Sharing a hot dog with Tony Fitzpatrick: “You can tell a real pervert when they put ketchup on a hot dog!”

There are few things as Chicago as the Chicago-style hot dog, and now that Memorial Day weekend is on its way, Chicagoans are going to be eating a whole lot more of the distinctive menu item. Everyone has a favorite spot, and in this video from sometime around 1990, multimedia artist and character extraordinaire Tony Fitzpatrick takes us downtown to show us his favorite Chicago hot dog joint.

Joined by his friend Marcus Casa Madrid and videomaker Joe Angio, Fitzpatrick takes us inside Gold Coast Dogs to share a couple char dogs, muse about the virtues of the humble frankfurter, and chat with the owner Barry Potekin about how hot dogs saved his life.

The original Gold Coast Dogs is gone now, but the franchise remains, so you can still find the beloved char dog near Randolph and Wabash downtown or at Union Station, O’Hare, and Midway. Just don’t ask for ketchup.

For more on Tony Fitzpatrick, you can check out his blog and his new book Dime Stories.

Barry Potekin and the story of how he started Gold Coast Dogs was also the focus of another delightful video piece by Chuck Olin Associates featured in an episode of Image Union about “Chicago Characters.”

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Sharing a hot dog with Tony Fitzpatrick: “You can tell a real pervert when they put ketchup on a hot dog!”

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