Since 1955, Downey has entered a float in the Tournament of Roses parade. It's one of only six floats that's classified as self-built - financed, constructed, and decorated by volunteers.

Here are some highlights.

• In 2002 they won the Founders Trophy for the best self-built float.

• In 2001, it was the Lathrop K. Leishman Trophy for "Most beautiful non-commercial float".

• The 1987 float shows a Space Shuttle labelled "Downey".

• My favorite is Rio Review.

• You gotta see it: Out of Sight.

10:37 AM

Movies that were filmed in Downey:

Spiderman - the old Boeing factory was used for the Green Goblin's attack on the Unity Festival.

Catch Me If You Can - the old Boeing factory was used for the offices of the FBI.

Terminator III - the scene where the Terminator hangs from the swinging crane arm was filmed in Downey. They filmed it at the old Boeing factory.

Austin Powers: Goldmember - Apparently, they filmed part of it at the old Boeing factory...

The city of Downey likes to talk up their film-ic past, because they're now planning a 78-acre TV and movie production complex!

It's part of the re-use plan for "Downey Landing,", a former Boeing/NASA site that was in continuous operation from 1929 to 2002. (Including the testing and operating of California's first low-level nuclear reactor!)

Up to 30 acres will become a new Kaiser Permanente hospital, with another 13 acres earmarked for a public park. But Downey Residents are most excited about the giant "retail center" that's been proposed.

In a reverse of the usual pattern, they'll pave parking lots, and put in a paradise - replacing the current lots with "landscaping that will enhance not only the retail center but also augment the attractiveness of its surrounding." This will include a landscaped pedestrian walkway - which leads directly to the food court.

6:21 PM

Guess what California city has the oldest continuously-operating curbside recycling program?

That's right. Downey.

The 1973 energy crisis led to a pilot recycling program in 1975, with 1,600 homes recycling newspapers, glass, and aluminum cans. By 1995, it was servicing 12,000 homes - 60% of the city - when the program became mandatory.

Calsan's manager for waste diversion says "the residents are excited about it," which keeps the program strong. "[A] recycling ethic has taken root."

9:35 PM

The oldest still-functioning McDonalds restaurant in America is in Downey, California.

It was actually the fourth McDonald's restaurant. The first was in San Bernardino, California in 1940, built by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. That site is now the location of a combination Route 66/McDonalds museum, but the brothers followed it up with restaurants in Phoenix and North Hollywood before opening their Downey outlet at 10207 Lakewood Boulevard.

The brothers became famous for their "assembly line" approach to cooking hamburgers, and the pioneering restaurant was visited by the later founders of Burger King and Taco Bell. A man named Ray Kroc approached the brothers about creating franchises, and eventually opened his own McDonalds franchise in Illinois in 1955. (Kroc also tried - and failed! - to get a McDonalds restaurant into the Disneyland, based on his wartime friendship with Walt Disney.)

Six years later, Kroc borrowed $2.7 million to buy all the business rights from the McDonald brothers. They were allowed to keep their original restaurant in San Bernardino - but not its name. Their newly-renamed "Big M" restaurant remained open until Ray Kroc opened a competing McDonald's restaurant one block north.

Ironically, their original business agreement would now be worth $100 million a year...

You can catch a glimpse of the arches-in-the-building design in this first McDonalds TV ad from 1962. Ronald is played by a young Willard Scott, who had also played Bozo on a local TV station. Ironically, as the camera pans past the golden arches, you can catch a glimpse of the restaurant's original mascot, "Speedee." (In a white chef hat in the center of the outside arch.)

The first Taco Bell appeared in Downey, California in 1962, followed by restaurants in Paramount and Long Beach. "Seafood & Tacos Raul seems to be the latest incarnation," writes one web page, noting the restaurant's original name was Bell's Drive-In. (The maiden name of the founder's wife!) That site is at 7112 Firestone Boulevard, but the first franchise was in Torrance, California, where Carson intersects Western.

1:06 PM