Over the years, some locations of fast food giant McDonald’s have taken on some very distinctive forms, far different from the chain’s standard restaurant design. Some of the most interesting McDonald’s include one in Sweden that guests can ski into and another resembling a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico. Perhaps the most unique was called “Friendship 500,” better known as “McBarge.”
Built for Expo 86, a World’s Fair held in Vancouver, this floating McDonald’s was both derided and celebrated. Open during the seven months of the international exposition, the 187-foot-long ship could support as many as 1,400 customers at once and set sales records for the time. While McDonald’s planned to operate the location after Expo 86 closed, that didn’t happen. McDonald’s ended up moving the barge, then selling it. Over the years, there were various plans to turn the McBarge into a seafood restaurant and a museum, but today, it’s slowly sinking in Fraser River near the city of Maple Ridge, British Columbia.
Even before the McBarge opened it was controversial
Even before McDonald’s launched the McBarge, controversies brewed. There were some residents who didn’t want the floating fast food restaurant to be moored on False Creek near the site of Expo 86, but McDonald’s eventually struck a deal that allowed them to moor on the river. The company even agreed to give the $10 million in profit it earned from the McBarge and its four other restaurants at the Expo to the world’s fair.
The McBarge turned out to be a smashing success. Along with the other Expo 86 locations, it achieved records like having the highest volume in the world per hour, among other feats. Remember, this was the 1980s, an era often considered the “golden age” of fast food. McDonald’s fully intended to keep the McBarge open after the fair ended, but wrangling with the city and province scuttled the plan, and ended in a $1.8 million settlement in favor of McDonald’s in 1999. By then, the McBarge hadn’t operated in more than a decade.
The McBarge’s sad fate
While Vancouver today still retains some landmarks from Expo 86, including the geodesic dome that houses Science Centre and the city’s light rail system, called SkyTrain, the McBarge had a different, unfortunate fate. The floating restaurant sat vacant for five years on False Creek as McDonald’s continued its fight to keep the McBarge on the water. Although you might expect something like this to happen to a less-known 1980s restaurant chain, such as Beefsteak Charlie’s or Chi-Chi’s, it was surprising that this fast-food giant was unable to keep this unique site afloat.
In 1991, the city forced the company to move the McBarge, which ended up anchored by an oil refinery in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. The barge sat idle for years and although its new owners floated various ideas for the McBarge, including a deep ocean discovery museum and a seafood restaurant — someone even suggested it as a homeless shelter — nothing came to pass. In 2003, it was used as a location for the Hollywood film “Blade: Trinity.” Today, the McBarge, moored on the Fraser River, has capsized and is sinking into what will most likely be its watery grave.
