If you grew up in San Francisco, or anywhere in the Bay Area for that matter, you will remember the chain of hot dog stands notable for the massive bow-tie wearing, chef hat sporting dachshund head looming high above. This was the long-gone, beloved Doggie Diner.

Doggie Diner was born in Oakland on San Pablo Avenue in 1948. Known for their delicious hot dogs (of course), they also had superb burgers, fries, shakes and pastrami sandwiches. By 1963, owner Al Ross had 15 locations- 12 in the East Bay and 3 in San Francisco.

It wasn’t difficult to spot a Doggie Diner location since each one had a giant rotating fiberglass dachshund head that stood outside each restaurant.

The Doggie in my old neighborhood, the Excelsior, was at 4701 Mission at Persia (where Yick’s Liquor relocated to and has been for years), but almost every area in The City was graced by that iconic dachshund with the chef’s toque perched on his canine head.

I specifically remember this location for it’s photo of Riordan High School classmate Terry Sturdevant, and San Francisco Giant Legend Willie McCovey after Terry won a hot dog eating contest as a grammar schooler. During the height of the restaurant chain’s popularity, McCovey, alongside other Bay Area sports legends like the Raiders’ Jim Otto, frequently served as a celebrity judge for Doggie Diner’s high-profile hot dog eating contests.

The Doggie wasn’t beloved everywhere. In 1975, with strong NIMBY pressure from local merchants and residents, they were denied a permit to build at the corner of 19th and Irving (where a Starbucks currently resides).

In 1981, San Francisco powers-that-be passed a city ordinance outlawing rotating signs, and that was the beginning of the end for our dear doggie beacons.

When San Francisco hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1984, the Sunday combination Examiner/Chronicle posted this strange guide to visitors with a cop fetish that featured Doggie Diner prominently (giving not-so-glowing reviews on the cuisine. Hey, Jackass! It was a HOT DOG STAND! And, not to nitpick the snarky column, but “TJ Hooker” was set in a fictional L.A. city. Maybe “Streets of San Francisco” might have been a better choice…)

After years of serving up delicious hot dogs (no matter what that “hilarious” convention guide said) the DD couldn’t keep up with the hottest and fastest growing big chain fast food burger barns- McDonald’s and Burger King. The final final at 10th and Mission Streets (and one in Alameda) was shut down in May of 1986.

Doggie Diner super fan, car salesman Kip Atchley made a heroic effort to reincarnate the beloved hot dog stand in 2019. He had a partner, financial backers, but unfortunately, his dream never quite came to exist.

Last post on his Doggie Diner website was from June of 2022 and according to that post, it seems that Mr. Atchley had health issues that had him step away from his dream of opening a reproduction of the Diner. But his website remains: (click the DD logo to visit his page with archives)

 He’s not the only super fan of Doggie Diner: here is another page dedicated to the memory of the delicious hot dog depot, the dachshund, and all things in between. https://doggiediner.com/

For those of us that loved Doggie Diner, maybe this Farley comic strip expresses how we all feel…