Happy Birthday, Charles Feltman!

Today is the birthday of Charles Feltman (1841-1910). He would have been 180 years old! His claim to fame is as the inventor of the hot dog. Awhile back, I happened to draw his mausoleum in Green-Wood Cemetery.

Feltman emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1856, at the age of fifteen. In 1867, he started a business selling food from a pushcart to beachgoers at Coney Island, including frankfurters from his native land. His innovation in 1869 was to insert the frankfurter into a custom-made elongated roll, eliminating the need for plates and utensils. He called the invention the Coney Island Red Hot, but it became better known as the 'hot dog,' perhaps because there was some question as to exactly what sort of meat was in that sausage.

Henry Collins Brown, New York historian and founder of the Museum of the City of New York, explained that "It could be carried on the march, eaten on the sands between baths, consumed on a carousel, used as a baby's nipple to quiet an obstreperous infant, and had other economic appeals to the summer pleasure seeker." I never thought of using hot dogs to pacify my children when they were babies!

In 1871, Feltman leased some land on the boardwalk and began building an entertainment complex that eventually included several restaurants and bars, a beer garden, a carousel, a roller coaster, an outdoor movie theater, a hotel, a bathhouse, a pavilion, and a maple garden. By the 1920s, Feltman's Ocean Pavilion was billed as the world's largest restaurant, serving over five million customers a year. It was actually better known for its seafood than for hot dogs.

In 1916, one of his employees, a roll-slicer named Nathan Handwerker, quit and founded a rival hot dog restaurant. A downscale version of Feltman's, Nathan's sold its hot dogs for five cents as opposed to Feltman's 10-cent weiners. Feltman's empire lasted until the early 1950s, when his sons sold the land to be developed into Astroland Amusement Park. Feltman's is now mostly forgotten, while Nathan's continues to reign as the iconic Coney Island hot dog king.

Feltman's placemat. Image from Green-Wood Cemetery Collection

REFERENCE:

Coney Island History Hall of Fame: Charles Feltman