How “The Hot Dog Shoppe” Got Started

These were some of the questions that I asked myself for many years.I was 10 years old and at a Dodger game when I thought the best job in the world would be selling Dodger dogs at Dodger Stadium. Sounded like the perfect job to me. Sell hot dogs, watch great baseball, and just maybe if I was lucky enough I could meet Vin Scully (the great Dodger TV commentator).
Another time I really thought about owning a hot dog shop was when I visited a small town in Central Pennsylvania with my grandparents in 1986. This was an old railroad town and their only claim to fame was the Horseshoe Curve Railway and that they sold the best Texas Style Chili Dogs. This was a very sleepy town with not much to do for a kid who was in the 8th grade. So I went to this hot dog shop and ordered what everyone else did. Two with everything which had mustard, chili sauce, chopped Onions, salt/pepper on it, Texas Macaroni and Cheese with a chocolate milk to drink. These were the best hot dogs that I have ever had. Even better than the famous Dodger Dogs I loved so much. I was hooked. When we were driving back to California in my grandfather’s 1971 Cadillac, all I could say the whole drive back was that I wish I had two more Texas Style Chili Dogs to eat, and that one day I am going to open a place like that when I grow up.