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NY vendor offers hot dogs at 1929 price
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-04 17:14 After 75 years of selling
"the best hot dogs in the world" from the same roadside stand, Mickey diFate
thinks strained squash is a poor substitute. Especially when the wieners are
three for a dime.
So when Craig Rosenberg decided against ordering franks for his year-old
twins Friday, spoon-feeding them baby food instead during the 75th-anniversary
celebration at Mickey's Snack Bar, diFate, who is 96, took umbrage.
"So what if they're only a year old?" he barked. "That's the perfect time to
introduce them to hot dogs!"
He should know. DiFate, whose family had a grocery store in Yonkers and sold
homegrown vegetables at a roadside stand, added hot dogs to the offerings in
1929 and has run his business in the same spot off Jackson Avenue ever since,
except during his World War II service with the Marines, when his wife took
over. He now operates out of his "new" trailer, purchased in 1971.
The trailer, as well as diFate, his late wife and two daughters, are pictured
on the postcards he was signing and giving away to his customers on Friday.
His season begins every April 1 and runs until December. To celebrate the
anniversary, diFate is selling three hot dogs for 10 cents, just as he did in
1929, through Sunday. He said he expects to go through 15,000 franks if the
weekend weather is good.
On Friday, customers began arriving by 10:15 a.m., 45 minutes before he
opened, and even with three friends helping out, the line to the hot dog window
was never shorter than 12 people — and that was before the lunchtime rush.
DiFate, whose short stature serves him sell in the cramped trailer, expertly
grabbed cooked hot dogs from a hot water tank, forked them into buns, dabbed
them with mustard and shoveled them into cardboard boxes, adding cans of Pepsi
for good measure. Some customers tried to pay more than a dime, throwing dollar
bills into the box that served as a cash register, but diFate wasn't really
insisting on any payment at all.
Some of the customers had come to take advantage of the old-time prices, but
most were regulars who said they'd have been there anyway.
"If it wasn't really good, I wouldn't be here even if he was giving them
away, which I guess he is," said Eileen Brooks of Yonkers as she waited for her
hot dogs. "I think it's amazing, unbelievable that he's still doing this at 96.
God bless him."
Joseph Popovic, 64, who works for the Yonkers Highway Department, said, "My
mother and father started bringing me here when I was nine, and then later I got
to know Mickey through our children so it's all in the family now. I've brought
my children here and now it's time for my grandson. He's 3. I might be back here
tomorrow.
"You know, Mickey makes the best chili dogs."
Actually, for the duration of the dime special, mustard was the only
condiment available. But soon diFate will be offering chili, onion sauce, cheese
and relish as toppings and adding french fries to the menu.
"Used to be, when my wife was alive, we did pizza and ice cream and eggs and
burgers and everything," diFate says. "I guess I'm slowing down."
He said hot dogs haven't changed much over the decades but laughs at the idea
that people now want to wash them down with bottled water.
"In 1929 we only served little bottles of orange soda," he said. "If you'd
asked me for water then, I would have sent you across the street to the spring."
Though his six children are all past middle age and unlikely to succeed him
in the hot dog business, diFate is confident that one of his 22 grandchildren or
seven great-grandchildren will keep the roadside stand in the family.
Asked if the business was profitable, diFate said, "I'm not telling you.
What, you want me to go to jail?"
"There'll be something here when I'm gone," he said. "I own this little piece
of land, you know. And I don't need any advertising. People already know where
to come to get their hot dogs."
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