- Yocco's on Hamilton St. in Allentown has put up a hotdog statue, who is wearing an American flag and squirting ketchup on his own head
- The statue is made of hard plastic, and sat in storage for decades
- Some work on the roof presented the perfect opportunity to have him put on the roof by a bucket truck, owner Gary Iacocca said
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — If anyone wasn't sure that Yocco's sells hot dogs, it's abundantly clear now at one location.
A giant, hard plastic, cartoonish-faced hot dog that has been hidden in storage for more than 15 years has a new home: on the roof of Yocco's at 2128 Hamilton St.
The hot dog from his perch wears nothing but an American flag, a bun, socks and sneakers — with real shoelaces for some reason. He is squirting ketchup on his head and holding a container of mustard, perhaps planning to lather up with that next.
The figure is about 7-feet-tall, and does not officially have a name — though the owner of Yocco's said he's open to suggestions.
And if you look closely, you can see a bit of muscle tone on his arms, which suggests he may have had time to lift weights while he was locked up in storage so long.
'Yeah let's do it'
Gary Iacocca, who owns the iconic Lehigh Valley hot dog chain, said the idea of putting the hot dog man on the roof has been on his mind for decades — which may be the world record for longest time spent thinking about a hot dog statue.
"I've had in the back of my head for 15, 20 years that I wanted to do something with the thing," Iacocca said with a laugh Wednesday. "And, again, the opportunity came when we had some work that was getting done on our roof of [Yocco's] West at Hamilton Street, and I just said, 'Hey, what do you think? Can we get this thing up there?' And everybody was like, 'Yeah, let's do it.'"
So, Iacocca and a team of contractors used a bucket lift, while doing some roof work, and hoisted the hot dog on to the top of the building.
"The roofers thought it was great, and you know, we had to make sure it's secure on the roof, you know, certainly the roof can handle that. It's not super heavy."
The contractors were apparently star-struck by the hot dog, and asked to have their photo taken with him.
Iacocca said the integrity of the roof, being an older older building, was one of the main barriers he's had over the years to putting the hot dog on display. He originally spitballed the idea of putting him at the Liberty Street location, but had concerns about its structural durability.
"I've had in the back of my head for 15, 20 years that I wanted to do something with the thing, and, again, the opportunity came when we had some work that was getting done on our roof at West at Hamilton Street, and I just said, 'Hey, what do you think? Can we get this thing up there?' And everybody was like, 'Yeah, let's do it.'"Gary Iacocca, owner of Yocco's
Now, with a new HVAC system and some other roof work done, it's the giant, patriotic hot dog's time to shine.
Where did he come from?
Iacocca said he can't remember exactly where and when he bought the thing, but racked his brain and came up with a theory.
"I think I saw it at the Chicago Food Show, which I used to go to on a regular basis and I just had to have one," he said.
Unlike other statues on display within the Yocco's string of restaurants, this one is actually not the authentic Yocco hot dog. He's not wearing a crown, and there is no signature Yocco's chili sauce involved (some would even say the ketchup in this one's hand is sacrilegious to the Lehigh Valley hot dog scene).
"I would have loved if it was our Yocco's chili sauce, but I don't think it would look so good on top of that guy," Iacocca said. "But it would certainly taste good."
There are some custom-made Yocco's hot dog character statues throughout the restaurants. Iacocca refers to those as the "Yocco man" — about five of them in total. They're made of porcelain, and were hand-sculpted by an artist about 35 years ago.
One of them is behind the counter at Hamilton Street, and the staff like to put seasonal outfits on him, for Christmas, Easter, and the like. Right now, he's wearing a Philadelphia Eagles hat.
He is visibly aging, and had to be dusted off before having his photo taken. A store manager joked that he was "camera shy."
An American icon
The reason this particular hot dog stood out to Iacocca was his patriotism.
"He's got a big smile on his face, and an American flag wrapped around him, which is kind of cool — kind of why I bought him, actually."
"I mean let's face it," Iacocca said. "Hot dogs are all-American, and I think that's the idea."
Hot dogs actually come from Germany, but the addition of the bun is likely American.
"We're in the hot dog business, which means we like to have fun, you know, we all needed something fun right now, so I think it's just fun to be up there, and if people get a kick out of, it terrific. Why not?"Gary Iacocca, owner of Yocco's
Iacocca acknowledges that the hot dog statue was not custom made, and might have even belonged to another hot dog shop before.
"I mean, there's probably other ones out there," he said. "I wish I could tell you that I had it made for us. But that would have been impossible. It's sturdy. I mean that sucker's like a rock."
Even though the still-nameless hot dog is technically adopted, Iacocca loves him like one of his own.
"Now you know, the guy's squirting ketchup on his head and holding some mustard, so it doesn't have our onions and chili sauce on it but I don't think you're gonna find that anywhere," Iacocca said with a laugh.
The interest spurred by the rooftop frankfurter wasn't lost on Iacocca. He's very much "in on the joke," and doesn't appear to shy away from the oddity and humor of hoisting a giant hot dog statue on his roof.
"We're in the hot dog business, which means we like to have fun," he said.
"You know, we all needed something fun right now, so I think it's just fun to be up there. And if people get a kick out of it, terrific. Why not?"
