Today is National Hot Dog Day, established by the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. It’s a marketing ploy, although it’s hard to believe that hot dogs need marketing. They are considered one of the “all-American” foods and, by one estimate; Americans eat 20 billion hot dogs each year.
The origin of hot dogs is obscure but most likely they grew out of the pork sausages developed in Frankfort, Germany, in the 1200s, which were commonly called “frankfurters.” Then they travelled to Vienna, Austria, in the 1600s, where beef was added to the mixture and these were known as “wieners.” They came to the USA with German immigrants in the 1800s.
Who first put them on a bun is disputed. One claim is that this happened at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, and we’ll go with that for this post since we are in Chicago. (Other claims are Coney Island in New York as early as the 1860s; St. Louis, MO, street vendors in the 1880s; and the St. Louis World Fair in 1904.)
Also not known with certainty is how they got the name “hot dog.” The term “dog” was used for sausage going back to the 1800s because in Germany some sausage makers did use dog meat in sausage. Another theory is that they were called this after the little German dachshunds. And they were served hot. By 1900, “hot dog” and “red hot” were in common usage.
Hot dogs became firmly and forever entrenched in American culture when they became associated with America’s “pastime” – baseball. Today, they are a critical part of “Chicago street cuisine.”
And what better place to enjoy a hot dog on the Ridge than the historic Janson’s Drive-In at 9900 S. Western Ave.? The Beverly Review ran an announcement for the opening of this new “fast-food drive-in” restaurant in 1960. The house specialty, a banana milkshake, cost 50 cents.
Janson’s remains a true drive-in today, with no indoor seating in its distinctive A-frame building with the orange roof line. The neon sign still lights up the night sky. Bright, flashing neon signs reached their peak in the 1950s–1960s, then began to decline due to the expense of production. Janson’s frequently shows up today on lists of “roadside attractions,” places worth stopping to visit.
Janson’s made television history when it appeared in the TV series Crime Story starring the late Dennis Farina, Chicago police officer turned actor. The opening scene of the first episode was filmed at Janson’s with Del Shannon’s song “Runaway” playing in the background. The clip can be viewed on YouTube; just enter “crime story opening scene.”
These photos of Janson’s are from today, taken by C. Flynn. The water color painting is the creation of Beverly resident and artist Judie Anderson.