Coney Island in Colorado

One more tidbit from my trip this weekend. On the way to Leadville and on the way back we passed through the little town of Bailey, Colorado which now is the home of the Coney Island Hot Dog Stand, possibly the best piece of roadside kitsch in Colorado.

The Coney Island Hot Dog Stand was born in 1966 and resided in Denver until 1970 when it was moved to the small town of Aspen Park. It stood in Aspen Park gathering "kitsch" status...and national fame until last year when the land it sat on was sold to a bank.

Imagine wanting to replace something as cool as this with ANOTHER bank? It seems like between Walmarts, Walgreens and banks the United States if becoming one giant homogenized, cookie cutter place. But you've heard that rant plenty of places before.

Anyway, with no land to sit on the Coney Island needed a new home. It found one just up the road a bit in Bailey. Now looking at the picture on the top of this post can you imagine moving this structure 20 miles up the road? It was quite an event and was covered by the national media.

The bride and I had some of their hot dogs some years ago while it was still in Aspen Park. I had driven by it numerous times and always said, "next time I'm going to stop" but never did. This one particular weekend however, I told the bride to hop in the car I was going to treat her to lunch but wouldn't tell her where. When I started up to the mountains she really got curious about where lunch was going to be. She was probably thinking I had a bottle of champagne and picnic lunch in the trunk and we were going to some idyllic mountain meadow to partake of the natural beauty of Colorado. When we arrived at "The Dog" I don't think she could figure out what to say....one of the few times in the 30 some years we've known each other! I know that's gonna cost me but as Oscar Mayer is my witness it's true.

After lunch, on the way home, I turned to her and said "Stick with me hon, and you'll see all the finest places!" That has become an inside joke with us whenever things are not exactly the way we expect them to be.

I'm thinking that when they open back up "The Circle" will have to make an outing to there to welcome it to it's new location because we make it a point to visit all the finest places!

Thanks for visiting.