Winking Lizard 86ing Its Live Iguanas

It's time we say goodbye to Jake, Miles, Doby and Lenny.

The Winking Lizard Tavern, the iconic, iguana-themed sports bar founded in Northeast Ohio three decades ago, announced last week the restaurants will be finishing a phase out of their reptilian mascots. Workers at the final three locales with iguanas confirmed this to Scene on Monday.

Co-owner Jim Callum told Cleveland.com that the decision to relocate the mascots, which had welcomed patrons since the late '80s, centered on post-pandemic health concerns, issues with sufficient space and the amount of care they required.

"Ultimately, it's a combination of a lot of things," Callum told cleveland.com. "There's a lot of maintenance that goes with them."
With COVID-19 came a new helping of guidelines from the health department, including worry that the animals, which sat in heat-lamp glass casings, were situated too close to the kitchen. In the past few years, Callum added, "it made even more sense that it's not necessarily the best environment to keep live animals."

Callum didn't respond to Scene for further comment.

Following lizard Doby's eviction from the Stark County restaurant, only three iguanas remain: at the Lakewood, Bedford Heights and Avon locations. Pretty soon, most likely this year, workers confirmed that Bulleit, Frankie and Green Bean will no longer be under the care of chain managers, and will head to a nearby shelter or be sold to a private collector.

"When we do end up re-homing him, we will have someone scheduled to take him," Lisa Beeson, a manager at the Winking Lizard's Bedford Heights location, told Scene about iguana Frankie.

Frankie's cage going dark, Beeson said, won't take away from business. "I don't think people will stop eating here because we're getting rid of the lizards," she said.

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed