Famous hot dog mascots at Superdawg on Northwest Side temporarily removed for restoration

CHICAGO (CBS) -- After 76 years of faithful service, the iconic mascots for the Norwood Park neighborhood hot dog stand Superdawg are receiving some much-needed pampering.

Maurie and Flaurie, as the hot dog classic statues are known, have been temporarily removed from the roof of the original Superdawg at 6363 N. Milwaukee Ave., right off Devon and Nagle avenues.

Superdawg's owners say the pair has earned a rest, and will enjoy "a trip to the SuperSpa for a bit of pampering and a little glow-up."

They will be back in just a few weeks, Superdawg said.

Superdawg has been in business at the same Norwood Park location since 1948. Maurie and Flaurie are named after the actual founders of the hot dog stand—husband-and-wife team Maurie and Florence Berman.

Maurie and Flaurie Berman were high school sweethearts who married in 1947. They decided to open a hot dog stand as a business they could run in the summer while Maurie studied to be a certified public accountant at Northwestern University, and Flaurie taught in the Chicago Public Schools, the hot dog stand's website said.

Maurie Berman himself designed the 12-foot hot dog mascots—with the mascot Maurie dressed like Tarzan and showing off his muscles, and the mascot Flaurie looking both cutesy and demure in a short skirt with a bow on her head.

The Chicago-style all-beef hot dogs at Superdawg—with all the proper trimmings, and absolutely no ketchup, on a poppyseed bun—are served in a box with crinkle-cut fries. Among other well-known menu items, Superdawg is also known for its Superburgers; its Whoopskidog take on Romanian, Hungarian, or Polish sausage; and its Supersundaes.

Superdawg also still maintains 1950s-style carhop service.

In 2010, Superdawg opened a second location at 333 S. Milwaukee Ave. in northwest suburban Wheeling—which also features the mascots Maurie and Flaurie on the roof. Superdawg also used to have a location at Midway International Airport, but it closed in 2010.