McDowell's from Eddie Murphy's Coming to America, Now a Wendy's
Monday September 13, 2004
Eddie Murphy's 1988 comedy Coming to America tells the story of an African prince who goes to find his future wife and queen in a land fit for a king's spouse: Queens. With Arsenio Hall as Semmi, his sidekick , Murphy's Prince Akeen gets a job at McDowell's, a knock-off McDonald's, run by the slightly zany Cleo McDowell (played by John Amos). The prince falls in love with Cleo's daughter and after a series of misadventures ends up marrying her.
Coming to America was filmed on location in Queens. McDowell's is still here (though it's now a Wendy's) smack dab in the middle of Elmhurst's Chinatown, on Queens Boulevard, near Broadway.
Best lines: Cleo McDowell: "Look...me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's...I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds. "
More: Top 5 Eddie-est Eddie Murphy Movies
Comments
wow very interesting to know it’s a real place and still there! i’m watching coming to america now, great film.
I once interviewed Barry Blaustein (co-writer) of the movie. He told me that while they were converting the Wendy’s location to McDowell’s…the manager of a REAL McDonald’s located a few blocks west on Queens Boulevard came down the set irate and threatening to sue. Art does imitate life. *lol*