PINK'S

Not that I needed a shove in that direction but did you ever have a craving for a good hot dog.  I do every time I go to a baseball or football game.  You can have all the burgers and tri-tip you want at a tail gate party but without hot dogs it’s just not right.  Even a backyard family barbecue, no matters how gourmet, must include hot dogs to be considered legit. 

So I’m driving down the 405 during virtual grid lock, early morning traffic on my way to an appointment with my heart doctor in LA when hot dogs come to mind.  It dawns on me that I will be done with my appointment and beginning the drive home about lunch time.  Not too far from my doctors office is Pink’s. 

For those of you not in the know, Pink’s is a hot dog stand at the corner of Melrose and La Brea in Los Angeles.  It began in 1939 as a pushcart location by Paul Pink. In 1946 he traded in his pushcart for a small building on the same spot.  That was 73 years ago.  It is a genuine Hollywood landmark.   

The appointment is the second follow up to an angiogram/blood clot removal/ stent procedure I had a few months back.  After drawing blood and the usual prodding, poking and questioning the good doctor said everything was hunky dory, renewed my prescriptions and said see you in 2 months. 

As I leave his office and head for Pink’s the irony of going from my cardiologist office to Pink’s for a chili cheese dog gives me pause for thought.  Briefly. 

Tooling down Melrose in LA is a treat in itself.  You have some of the finest chef owned restaurants and haute couture stores in the world next door to tattoo parlors and shops selling clothes that if you saw you daughter in them you would forbid her from leaving the house for the next 100 years.  To say this stretch of road is eclectic in style and commerce is to understate the extremes.  I love it because it gives me a taste of what’s going on off Main Street. 

When I get to the Farmers Market area and La Brea I hang a left and there’s Pink’s.  It was the lunch hour and the place was jumping.  I took my place in a long line along with 8 motorcycle cops and 2 medic wagon crews.  It could have been a scene from “Southland”, one of my favorite cop shows about their day to day life on the gritty streets of LA.  The thought occurred to me that if I were a burglar driving by I might think my timing was good because half the local precinct was at Pink’s.   

As the line shuffled along the cops were kept busy by kids wanting to touch their badges and listen to their radios.  They were also quite humorous in discussing their morning shift in cop lingo.  We were all well entertained.

The wall behind the servers is a huge menu with options galore, such as The Brando Dog, Martha Stewart Dog, Pastrami Burrito Dog, Rosie O’Donnell Long Island Dog and many, many more.  Each with description such as the “LA Philharmonic Conductor Gustavo Dudamel Dog with 9 inch stretch Dog , guacamole, American and Swiss Cheese, fajita mix, jalapeno slices, topped with tortilla chips – A REAL RHAPSODY!”  So I went with the Chili Cheese Dog and a Coke in an old fashioned glass bottle.

The dining room and seating area walls are covered with hundreds of celebrity pictures, most autographed.  They ranged from old timers like Marlon Brando and Rock Hudson to Michael Jackson, Steve Martin, Phyllis Diller and Jay Leno.  If your picture was not here I am sure you were not Hollywood royalty.  I am positive I was sitting in the same chair as Betty White once sat because her picture was right next to me.

The dog itself is served on a bun made to be like a bed for the hot dog.  It is placed on a doily and smothered with chili and then mustard.   Picking it up and eating it is out of the question.  It must be attacked with a knife and fork.  But man is it good. 

As I walked back to my car I passed a medical marijuana business with an ATM machine out in front.  Parked at the curb in front at an expired meter was a midnight blue Bentley that cost who knows how much, at an expired meter.  A cop, who I had just had lunch with, was writing up a ticket with a big smile on his face. 

I have made my journey to hot dog Mecca.