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January 20, 2005
'West Wing' to feature Hamburg
By Adam Pracht
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Watch "The West Wing" next Wednesday and the cast will appear to make a visit to Iowa City's Hamburg Inn.
Alan Alda and others will be playing the scenes states away from the real Hamburg Inn, but owner Dave Panther said he was excited about the national exposure.
"In the script, they're using our inn so it will definitely be Hamburg Inn portrayed," Panther said.
Alda portrays a fictional GOP presidential candidate Sen. Arnold Vinick. Wednesday's episode -- named "King Corn" -- will place the show's fictional candidates in the Iowa Caucus, said Panther, who read the script.
The scenes in the Hamburg Inn, he said, would re-create the Coffee Bean Caucus that the Hamburg held in January 2004. In real life, and on the show, participants use coffee beans to cast a mock vote for their favorite candidate.
He said researchers for the show had been making regular calls since Hamburg signed on to the script about a month ago, asking for every detail about the restaurant: what their logo looks like, what kind of jars hold the coffee beans, what kind of mugs the restaurant uses.
As the votes are cast on television for the fictional candidates, visitors to the real-life restaurant will have the opportunity to vote for the characters during a viewing party. Panther said it would start about 30 minutes before the show begins at 8 p.m.
Panther said restaurant employees would set up displays on Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton -- real presidents who really have visited the restaurant. He said visitors also could buy T-shirts including the logos of the show and restaurant, the episode name and title and the phrase "As seen on TV."
"Some of our customers have already said they are big-time 'West Wing' fans," Panther said. "So I think we should have a pretty good turnout that night."
Nick Cilek, who designed the shirts, said he and his wife, Toni, plan to attend the festivities. Cilek said the 'West Wing' is his wife's favorite show, but he was probably more excited about seeing his favorite restaurant get national exposure.
"I'll be really proud of Iowa City and the Hamburg," Cilek said. "The 'Burg is known all over the United States. It's a legend. They couldn't have picked a better spot."
Cilek said the selection of the Hamburg probably was born when actor Martin Sheen, who portrays fictional president Jed Bartlet on "The West Wing," visited the Hamburg during the Iowa Caucuses and the restaurant's Coffee Bean Caucus. Cilek said the national exposure was a tribute to the Hamburg's concern with politics.
"They've done a lot of interesting things over the years, and this is just in addition to what they've done," Cilek said. "I think this is in the spirit of what the 'Burg believes in."
The episode marks the second time the 'West Wing' has made reference to the local area in less than a month.
During the Jan. 5 episode "Faith Based Initiative," the character Josh Lyman played by Bradley Whitford deals with "pork" projects and comments that Congress was "handing out pork like Popsicles" including "an indoor rain forest in Iowa." The comment apparently was a reference to the proposed $180 million Environmental Project in Coralville that would include a 4.5 acre rain forest and received a $50 million federal pledge in January 2004.
Posted by Jo at January 20, 2005 08:33 PM