The humble shack of the first Taco Bell in Downey was not forgotten by the massive international corporation.
When the original taco hut was in danger of being demolished earlier this year, Taco Bell stepped in to make sure their "Numero Uno" location, as they call it, won't be put into dust. The current property owners want the taco shack destroyed and want the lot empty by Dec. 1. On Thursday night, the original Taco Bell will be moved to the headquarters of Taco Bell in Irvine.
Taco Bell's Founder, Glen Bell, originally built the first Taco Bell on Firestone Boulevard in 1962. The founder was credited for the popular brand of inauthentic but nonetheless delicious Mexican fast food, which is found today all over the world. This original Taco Bell continued its operation until 1986, when the company decided to shutter it. According to Eater LA, after it was shut down, the 20 by 20 foot building housed an independent taco restaurant, as was reported by Curbed.
"When we heard about the chance of it being demolished, we had to step in," the CEO of Taco Bell told Los Angeles magazine. The patrons of Taco Bell can definitely get a new look of the first Taco Bell when it's going to be transferred to a new place.
According to Consumerist, the 400-square-foot Spanish-style stucco structure where the Taco Bell founder Glen Bell began his first fast food venture in 1962, became a part of the community campaign that ignited the clamor to save it from demolition earlier this year, when the Downey Conservancy determined that the building was in danger.
When this original Taco Bell will be transported in a four- to five-hour overnight trip to Irvine beginning on Thursday evening, it will be lit up "like the Fourth of July" during its trip through Downey, Norwalk, Cerritos, La Palma, Buena Park, Anaheim, Orange and Tustin, says the company.
