NEW YORK (AP) – It’s a promotion that could have come straight out of Don Draper’s “Mad Men” manual.
Brooklyn’s famous Peter Luger Steak House teamed up with Madame Tussauds to get celebrity wax figures to mix with customers, easing the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic for indoor dining in New York City.
A wax Jon Hamm – known for his portrayal of advertising executive Draper in the hit TV series – can be found at the restaurant’s bar on Friday with a cocktail in his hands. Other figures borrowed from Madame Tussauds include Michael Strahan, Jimmy Fallon, Al Roker and Audrey Hepburn in Holly Golightly in the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” mode.
Peter Luger “thought this would be a fun and safe way to fill some of the places that need to remain empty as we continue to fight the pandemic,” said restaurant vice president Daniel Turtel.
As of Friday, the city’s restaurants were able to occupy 35% of their internal seats, against 25% previously.
Peter Luger, on the market for more than 130 years, will keep the mannequins until Monday. After that, they will return to the recently reopened Madame Tussauds in midtown Manhattan.