Greetings family and friends! I hope that you enjoy this little vignette about gigantic fiberglass dog heads that could once be found around the Bay Area and still have a devoted following 35 years later.............Bill
Embedded Files
LAND OF GIANTS
Some years ago, in the 1980’s a co-worker of mine and her family had just migrated with to the Bay Area from England. She was quite taken with all our beautiful location, iconic sites, and apparent limitless options, but she was particularly impressed with our “restaurants for dogs!”. It turns out that during one of her first explorations in the region she had come across a 7 foot tall fiberglass smiling dachshund head wearing a bow tie and chef’s hat rotating over a tidy blue and white Doggie Diner restaurant. Clearly the Bay Area was very pet friendly!
Al Ross opened the first Doggie Diner with the iconic fiberglass dachshund head in 1948 on Oakland’s San Pablo Avenue. Ultimately Ross operated 30 locations of the popular restaurant chain throughout the Bay Area dispensing hamburgers, hot dogs, fries and milk shakes to hungry humans. A rotating dog head once stood above a Doggie Diner in downtown Hayward on Mission Blvd. a block or two from a giant fiberglass bull head at the Ranch restaurant, and just down the road from Big Mike, an oversize Muffler Man. After 38 years and unable to compete with the big fast food chains, Ross shuttered his popular restaurants in 1986 and hightailed to Palm Springs. The dachshund heads were removed and many were sold to nostalgic private parties including one that was installed near the San Francisco Zoo as an official historical city landmark. Several of the grinning dachshunds made a cross country road trip to New York City, appeared in the documentary “Head Trip”, and have been featured in comic books, art installations, and Roadside Attraction books. Dozens of Doggie Diner heads are stored in private collections including two that are on display along with Big Mike at Bell Plastics in Hayward.
I’m certain that my former co-worker would be pleased to know that there is a Fremont restaurant, The Lazy Dog, that welcomes canines to their outside dining patios and provide fresh water and tasty selections from their dog menu. I kid you not! -Bill
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse