Well, of course, where else would you expect to find America’s first feng shui’d fast food outlet? A McDonald’s in the Los Angeles suburb of Hacienda Heights has opted to bag the golden arches’ classic red, yellow, and plast-icky décor in favor of “leather seats, earth tones, bamboo plants and water trickling down glass panels.”

 As the AP reports:

“the restaurant’s owners say the designs are aimed at creating a soothing setting that will encourage diners to linger over their burgers and fries, and come back again.   

One of the owners, Mark Brownstein, explained that he and his partners hope to benefit from their proximity to a renowned Buddhist temple, which is supposed to bring good luck. They’re also betting that the more serene setting will attract the area’s growing Asian population, as well as other customers seeking to “tap their inner Zen,”  as Brownstein put it.

Admittedly, I’m a big fan of feng shui myself, despite having spent my whole adult life as a jaded New Yorker. Some vestige of my Valley Girl childhood compelled me to pick up a promising-sounding paperback called Feng Shui Tips For a Better Life a few years back. This handy little how-to persuaded me that I had nothing to lose by hanging a few strategically placed wind chimes and mirrors, and painting my front door red.

When my feng shui “cures” actually started to work, I became a believer and even an amateur practitioner of sorts, advising friends on how to cope with a toilet located in their “relationship corner,” or a collection of chi-crushing clutter (chi being the “life force”  that gets squished under stacks of unread New Yorkers or neglected Netflix.)

The layout of our own apartment is the reason why Matt and I are so obsessed with food, according to feng shui theory. From Sarah Rossbach’s Interior Design with Feng Shui:

The placement of rooms within a home can affect residents’ behavior”For instance, the room nearest the entrance will, by the suggestive nature of its use and contents, determine residents’ lifestyle at home”particularly if it is located very close to the main door”.

If the first room is a kitchen”the household will be food oriented. The sight of the kitchen will create a Pavlovian need for food, encouraging excessive eating.”

The doorway to our kitchen is barely a foot from the entrance, so food seems destined to be the center of our universe, if you buy into the feng shui concept.

The Hacienda Heights McDonald’s is buyin’ it, and it appears to be boosting business:

Customers are responding positively, whether or not they recognize the feng shui elements.  

“When we first walked in we were amazed, we were happy we skipped the drive-through and went inside,” Andrew Chen said while lounging in a white leather booth with a friend”

“Two workers at the nearby post office said they’ve been taking more lunch breaks at the remodeled McDonald’s, which opened in late December.

“We’re here two, three times a week,” Waldo Alfaro said as he munched on a Filet-O-Fish and a salad. “It’s relaxing, you don’t feel any pressure here.”

Other McDonald’s outlets are taking notice; two additional locations in Southern California have hired the company that transformed the Hacienda Heights McDonald’s. Feng shui may just be the cure to lure Angelenos out of the cars where they eat far too many of their meals, a fact that Michael Pollan is fond of bemoaning.

Pollan admonishes Americans to “Do All Your Eating At A Table” in his self-proclaimed “eater’s manifesto,”  In Defense of Food.  He probably wasn’t thinking of an earth-toned table in a feng shui’d fast food joint when he wrote that, but, hey, it’s a start.

To learn more about the ancient Chinese art of creating a healthy, harmonious environment, enter the World of Feng Shui.