The original Taco Bell building is now a relic in the back of a quiet parking lot

[boingboing]

Originally published at: The original Taco Bell building is now a relic in the back of a quiet parking lot | Boing Boing

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[KathyPartdeux]

[Shuck]

I was curious when Taco Bell started, something not mentioned in even the original discussion of the building. So I find Taco Bell’s own history page, and… whoo boy.

(1951) Glen Bell, inspired by friends and neighbors at Mitla Cafe, creates his own version of the Crunchy Taco.

So he rips off his “friends” who make actual Mexican food, to make his bastardized version?

(1962) Glen Bell opens his first Taco Bell restaurant in Downey, CA, serving what his customers called “Tay-Kohs.”

So the whole business was about marketing mock-Mexican food to white people who couldn’t bring themselves to go to the actual taco places in Southern California (where there must have been plenty, even in the '50s and '60s).

And, oh god, the whiteness continues:

Retired L.A. policemen, Kermit Becky, becomes Taco Bell’s first franchisee, opening a restaurant in Torrance, CA.

So much whiteness I’m snowblind.