by Garth Meyer
“Is the owner around?”
“No, no,” came the answer on the phone. “He’s on his yacht in the Bahamas.”
“Is he going to be back for the closing?”
“Let me look, no, it doesn’t look like he’s going to be back.”
“Is there a way to get a hold of him?”
“If you contacted him, you’d get fired.”
This was Steve, the Redondo Pier Hot Dog On a Stick maintenance guy, bringing in supplies “for the girls” Aug. 20 at 11 a.m.
“I gotta go, I’ve got customers. You check back in a week or so.”
A week later, a girl who answered the phone said Craig, the owner, would be there Saturday and Sunday, starting at 10.
Answering the phone Saturday morning was Steve again, saying the owner is not coming in.
“Oh man, how do I get a hold of him, I’m working on this story about the Hot Dog On a Stick closing for the Easy Reader.”
“I don’t even know if he likes the Easy Reader.”
Craig Reidt bought Hot Dog On A Stick on the Redondo Pier in 1979 from founder Dave Barham, along with a location at Old Town Mall in Torrance, “so (Barham) could open at Del Amo Mall,” Reidt said, when finally met by Easy Reader, behind the counter at the Pier last Sunday.
He first worked at the stand when he was 12 years old, in 1968, a seventh-grader at St. James School in Redondo Beach.
He opened another Hot Dog On a Stick on the International Boardwalk, but closed it after the 1988 fire.
The general manager of Tony’s walked by with a familiar greeting.
Craig is now about to retire, to close the store after Labor Day weekend, when supplies run out; and he will not sell the franchise.
“It’s time. I can’t sell the store. I made an agreement with Dave,” he said, referring to a handshake deal to never sell it.
Barham died in the late ‘90s.
Earlier this year, Reidt said goodbye to everyone at the last Redondo Beach Kite Festival Hot Dog Eating Contest, for which he and his wife were part of the organizers, and he donated prize money.
“One factor, school starts so early,” Craig said, for closing the shop.
A woman and two young children walked up to the window.
“We went to the Del Amo Mall location, the Carson Mall; not even close,” said Deanndra Hansford, for the reason to come back to Craig’s. “And his hospitality.”
They live in Lomita, and she has been coming here long before the kids, 15 years. The kids are 9 and 6.
“Always get this nice weather after school starts,” Craig said to another customer.
A waitress in black passed by, headed toward Starboard Attitude.
“See you in a few,” she said.
“I saw the post on Reddit,” said another customer.
“What’s Reddit?” Craig said.
So when is it closing, exactly?
“After Labor Day when the product is gone,” Craig said to another man, while inserting sticks into Farmer John’s hot dogs and rectangles of American cheese.
Who will eat the last Hot Dog On A Stick at the Redondo Beach Pier?
“How’re you doing? How’s dad?” Craig said to another customer.
“We gotta keep Craig’s around. It’s our tradition,” the father said as he and his daughter walked off.
“How are you?” said another customer.
“Same old thing, I’m workin’, you’re not,” Craig said as he dipped two more hot dogs on sticks into batter.
Craig’s father, Bud Reidt, helped at the original Hot Dog On a Stick, first opened in Santa Monica in 1946, named “Party Puffs” before it was renamed for its signature item.
“(My dad) got a job at Northrop after the war,” Craig said. “Then his friend opened a food stand in Santa Monica.”
The “Craig’s Hot Dog On A Stick” at the Redondo Pier was Barham’s second location. It still uses the original recipes for “party batter” and lemonade.
“People ask, ‘why don’t you use frozen (ingredients)?’” Craig said. “Because that’s not the way we started. Keep it simple, do what you do good and make sure you do it right. We’re keeping the brand the way it started; all fresh.”
What will happen to the Pier space after it closes?
“From what I’ve heard, (the city) has a few people interested.”
A former H&H Body Shop owner, who retired this year, rode by on a long e-bike.
“You’re not even going to miss it,” he told Craig.
“Decline in sales,” Reidt said for the official reasons to close. “Lower foot traffic on the Pier.”
He estimates supply costs have gone up 25% in the past three years.
A day later, on Monday, word spread further of the closing.
“Steve – he didn’t even show up today,” Craig said. “I’m not an absentee owner. I’m here all of the time, except for the Bahamas.”
He said he was not on his yacht in the Bahamas before, the boat was not his, it was chartered.
How long will supplies last? What will be the final day?
“Could be Thursday, Friday, Saturday (after Labor Day). We’re hoping to make it to Sunday, Sept. 8. I’m buying a ton of supply for Labor Day,” he said.
“Craig would like to thank everybody for the 62 years it was open at the Pier. Put that in there,” he said. “It’s a great, fun business environment.”
Debbie Lathers Hayden walked up to the window Monday, from Coatesville, Indiana, with two friends she met in junior high at Mira Costa in the late ‘60s.
“This was my mainstay. Everyday,” Hayden said. ‘I’d come here, dive off of the Pier and body surf in. I’d get a hot dog for a dollar, and there was a drinking fountain.”
A dollar was not enough for a lemonade too.
The Hot Dog On a Stick chain has grown to 70 locations in seven states, while Craig’s Hot Dog On a Stick exists separately. Neither Craig nor his employees wear the red, gold and blue-striped hats.
“Every time the chain gets new owners, they try to sue me,” he said. “That’s why (my) name is on the sign.”
He expands on the reasons to hang it up.
“Kite shop’s gone, restaurant’s been gone nine years (Maison Ritz), pearl shop left three months ago,” he said. “Fun Factory. That killed us.”
“You gotta get through those Wednesdays, Tuesdays, Thursdays.”
(Craig’s) Hot Dog On A Stick’s 12 x 12 spot on the Pier was originally an Orange Julius, next to an A&W.
A 1974 graduate of Bishop Montgomery High School, Craig started his career managing the Torrance Old Town Mall Hot Dog On A Stick, and had a friend at Zeppy’s Pizza, its manager.
“We sold our cars and bought Chris’ Pizza in Hawthorne,” Craig said.
Hot Dog on a Stick founder Barham (Craig’s father’s friend) would come to eat at Chris’ after checking on his Hawthorne Plaza location.
One day he asked Craig if he wanted to buy two franchises. So the Zeppy’s guy bought out Craig’s half of Chris’ Pizza. Craig was on his way.
Another customer walked up to the window Monday on the Pier, a man and a young son.
“Can we get two hot dogs on a stick?” he said, as the boy started to say something halfway through the order.
“Okay, three.” ER
