Rounding the corner of La Brea and Melrose, you expect another Los Angeles strip mall. Instead, you find a line of hungry customers. It wraps past the parking lot, past the pink-and-white awning, past murals of grinning celebrity faces from Aretha Franklin to Simon Cowell. While the line barely moves, no one really looks bothered. Then, you quickly understand why: this is Pink’s, and waiting is part of the ritual.
You’re standing at one of the last true foodie relics of old Hollywood. In fact, this hot dog stand has outlasted the studios that built the neighborhood around it. Since 1939, Pink’s has been slinging chili dogs to everyone from struggling actors to Oscar winners. Yet, the formula never seems to age, although it has evolved. As you shuffle forward in line, you start to notice the details. For instance, there’s the hand-painted sign, the open kitchen and the smell of grilled onions drifting over the sidewalk. You’re not just getting lunch here. Indeed, you are stepping into a piece of Los Angeles history.
Pink’s: Hollywood’s Most Famous Chili Hot Dog
A Pushcart, a $50 Loan, and the Great Depression
To understand why Pink’s matters, you have to go back to 1939. That year, a young couple named Paul and Betty Pink borrowed fifty dollars from Betty’s mother. They used it to buy a hot dog pushcart. The country was still climbing out of the Great Depression, and jobs were scarce. So Betty wheeled that cart two miles to a dusty, unpaved lot near La Brea and Melrose. There was no electricity on site. Paul ran an extension cord from a nearby hardware store just to keep the operation running. Betty’s homemade chili quickly became the star of the menu. Customers could buy a chili dog with mustard and onions for a dime.
The Early Days of Pink’s Hot Dogs
Business grew slowly at first. The Pinks sold only about fifty hot dogs a day in those earliest months. Then, in 1941, their landlord raised the rent by 67 percent, jumping from fifteen dollars a month to twenty-five. Rather than fold, Paul and Betty walked into a Bank of America branch. They had no collateral, but they had plenty of conviction. Somehow, they convinced the bank to loan them four thousand dollars to buy the land outright. That gamble paid off. By 1946, they had built the small stand that still stands on the same spot today. The pushcart era of Pink’s officially ended.
As the years passed, the family kept expanding without losing the original recipe. Their children, Richard and Beverly, eventually took over daily operations. Richard’s wife Gloria joined the business in 1985. Today, the stand serves well over a thousand hot dogs a day. In 2019, the City of Los Angeles made the legacy official. Officials named the intersection of La Brea and Melrose “Pink’s Square.” You can still see the dedication markers on the corner posts if you look up while you wait in line.
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What to Order: 30+ Ways to Eat a Hot Dog
Once you reach the counter, the menu can feel overwhelming. Pink’s now offers roughly forty varieties of hot dogs alongside a dozen types of hamburgers. Start simple if it’s your first visit. The original chili dog remains the bestseller after more than 80 years. Stretched to a full 10 inches, it comes smothered in Betty’s original chili recipe, mustard, and chopped onions on a steamed bun. It’s messy, and it’s rich. Honestly, it tastes like nothing you’ll find at a ballpark. In addition, Pink’s offers vegetarian hot dogs, such as the Vegan Dog.
From there, the menu turns genuinely adventurous. For instance, you can order the Polish Pastrami Swiss Cheese Dog if you want something heartier. Or work your way through the jalapeño-heavy Guadalajara-style options if you like heat. Several of the strangest combinations on the board actually come from celebrities. They built their own custom orders over the years, and Pink’s eventually put those creations on the permanent menu. That’s how quirky specialties earn their names here. It’s also how you end up ordering a “Martha Stewart Dog” instead of just asking for extra toppings. That’s not to mention the Italian-inspired Giada De Laurentis hot dog, topped with glorious mozzarella cheese.
