Monday, December 12, 2005

Why I Love L.A....



Why I Love L.A.

Reason #43052: Pink’s Hot Dogs

Hot, chewy, and about as “real” as anything in this town, Pink’s Hot Dogs (Hungry? Los Angeles, p. 69) are a bona-fide L.A. institution. Pink’s is the L.A. experience and if you don’t see a celebrity strutting their stuff down Melrose while you’re in line (and you’ll have plenty of time to look around with a twenty minute wait on a good afternoon), you’re bound to see one on the 8x10s that line the wall. But only the truly blessed celeb are honored with their very own hot dogs like the Huell Dog, named after our own local TV legend, Huell Howser, or the Ozzie Dog, named after hard-rocker-come-incoherent-mumbler Ozzie Osborne.

But my love of Pink’s doesn’t come from any of the cleverly named ‘dogs, but from the true L.A. ambience of this Hollywood pillar. As I waited in the parking lot, stomach filled with the beyond-tref Mulholland Dog--a foot-long hotdog smothered in sautéed mushrooms, bacon, nacho cheese, and jalapenos--a balding avuncular man, doubtlessly development exec, stood next to me and said, “You know, if they ever need someone to play a young John Stamos. They should call you.” Not thinking that it was strange that this man, whom I had never met before, spoke to me with such familiarity, or that he suggested that I look like TV’s Uncle Jesse, I thanked the man and we parted.

This is, after all, Los Angeles.