Maurie and Flaurie are back.
The iconic 12-foot-tall couple was taken down from the rooftop of the historic Superdawg Drive-In on the Northwest Side of Chicago for refurbishment just after Labor Day.
They returned to their perch on Wednesday morning, “all refurbished and rested,” said Don Drucker. He co-owns the business with his wife, Lisa Drucker, and her brother, Scott Berman. The siblings are the children of late co-founders and figure namesakes, Maurie Berman and Florence Berman.
The newlywed Bermans opened what was supposed to be a seasonal stand at Milwaukee, Devon and Nagle avenues in the Norwood Park neighborhood in May 1948, and a second location followed in the suburb of Wheeling in January 2010.
The signature Superdawg is an all-beef sausage on a poppy seed bun, dressed with golden mustard, tangy piccalilli, chopped Spanish onions, kosher dill pickle, spicy sport peppers and a unique pickled green tomato. It’s similar to a classic Chicago-style hot dog, but different.
The same Superdawg figures went up on the roof on April 28, 1948, 10 days before the original opening. They’ve come down every 25 years or so for refurbishment. The first time was in the the mid-‘70s and the second time in the late ‘90s.
This time, for the first time, Orlandi Statuary in Logan Square restored Maurie and Flaurie, while Anthony Cilia and Ralph Cilia, who work with North Shore Sign and have been the Superdawg couple’s caretakers for 50 years or so, rewired them with LED lighting.
The refurbishment process took a month longer than expected, but the day of return followed a nerve-racking ticking clock that started around 9 a.m.
“We have to pick them up from the ‘SuperSpa’ and get them loaded,” Drucker said the night before about Orlandi Statuary. He ran through the many steps for the return of Maurie and Flaurie by North Shore Sign in Libertyville.
“And we need to get them loaded carefully onto a truck, and then drive them back to Milwaukee and Devon to Superdawg, and then unwrap them and get them hoisted up by crane and everything to their perch, and then we’re going to have to get electricity to them, because their eyes need to wink at each other, and the lights shining up on them so that they can be seen as people drive by.”
Because people have called, he said, asking, “‘Where are they? I don’t know where I’m at.’”
“They’re like a landmark for people.”
It took a couple of hours getting Maurie and Flaurie down, Drucker said.
“We’re anticipating at least that, and maybe a little bit more to get them back up there,” he added.
So why did the whole refurbishment process take longer than expected? They originally estimated three to four weeks. But it’s been about two months.
“The paint was a lot of it,” Drucker said. It’s a special paint, he added, which requires each layer of color to dry for at least 24 hours. “And this was all done by hand.”
Maurie and Flaurie are primarily red.
“But she has a blue dress,” he added. “And within that blue dress, there’s black stripes.”
Then there’s Maurie’s loin cloth, but first he needed his new red paint, then yellow and black details.
“It’s something that’s done only every 25 years or so,” Drucker said. “And it’s one of those things where it was more important to get it done right.”
They didn’t plan a special celebration for the return of Maurie and Flaurie though.
“I think that once they’re back up there, people aren’t going to be that interested,” Drucker said. And to do something later, he added, probably wouldn’t have much fanfare anyway, with anybody. “We’ll put it on our social media, and let our followers all know that they’re back. Come see them in their new glory. And that’ll probably be about it.”
With thousands of likes and hundreds of shares on social media in just a few hours, they may have underestimated the excitement.
What does it mean to the Superdawg family to have Maurie and Flaurie back up?
“It means that we have invested in being here another 25 years, before they come down,” Drucker said. “They will be our beacon of welcoming everybody.”
With a signature Superdawg, ideally.
“If you’re here already,” he said laughing. “Why not?”
6363 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-763-0660, superdawg.com
The secret lives of Maurie and Flaurie, the Superdawg rooftop icons in Chicago
Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here.
