Who hid the Clown? 40-year-old sign covered at old-time Fort Worth-area burger grill

A 12-foot giant clown is missing from a side wall of Clown Burger, a huge surprise to faithful Haltom City customers and also to new Clown owner Willis Odell.

“I thought the people remodeling our building were going to leave it alone, but for some reason they painted over it,” Odell said after weekend crews obliterated the huge exterior sign painted on the 30-year burger grill at 5020 Stanley Keller Road.

The Clown’s older, historic pole sign, a giant 65-year-old clown that originally stood on East Belknap Street, remains in place at the driveway entrance on Haltom Road.

Crews remodeling the strip shopping center facade painted over a sign added in the 1980s when the Clown moved to Stanley Keller Road 1 mile south of Loop 820.

The second location kept the legacy of a retro hangout where thin-patty burgers, hot dogs and fries are still made “exactly the way they were in 1959.”

Clown Burger’s midafternoon Saturday crowd was surprised to see the workers covering the sign.

“I want to get one like it put back up,” he said. “Maybe we’ll just do it.”

The sign was just repainted five years ago after a city code enforcement complaint about maintenance.

The older pole sign along the roadway awaits restoration.

Odell bought and reopened the restaurant in Feburary after the Louthan family had operated it since 1959. The Clown is now open for lunch daily except Sundaya and for dinner most of those nights, and always Thursdays through Saturdays.

Thin-patty double or triple cheeseburgers are back in style with younger diners who want more cheese and grill flavor, not a thick slab of beef.

Business has slowed since the remodeling began, Odell said.

The restaurant’s front signs are also covered or tough to see, and the center appears to be under repair.

“Some people think we’re closed, or they’re not sure whether they can come in,” he said.

He has updated the menu gently, adding steak fingers, steakhouse-style onion rings and crinkle fries along with the traditional 1959 thin fries.

He also has remodeled the interior, including a new floor for the main dining room. He will probably add the Clown’s first credit-card machine, he said.

The Clown opens at 11 a.m. for lunch; 817-782-9961, facebook.com/ClownBurger.