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