Tall Paul (Paul Bunyan with hot dog)

Atlanta, Illinois, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

The Bunyon Giant is a 19-foot fiberglass Paul Bunyon holding a giant hot dog, at 112 SW Arch Street on Route 66 in downtown Atlanta, Illinois. It stood outside a hot dog stand in Cicero before being installed in Atlanta in 2003.

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Tall Paul (Paul Bunyan with hot dog)

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 40.2605° N, 89.2316° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Paul Bunyan is usually shown with an ax, but this one holds a hot dog, to draw customers to a hot dog stand.

According to the historical marker beside the statue, as transcribed by the Historical Marker Database, the giant was made by International Fiberglass of Venice, California, one of the firms that popularized these 1960s fiberglass figures. It was intended for a client in Sacramento, but the sale fell through, and H.A. Stephens flew to Venice and bought it for about $1,900. He bought it in three parts; the fourth, the hot dog, was made afterward. Its job was to catch the eye of drivers passing Bunyon's, Stephens' hot dog stand in Cicero, Illinois. Stephens changed the spelling from Bunyan to Bunyon to avoid a possible copyright problem with the Paul Bunyan Cafe in Arizona. The marker's captions give opening day as 8 January 1966.

The marker says the giant first stood on the roof until a city ordinance required it to be moved to the front door. When Bunyon's closed in 2002, the new building owner did not want the statue. John and Lenore Weiss of the Illinois Route 66 Association proposed to the Stephens family that it stay on Route 66, and it now stands in Atlanta on loan from the family. Captions date its move to March 2003 and its installation in Atlanta to November 2003; Route 66 News reported in 2016 that the restaurant closed in 2003. Volunteers repainted the 19-foot figure, also called Tall Paul, in 2016, four years after it was last painted.

It stands across the street from the American Giants Museum, which lists free admission and free street parking; hours vary by season.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A 19-foot roadside statue on Route 66 in downtown Atlanta, across the street from the Palms Grill Cafe and the American Giants Museum. The museum lists free admission and free street and city-lot parking; its hours vary by season.

ACCESS

112 SW Arch Street (Route 66), Atlanta, Illinois, across from the American Giants Museum at Vine and Arch Streets. The statue is on loan to Atlanta from the Stephens family, per the 2025 marker.

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