EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : The Last Shake? : Landmark: The classic outlet in Downey has been shut since the temblor. Preservationists are skeptical of the move.

A nostalgic McDonald’s restaurant with a shaky future is even shakier because of last week’s earthquake.

The Downey hamburger stand, one of the last to retain the chain’s original golden arches and red-and-white-tiled design, has been closed since the Jan. 17 temblor. A sign on the restaurant blames the closure on earthquake damage.

But preservationists who have been battling McDonald’s plans to close the restaurant are skeptical.

“I find it hard to believe that it could have suffered earthquake damage,” said Pete Moruzzi, a member of the Los Angeles Conservancy, which has opposed McDonald’s attempts to close the landmark. “We need to get a full accounting of what the damages are, if indeed there are damages.”

Downey building inspector Ralph Ewers said McDonald’s, which has refused to disclose its plans for the Downey facility, barred a city inspector from entering last week.

However, Ewers said, the official did conduct an external inspection, and “we have no reason to believe it’s in imminent danger of collapse.”

McDonald’s spokesman Kevin Mazzu said the Downey restaurant was one of about 60 in the Los Angeles area closed for safety reasons after the quake.

Engineers are scheduled to inspect the restaurant for structural damage as soon as possible, but officials have put the visit off to attend to more serious quake damage in the San Fernando Valley, Mazzu said.

The company’s operations center in Woodland Hills was paralyzed for several days because telephones and other utilities were knocked out by the quake.

The temporary closure can only hurt the Downey fast-food outlet’s future. Last year, McDonald’s cited slow business as the major reason for plans to shut it down when its lease ran out in December. Without a drive-up window and indoor seating, McDonald’s officials said, the outlet was losing about $50,000 a year.

Since the end of the year, the restaurant, which opened in 1953, has been operating on a month-to-month lease and there has been no change in that agreement.

Loyal fans of the restaurant believe that the closure is a precursor to a permanent shutdown and some were distressed last week to find it closed and workers referring customers to another McDonald’s just down Lakewood Boulevard.

“This is my favorite McDonald’s in Los Angeles,” said Cerritos resident Tony Lebretto, 25, who stopped by for a cheeseburger, only to be disappointed. “I hope they don’t shut this place down.”

Downey resident Verna Hagen, who is involved in the campaign to preserve the restaurant, said she and others are outraged by the closure. On Sunday, she and a friend visited the restaurant with the familiar winking chef named “Speedee” to look for damage.

“This is a gimmick on McDonald’s part,” Hagen said. “People are calling to ask me what’s going to happen. It was my hangout. I hung out there when I was a kid, and it needs to be saved.”