Tail O' the Pup, the landmark L.A. hot dog stand, still homeless

Trouble is, Tail O' the Pup owner Dennis Blake doesn't have a place to roll it to.

The landmark hot dog stand that resembles a mustard-slathered wienie-in-a-bun -- featured in movies and music videos and considered an important piece of L.A. architecture -- has sat on wheels and been covered with a tarp in a Torrance warehouse since being evicted five years ago from its longtime home.

Blake badly wants to return the Pup to its chowhound followers. But he can't find a spot to put the tiny hot-dog house.

Crafted from chicken wire and stucco, the stand measures 17 feet from wienie tip to tip. It sits between a shiny aluminum travel trailer and a fiberglass-hulled boat at the Wesco Self-Storage Center on Normandie Avenue.

The Pup had a few bites taken out of it when it was booted from San Vicente Boulevard in West Hollywood. But a couple of stucco patches and some new paint will handle those, said Blake.

"The dog itself doesn't need a lot of work. We'd just have to build a kitchen and attach it to the back of it," he said.

Read the full story here

--Bob Pool

Photo: Pup in its heyday, operating in West Hollywood. L.A. Times file.

Comments

[Sandy]

I hope he can find a "spot"for his famous little stand.

[Sandy]

I went to University High Schol in West Los Angeles. I remember sometime back in the early 1950's, some people threw paint onto the statute. So glad they have replace her proudly again.

[EG]

The day the city kicked the Pup outa town was a sad one. Shortly thereafter, the city ripped the basepark outa the ground and replaced it with a parking lot. We loved taking our children to the Pup after school for hot dogs and hamburgers and then over to the park to play. The city of west hollywood seems not to care about our children...