Wiener War : Restaurateurs Fume as ‘Dogcycles’ Move In With Relish

Frankly speaking, it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.

Paul Tassopulos learned that on Thursday when a converted motor scooter pulled up in front of the Wienery, his hot dog stand on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills.

The scooter was a motorized hot dog cart driven by Michael Valentino Schemtob. When Schemtob found a curb-side spot a few steps from the Wienery’s entrance, he parked, plopped some fresh frankfurters into the steamer and popped open his cart’s colorful umbrella.

Tassopulos stepped outside to glare at the newly arrived competition. Then he walked back inside, fuming.

“We’re unhappy about it, but what can we do?” Tassopulos said later, as a trickle of “his” customers bought franks off the scooter. “It’s legal.”

The latest volley in Ventura Boulevard’s spreading hot dog war had been fired.

On one side of the dispute are established restaurants that sell hot dogs from expensive rented storefronts along the boulevard. On the other is a growing army of mobile hot dog vendors who drop a dime in the parking meter to set up shop.

Confrontations occur daily between cart operators and merchants. Some must be refereed by police. The first motorized hot dog vendor to take to the streets, in fact, was arrested when a restaurant operator called authorities.

The carts are owned by Tommy Galambos, 50, a one-time maker of eyeglasses. They fan out daily from a Van Nuys industrial park garage that is certified as a commissary.

Galambos started with one cart last year and now has 16. He said his goal is to soon have 100 on San Fernando Valley streets.

His daughter, Vivian, 21, is a partner in the hot dog business. She was the driver of the first cart and was arrested when a restaurateur complained to the police that such street vending was illegal. Charges were dropped when Galambos showed that the sale of non-prepackaged foods from carts was authorized by a 1985 state law.

“It took us a year to research all the legal and technical aspects of it,” the Hungarian-born Galambos said. “There had been pushcarts and lunch wagons before, but never motorcycle carts.”

Galambos uses old three-wheel Cushman meter-maid scooters, which he calls “Dogcycles.” Each is outfitted with a propane-burning steam table, an icebox, water tanks and a hand-washing basin with hot and cold running water to meet health regulations.

“They can’t grill, because that would give off grease, and an open grilling flame would be a violation of fire-safety regulations,” said Joseph Daszek, a county sanitarian.

Chili dogs aren’t sold from the carts, either, because health regulations prohibit the serving of foods such as chili from open containers on carts, Daszek said.

“We’ve had no complaints about the Dogcycles,” he said.

He added, deadpan: “I think they’re on a roll.”

Some Ventura Boulevard merchants have plenty of complaints. They wish the vendors would move their buns.

“It’s annoying to see them parked out there. It bothers me,” said Neil Soba, manager of an Encino Hamburger Hamlet restaurant a few steps from where one hot dog cart parks daily.

Money in the Meter

“I went out once to talk to him about it,” Soba said, “but he said he can park like any car can--that his money in the parking meter is good.”

“It definitely hurts our business,” said Tassopulos. “We have rent to pay and expenses, and he doesn’t.”

In front of the Wienery, Schemtob was doggedly pursuing business by offering free potato chips.

“They call the cops three times a day on me,” said Schemtob, who said he makes up to $80 a day. “But I’m not leaving. Another month, all his customers are going to be here.

“Those guys had better pray for rain. That’s all that’s going to keep me from working.”