What is the origin of Detroit's "coney island" hot dogs?

[gumby]

Flint Style Coney's are better.

[Wheels]

Flint Style Coney's are better.

I tried one of those but it kept sparking when I tried to bite into it?

[Ltdave]

i worked with a couple of guys from syracuse and one claimed that NY was the place they were 'invented' but they werent cone-y but coon-ies...

they were white-hots not red-hots apparently made with white or bleached meat. he never brought any in while i was working there [[vacation or day off) but i guess the others who had them, all wanted to do the anorexia purge when they were dont....

the CI in port huron was opened in 1923 and now is owned by 'kids' of the original owners and theyve opened a 2nd store in town and the one in chesterfield [[23 mile road and 94) called Mama Vicki's...

[fiorello]

Oldest Coney Island is Red Hots Coney Island in Highland Park, on Victor off of Woodward. They even make their own chili.

I love Red Hots have not been there in a few years but they make the best coneys in Detroit!

[AUSSIE]

I like Fiorello, Rosario Tindaro Fiorello is a genius!

Cheers

[fiorello]

I like Fiorello, Rosario Tindaro Fiorello is a genius!

Cheers

Not sure if I know him lol, this is the surname my daddy gave me. Little Flower

[RickBeall]

I had no idea Coney Islands were invented in Detroit! Heck, I thought they were universal food eaten everywhere, since they are everywhere here. Coooool! I have to visit Red Hots! I only live a few miles from them.

[theklep]

I love Red Hots have not been there in a few years but they make the best coneys in Detroit!

Just ate there last week. Best chili and the dogs have a great snap

[fiorello]

Just ate there last week. Best chili and the dogs have a great snap

Think I should stop in when I'm down there this month, are they open on Sunday's?

[pgn421]

Red Hots has been updated too. Fresh paint, cleaning, t.v. They even had a blue grass band perform there yesterday

[Detroitnerd]

The best theory I ever heard on why a Detroit-style hot dog is called a coney island came from this guy named Jerry.

Anti-German sentiment was so strong in the 1910s, just when hot dog shops were being established in Michigan, roughly 1914 to 1920. Imagine a time when patriots called Germans “the hun” and dubbed all-American hamburgers “liberty sandwiches” to avoid mention of Hamburg. Sauerkraut was called "libery cabbage" with a straight face. Companies, streets and even towns with German names were changed to English- and American-sounding ones.

And so this new generation of hot dog shop owners couldn’t call their creations what they had been called — frankfurters — and so chose to instead trade off the fame of the all-American amusement park: Coney Island.

It also is an ugly chapter of xenophobia in our history, which means people were unlikely later to talk much about it. Things like that have a way of covering their tracks. I believe this explanation is legit, or at least as legit as some of the other explanations posted on this thread.

[Bigdd]

The way I heard it last summer:

The owner of American Coney Island was an immigrant. He tasted his first dog on Coney Island in New York. He liked it so much when he made his way to the D he just called the dogs coneys.

Not too complicated and it sounds believable to me.

It's not true though. American isn't even the oldest coney in the area. Red Hots is.

The folks at American will say that they're the oldest in "Detroit",. and also that they were founded in 1917. What they won't easily admit to is that they were origionally a shoe-shine place, and didn't serve their first coney-dog until 1929.

Red Hots on Victor Street just East of Woodward started serving them in 1921.

[Trumpeteer]

It's not true though. American isn't even the oldest coney in the area. Red Hots is.

The folks at American will say that they're the oldest in "Detroit",. and also that they were founded in 1917. What they won't easily admit to is that they were origionally a shoe-shine place, and didn't serve their first coney-dog until 1929.

Red Hots on Victor Street just East of Woodward started serving them in 1921.

Sorry but you are so wrong. Many different sources of this same info on Detroit's Coney Islands. This one from Crain's 2013. Please note the reference to Gust shining shoes AND selling coney's from a cart at this location.

Not to get into a history lesson here, but the real story, as told by Grace Keros, the energetic, no-nonsense, highly competitive, totally captivating, third-generation owner of American Coney Island, goes something like this:
In 1903 Gust Keros, Grace's grandpa, immigrated to America from a southern Grecian city called Dara.
Keros, like so many immigrants, came to America through Ellis Island and headed to Detroit in search of a job.
Unable to find work, Keros began shining shoes and selling hotdogs with chili on them out of a cart on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Lafayette Boulevard.



A historical photo of Michigan Avenue and Lafayette Boulevard.

