The Original Hot Dog Shop in Oakland was included in a list of notable diners, dives and eateries across the country that closed this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The New York Times posted on Sunday morning a story about several local famous restaurants that were among the casualties of 2020.
“The O,” also known as the “Dirty O,” closed in April after 60 years in business.
Scott Dodd, a National Editor for the Times, wrote there were hot dogs, for sure, but “it was the fries — perfectly cut, fried twice in peanut oil to extra crispness, served in a massive pile in a paper basket, with side cups of beef gravy or cheese product — that everyone talked about.”
Pitt alum and novelist Michael Chabon shared this memory with Dodd, “I’ve been hanging out with friends and drinking, and we’re all stumbling through Oakland, which is completely dark, and nothing is open except this one shining beacon of the O.”
In which my literary hero @michaelchabon helps me memorialize a Pittsburgh mainstay lost to Covid as part of a @NYTNational tribute to beloved institutions in today’s paper. #RIPtheO https://t.co/4VYQiKndQq pic.twitter.com/6B4b1ESbsn
— Scott Dodd (@scottdodd) December 27, 2020
A tavern in Cambridge, Mass., a New Orleans cafe, an Austin diner, a Filipino restaurant in Los Angeles, and other establishments are memorialized in the story.
Earlier in the year, Mt. Lebanon native Mark Cuban said he was in talks to buy and save the O, but that never materialized.
The most recent plans call for the space to hold two new restaurants.
Two friends and business partners, Maurry Mendelovich and Jamie Rodgers, who spent many a late night at the local institution, are planning to open a taco shop, Viva Los Tacos, at the location.
The other section of the building has been subleased to Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, which started in Wilmington, Del.
Both shops are set to open in the spring.
