Bob Schwartz is standing at the counter of Murphy’s Red Hots in Wrigleyville, telling counterman Bill Murphy about his last visit to the cardiologist.
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Schwartz knows his Polish. He calls himself the “official schmoozer” of Vienna’s 1,200-some vendors and, as the bio in his new book Never Put Ketchup on a Hot Dog (out September 2 from Chicago’s Books Press) puts it, he’s “spent the last third of a century developing and enhancing strong emotions for the business and for the people who operate hot dog stands.”
His career began in 1972, when he took a job in sales in the company’s branch office in Cleveland, his hometown. After six months he was transferred to HQ in Chicago, where he moved up the ladder, overseeing the company’s national branch offices and then the all-important local market. That’s when he began to understand the importance of independent neighborhood stands like Gene & Jude’s, Wolfy’s, Superdawg, and Jimmy’s Red Hots.
The book is a nostalgic tribute to these stands, with introductions by Bob Sirott and expat Los Angeles stand owner Joe Mantegna. It’s filled with feel-good anecdotes from classic stands like Fluky’s, whose owner, Abe Drexler, is often said to have invented the five-cent “Depression sandwich” we know today as the Chicago-style dog at his original location, opened in 1929 at the corner of Roosevelt and Halsted. Then there’s the apocryphal tale of Gene & Jude’s founder Gene Mormino losing his Little Italy stand (now Polk & Western Hot Dogs) in a game of Texas hold ’em, prompting his relocation to west-suburban River Grove.
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