LANCASTER, Pa.-- The McDonald's sign at the restaurant on Columbia Avenue is iconic. It has been there for more than 50 years.
"McDonald's started off selling hamburgers, fries, coke and a shake," store owner Bill Brown said. "That sign symbolizes that simpler time."
Customers we spoke with said the sign brings back memories from that simpler time.
"It was the hangout place," Leena Wise of Lancaster said. "It was the hangout place in Lancaster."
The sign was place in 1962, and its age was starting to show. There are parts where it is rusting away. Brown said the sign was deemed unsafe.
"It just seems, it's time for it to be taken down," Brown said.
He looked for someone to fix it up, but he had no luck. It seemed that the sign could be scraped, but it started to draw the attention of a new owner.
"I called Bill up and basically asked if I could get the sign," McDonald's collector Michael Fountaine said.
Fountaine, who lives in the Lehigh Valley, has worked for McDonald's for almost 50 years. He has collected about 75,000 McDonald's pieces.
"It's going to be dismantled, which I will make sure it's carefully done," Fountaine said. "I will number each piece to make sure it's put back together correctly."
He said he wants his pieces to become part of a McDonald's museum. He plans to charge an admission that would help fund Ronald McDonald House Charities.
This sign would be placed indoors. The sign is one only a few of its kind still in country.
Brown said it's sad the sign is leaving. The restaurant will now have a sign like most others across the area. He said he is glad to see it go to a owner like Fountaine.
Deconstruction for the sign will begin the week of April 18th.
Check out Fountaine's collection of memorabilia: