Halloween costumes worn by humans is a popular tradition but it’s not often that you hear of a standing building take part in dressing up on the last day of October. Chicago restaurant The Wieners Circle is equally popular for its charbroiled eatery as well as the employees giving customers a piece of their mind through profanity-laced rants while they’re ordering. The long running hot dog stand made headlines once again over the weekend as they completely transformed their spot into the McDonald’s-infringing McDowell’s from the all-time classic film, Coming to America. Via DNAinfo: On Friday morning, the restaurant’s general manager Scott Brooker orchestrated the transformation of the restaurant at 2622 N. Clark St. by replacing the signs, outfitting his staff in red-and-yellow checkered McDowell’s uniforms and even putting up fictional menus and an “Employee of the Month” flier depicting Louie Anderson, who played Maurice in the film. Brooker said the idea came from the new owners, a group of five local investors who bought the 33-year-old restaurant in September. The new ownership was first reported by the Tribune. Prior to the sale, the restaurant was owned by Larry Gold and Barry Nemerow. “The new owners are big fans of shock value. With McDonald’s across the street, it was perfect,” Brooker said. Brooker said it’s the first time the restaurant has ever completely transformed for Halloween — and it wasn’t cheap. “It was definitely costly,” he said, declining to provide an amount. “We’re not going to make any money this week but we wanted to make a splash.” A splash was definitely made. The Halloween stunt caught the attention of Snoop Dogg and Coming to America stars Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall on social media amounting in thousands of comments and views. Beyoncé and Jay Z also dressed up like characters from the Eddie Murphy hit but the McDowell’s makeover may have taken the blue ribbon this time around. Peep some of the photo highlights in the gallery below. — Photo: Instagram/The Wieners Circle
