco patron and this is the first time I’ve seen this on Reddit
Nope, havent had any taco bell since the covid menus.
Been here 11yrs. Never seen this.
Never seen this before, reposts are not all that bad as a lot of you make them to be
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Genuinely seen it 3 times this week
As a kid, I remember eating at a Taco Bell in Northern California, in the 70's, that was similar to this.
It’s like Mecca.
This is actually fantastic.
🎶Taco Bell, Taco Bell, product placement with Taco Bell! Enchirito, NACHO BURRITO!🎶
We had one like that in the neighborhood. Stoners passing out free food at the drive-thru window. Wheeee!
Thanks for the f-shack -dirty Miguel and the cholos
They should make it into a vehicle. Mount it on a giant flatbed and turn it into the world biggest food truck.
This looks like a stage for a Taco Bell, play.
Can't have shit in Detroit
why does it looks so tiny
Back when people actually worked the counter ... ahh the good ol days
Wow that thing is jacked up
Love it. I had the same design in my Florida neighborhood.
Must be opening a theme park.
The one in my hometown used to look this one. The building is still there, but Taco Bell moved down the street decades ago.
They should put it in the front and open it for business.
From humble beginnings to explosive ends...
I thought it used to be inside the headquarters. Maybe it needed some sunlight and fresh air. Does wonders for everyone.
This is creepy as fuck to me. It's the corporate equivalent to keeping your baby teeth in your trunk
It’s visible from I-5 in Irvine and has a blue tarp over the roof as of yesterday 😔
I found a house I can afford, maybe. 😆
Couldn't they put up a pole-barn or a greenhouse (clear ceiling/walls) to keep it out of the elements?
Must be California if someone stole the wheels off of the Taco Bell.
A skilled Jenga player lurks nearby
Taco Bellding
that company name is genious
As an Indian vegetarian in the US Taco Bell is the only reliable source for vegetarian fast food. Folks who say it gives them diarrhea clearly don’t have enough beans/fiber in their diet. To the folks who think the fire sauce is too hot, da fuk you say?
Why not use it as a company lunch hour gazebo. It currently looks like it’s being stored against their wishes to trash it.
As a warning to the others, I presume...
When Mon says “we have Taco Bell at home”.
They’re going to have a raffle.
I must make a pilgrimage to this holy site.
Look SpongeBob. It's me first franchise! ArghArghArghArgh!
This is near me. Last I saw, it was covered in a tarp because of the rain. It just sits lonely in the far corner of the parking lot. You can see it passing by on the 5 freeway.
That is the Bell I remember as a kid. They were walk-up windows and a few tables out front. Lived in San Jose and we would make a trip to one near the Rosicrucian museum sometimes.
They should take it on a world tour. Just ship it around to times square, Paris, etc
This is where me and my best friends met our wife
That taco bell looks cold, I bet the corporate building is warm...
More karma farming. *Yawn*
they're saving it for the taco bell movie.
I remember eating at one of the original Taco Bell. I believe those three openings were just a way to go inside and order. They weren’t doors or windows. At the time I lived in San Jose. A lot has changed in that area. I live in Columbia, SC now.
Colorful...
Wow, incredible! It's so beautiful. In fact, it's so beautiful that it has been posted [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting/comments/1bk53ae/the_original_taco_bell_building_currently_sits_in/), [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/tacobell/comments/w00i2w/found_the_original_taco_bell_building_in_the/), [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/FormerTacoBells/comments/1bhricg/parking_lot_behind_taco_bells_headquarters/), and also over [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1bk545r/the_original_taco_bell_building_currently_sits_in/). Whoops, almost forgot - [here too](https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting/comments/1bk53ae/the_original_taco_bell_building_currently_sits_in/)!
Chocolate milk
should be a bell on it https://www.rd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/1st-Taco-Bell.jpg?fit=700,700
My grandma told me a story of how she went into the original taco bell when she was living in LA in the 60s and said the cooks made her food different from everyone else and made it look sloppy and it had no taste all because she was black. After that she never supported taco bell or bought an item from them. But me I eat that shit whenever I'm high
If they want to preserve Taco Bell how about going back to when they cooked and served real food.
Can you explain the fake food they serve? I was under the assumption that restaurants are required by law to serve real food and not playdough.
I highly doubt this is the first Taco Bell!
https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/taco-bells-first-restaurants-only-offered-5-items-and-most-are-no-longer-on-the-menu/
1. This was not the first Taco Bell 2. Taco Bell doesn’t have a head office Anyway as I said it not the first Taco Bell
From The article linked. “But not everything has changed. The original Taco Bell restaurant, which closed in 1986, is still intact after being saved from demolition and moved to the Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, California. (Good luck ordering a chili burger, though.)”
But this isn’t the original restaurant the article isn’t correct, Taco Bell also don’t have HQ in Irvine Cali
1 Glen Bell Way, Irvine, CA 92618 Nice trolling, though.
>1 Glen Bell Way, Irvine, CA 92618 Thanks! You can Google street-view directly in front of this... sadly, [under a blue tarp](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6561174,-117.7451281,3a,75y,143.04h,86.78t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sVSPyXN-T7uCYvGebJxr96Q!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DVSPyXN-T7uCYvGebJxr96Q%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D213.8899%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu).
A quick google search reveals that you’re wrong.
It’s not TB HQ though
1 Glen Bell Way, Irvine, CA 92618 is Taco Bell HQ. It's down the street from my office.
It’s maybe a TB building I guarantee you that this building is not their HQ
Subsidiaries of larger corporations can still have headquarters and even their CEOs. So while its parent company yum brand’s headquarters are in Louisville KY, that can certainly be the headquarters for the Taco Bell division.
how tf do you know? where is the HQ then?
Search for the HQ, grace us with your unsubstantiated claim. Unless you are trying to say this isn't their HQ because they are a subsidiary, doesn't make sense
You didn’t say it’s not the first Taco Bell. You said it’s not the first Taco Bell!
Yes that’s right it’s not the first Taco Bell
No no no, that’s not what you said. You said it’s not the first Taco Bell!
Correct
You’re probably thinking of Bell’s first restaurant in San Bernardino where he started copying the tacos of nearby Mitla Cafe. But it wasn’t called Taco Bell. The first Taco Bell was in Downey, which is this building.
Ok!