Happiness Is A Warm Bun

Pink’s has made Hollywood a hot dog haven for 85 years

By Carrie Bell

While scanning the classifieds for employment inspiration in 1939, Betty and Paul Pink spied an ad for a pushcart. A plan started to percolate. The couple borrowed $50 from her parents, schlepped the cart by foot two miles to an empty lot on La Brea and Melrose and worked out a deal to “borrow” electricity from a nearby hardware store using the extension cord the owner sold them. A few homemade signs and a batch of Betty’s special chili later, and the Pinks were officially in the hot dog business.

Flash forward almost nine decades and Pink’s is still the place to go when the hankering for a hot dog hits, as evidenced by the more than thousand weenies and sausages sold daily. While the cart became an enclosed stand in 1946, and dogs cost far more than the original dime, plenty of other details remain the same starting with the name behind the noms.

“Pink’s was my parents’ dream and they worked from dawn until exhaustion every day from 1939 until they retired in the 1980s to ensure it was successful,” son Richard Pink, who is six years into running the restaurant as his “plan B” after a first career as a real estate attorney, said. “I never had dinner as a kid with both of them at the same time because someone was always working, especially after they added a flower shop next door in 1958 and the office building. They were naturally entrepreneurial.”

Not that they ever truly hung up the tongs. “When they were in their 70s, my parents asked my wife to take over but she reported back every day until they passed away. It was their baby,” Pink noted. “Which is why I was glad when the city dedicated this intersection as Pink Square. I want to make sure no one forgets my parents and what they gave to the LA’s food scene.”

Consistency also aids that mission. Pink’s still serves the same all-beef Hoffy-brand hot dogs and makes chili using the family recipe.

“People like the nostalgic atmosphere and the service — many of our employees have been here for 20 years or more so this place runs like clockwork,” Pink said. “But it comes down to the dog and its signature snap.”

Owning the property, which now fortuitously sits in a bustling central neighborhood, also helped the family stay in the restaurant game. In 1941, the then-landlord was going to raise the rent. Instead, the Pinks convinced him to sell for $4,000, which they secured from a lunch regular who worked at the bank across the street.

“If we’d had a landlord who could have sold to an apartment developer any time, Pink’s wouldn’t be here anymore,” Pink said. “Not paying rent helps us get through hard times like the pandemic, the strike or the wildfires.” He also added that it also gives him freedom to have fun like painting the whole compound pink to celebrate the “Barbie” movie. “They tell me people love taking pictures in front of anything pink,” he noted.

The most fun part of the glitzy gig however has been expanding the menu. There are currently more than 40 hot dog-related items to choose from including plant-based and turkey franks. Pink finds inspiration in LA’s pro sports teams, movies (“Lord of the Rings” and “La La Land”) and charitable causes like Ukraine aid or wildfire relief. There are mashups that combine hamburgers and burritos with the backyard staple.

“Just don’t come here looking for dogs with ketchup,” he said, only half teasing. “That’s for children.”

Many are created by or named after celebrity fans whose photos appear in the hall of fame, which actually started as a job board for actors looking to be discovered back in the ’40s. The most popular order, The Brando, was developed at the request of Marlon’s kids who used to visit with the Oscar winner. After noticing the perpetual long line, Martha Stewart stopped to see what the hype was about. Pink pulled her from the line, let her make her own masterpiece and then added it to the board permanently.

The list of collaborators — Shaquille O’Neal, Drew Barrymore and Giada De Laurentiis to name a few — grew as did Pink’s pop culture résumé. It has been used as a location in tons of movies and TV shows including “Glee,” “Bosch,” “Mulholland Drive,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “The Amazing Race” and “The Lincoln Lawyer.”

“You can’t buy that kind of publicity,” Pink said. “We are now a place to visit when people vacation in LA from around the world. If they’re lucky, they’ll have a star sighting while they’re eating.”

As cool as star status is, Pink swears being part of normal people’s everyday lives is more important to him. “We have people who met in line and now celebrate their anniversaries here and people who came as children with their parents who now bring their own kids or grandkids. Some eat here once a week. Most Angelenos have at least one story that includes a stop at Pink’s. I even had a meeting with someone once who asked if I liked hot dogs and suggested we get Pink’s without realizing.”

“Being part of the community is so important to us,” Pink said. “A lot of memories are made in 85 years and all of them are a part of our history too. I hope we have another 85 in us.”

Pinkshollywood.com

709 N La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038