In 1917, Keros opened American Coney Island in the former of United Shirt Co. location in roughly the same place it sits today.
Shortly after opening American, Keros brought his brother to America, and his brother opened Lafayette Coney Island right next door using a different chili and hotdog.
About 25 years ago, she said, her uncle sold it to his employees, who still own it to this day.
Meanwhile, Gust's son Chuck took his place at the helm and Grace followed in her father's footsteps.
So the last time there was a true sibling rivalry among the two Coney businesses was about 25 years ago.

[CassTechGrad]

Gone but not forgotten.

[Dan Wesson]

Gone but not forgotten.

Absolutely +1


Then came the O'nasties chain of Coneys....

[Bigdd]

Sorry but you are so wrong. Many different sources of this same info on Detroit's Coney Islands. This one from Crain's 2013. Please note the reference to Gust shining shoes AND selling coney's from a cart at this location.

Many sources or one source?

You'll notice that all of the stories have the same source,.. the owner of American.
.

[Trumpeteer]

Many sources or one source?

You'll notice that all of the stories have the same source,.. the owner of American.
.

Let's see now, believe you and your opinion or that of the family of one of the original owners.

[Bigdd]

Let's see now, believe you and your opinion or that of the family of one of the original owners.

YOU actually heard Grace say that? With your own ears?

Or did you read an article where Grace probably told the reporter that they "Were the oldest coney place in "Detroit",.. and also,... that they started in business in 1917,... and then the reporter "presumed" that by that Grace meant that they started selling hot-dogs with chili on them in 1917 ?

I ask because I have spoken personally to the nephew of the founder of another coney place that claims to have been in business selling chili-dogs some 8 years before American started selling them.

[Trumpeteer]

I defer the the self acknowledged expert on Detroit Coney Island History. The key word to your expert testimonial is "claims". A lot "claim" to be first.

[gencinjay]

I think part of the issue is what you consider a coney. My understanding is that the coney dog from Coney Island was different than what we have today. I think onions but no chili. So somebody may have sold a authentic "Coney Dog", but the "Detroit Coney" is a tad different. I'm going from memory so I could be off base.

As an aside, I remember driving through Tennessee almost 20 years ago and seeing Detroit Coney's advertised by local places. I'm guessing Saturn had something to do with that. I never realized they were a thing until then.

[Zads07]

YOU actually heard Grace say that? With your own ears?

Or did you read an article where Grace probably told the reporter that they "Were the oldest coney place in "Detroit",.. and also,... that they started in business in 1917,... and then the reporter "presumed" that by that Grace meant that they started selling hot-dogs with chili on them in 1917 ?

I ask because I have spoken personally to the nephew of the founder of another coney place that claims to have been in business selling chili-dogs some 8 years before American started selling them.

So what you're trying to argue against is the same argument you are presenting. You can't do that. You can't say you're wrong because someone from the family of American is saying that and turn around and say that you talked to someone from the family of another coney place and that you're right. Your argument is nill.

[ptero]

Not knocking Lafayette and American, but I just want to say > Gus's was the Best! Sadly, long gone. He was on the east side of Woodward south of Campus Martius.

[Bigdd]

So what you're trying to argue against is the same argument you are presenting. You can't do that. You can't say you're wrong because someone from the family of American is saying that and turn around and say that you talked to someone from the family of another coney place and that you're right. Your argument is nill.

You miss-read what I said,.. as did Trumpeteer.

Trumpeteer is quoting an article,.. not the family.

I have never heard the family at American claim to be the oldest in "Michigan". Rather they claim to be the "oldest in Detroit". They also claim to have been in business since 1917,.. which seems to be true [[as a shoe-shine place). It would be a mistake to push those two seperate statements together and then conclude that they were selling chili-dogs in 1917 [[which is what the author of the article did).

What I think happened is that the reporter put those 2 separate statements together in his mind,.. and then wrote the article saying that they were selling hot dogs with chili on them in 1917,... which is something I have never heard from the people at American say. Not from Danny, nor from Grace.

So YES,.. I am merely repeating the claims made by a competitor,... but Trumpeter isn't even doing that. He / she is quoting an article, where the writer says what he/she believed the folks at American meant.

I have been privy to the actual facts of about 5 different news articles in my life,.. and in all of them the reporter made one or more errors that dramatically altered the reader's perception of what occurred.

[Trumpeteer]

As stated, let's defer to the self proclaimed "coney" expert as now he/she is dropping names as well.

"as told by Grace Keros" Mmmmm that may mean that the original writer MAY have actually heard the story from this person??

"Keros began shining shoes and selling hotdogs with chili on them" Now that's plain stupid! WHO would want shoes that had a hot dog and chili on them?

[Trumpeteer]

Saw this from another thread here showing the old United Shirt store in the late 60's/early 70's before American expanded. Credit to Donn Thorson and his flickerstream site.