Because portions run large and toppings run generous, you’ll want to pace yourself. This matters especially if you’re planning to try more than one variety. Locals often split two or three dogs between friends just to sample the range. Meanwhile, the dessert case offers only two options: coconut cake or marble cake. That feels almost quaint next to the sprawling hot dog menu. Nevertheless, that simplicity is part of the charm. Pink’s never tried to be everything. It just tried to be excellent at one thing, then built endless variations around it.
Why Celebrities Keep Showing Up
Walk inside the dining room, and you’ll immediately notice the walls. They’re covered in more than two hundred signed celebrity photographs. This tradition reportedly started decades ago as a place for aspiring actors to display their headshots. They hoped a producer eating lunch nearby might notice them. Over time, the wall evolved into something closer to a scrapbook of Hollywood history. Signatures from actors, musicians, athletes, and TV personalities layer across every inch of available space.
The celebrity connection runs deeper than autographs, though. Many stars have hot dogs named directly after their personal orders. Rosie O’Donnell’s stretch dog, topped with chili, onions, and sauerkraut, was reportedly the very first celebrity creation to make the menu back in the 1990s. Martha Stewart’s version piles on tomatoes, sauerkraut, bacon, and sour cream. Ozzy Osbourne’s spicy dog swaps in a Polish sausage with nacho cheese and guacamole. Betty White, Drew Barrymore, and even sports legends like Shaquille O’Neal have all had dogs named in their honor. The tradition continues to grow with each passing year.
The Prime Location
So why do famous faces keep coming back to a walk-up hot dog stand? Part of the answer is location. In brief, Pink’s sits just outside the bustling Hollywood district. In other words it’s close enough to studios and talent agencies that a quick lunch run has always been easy to squeeze between meetings. Of course, part of the allure is nostalgia, too. Generations of actors ate here before they were famous, then simply kept coming back once they made it. That’s not to mention that part of it is also the atmosphere itself. Standing in line at Pink’s puts everyone on equal footing, whether you’re a tourist from out of town or an Academy Award winner craving a chili dog. That kind of diplomatic charm is rare in Los Angeles. On the other hand, it’s exactly what keeps the celebrity wall growing.
Tips for Your Visit
If you’re planning your own trip to Pink’s, arrive with patience and an appetite to match. The line moves steadily, but weekend evenings can stretch well past thirty minutes. This happens especially during awards season, when the neighborhood fills with visitors. Parking is free in the small lot behind the stand, although spaces disappear quickly. Many regulars simply park on a nearby side street instead. In addition, there are a few restrooms on site. Cash and card are both accepted, and the counter staff move fast once you reach the front. However, it does help to know your order before you get there.
The Best Time to Visit
Consider visiting later in the evening if you want a slightly shorter wait. Pink’s stays open until 1 a.m. on weeknights and 2 a.m. on weekends. That late-night window also happens to be when the crowd feels most eclectic. It mixes club-goers, night-shift workers, and the occasional celebrity slipping in for a quiet snack. Whatever time you choose, grab a seat on the patio if one opens up. Watching the sidewalk parade of Angelenos is half the entertainment.
By the time you finish your chili dog, sauce on your fingers and napkins piling up on the table, you’ll understand something. This unassuming stand has survived eight decades in a city that reinvents itself every few years. Trends come and go across Los Angeles. Restaurants open with fanfare and close within a year. Yet Pink’s just keeps serving the same chili recipe from 1939. That kind of consistency, in a city built on reinvention, might be the rarest thing you find on your entire trip.
Pink’s Hot Dogs | 709 N. La Brea Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90038 | (323) 931-4223 | www.pinkshollywood.com
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About The Author
Randy Yagi is an award-winning writer who served as the National Travel Writer for CBS from 2012 to 2019. More than 900 of his stories still appear in syndication across 23 CBS websites, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. During his peak years with CBS, Randy had a reported digital audience reach of 489 million and 5.5 million monthly visitors. Additionally, his stories have appeared in the Daily Meal, CBS News, CBS Radio, Engadget, NBC.com, NJ.com, MSN.com and Radio.com. He earned a Media Fellowship from Stanford University and is a Bay Area Travel Writers (BATW) member.