Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Dave's Hot Dogs

Dave's Hot Dogs         216 North Main Street

In the mid 1970's there seem to be a surge of new student hangouts, none of which were hurting for patronage. Directly across the street from the infamous Mr. Fooz came Dave's Hot Dogs that had the right trifecta of student bait - food, beer, and entertainment.

One of the big deals about Dave's was the truly BIG 24 foot square television screen.  As you can imagine it was pretty popular for Monday night football, but during the daytime you were likely to catch the then-current sitcom "Happy Days", movies, or even a soap opera.  They had cable tv (yeah, that was a big deal then) and would post the daily show listings in the front window.

Dave's served hot dogs, of course, but also sandwiches, french fries, sodas, and beer (like Stroh's, Miller, and Schlitz)  While you munched and slurped you could shoot a game of pool, or try your luck on the pinball machines.

The owner and namesake of this fun place was David Mondy Jr. who was an avid golfer, and who went on to own and operate the New River Junction at the McCoy Falls, a fantastic tubing place on the New River.  Sadly, Dave passed away last fall at the much-too-young age of 56.

3 comments:

  1. Dave must have been really young when he owned Dave's Hot Dogs - if he was 56 when he died, he was born in 1954 or so, which would have made him about 20 in 1974! Not sure what year(s) Dave's was in business or when it opened.

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  2. Actually, that's true. His bother Doug was next door to me in Lee Hall. Dave dropped out of VT and opened the Dave's Hot Dogs.

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  3. I think 2 of his boys are collegiate golfers. One at Auburn, and one at VT.

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