Back in the '20s, there was a national franchise chain of "Coney Island" hot dog stores. They sold "Hot Weiners" for 5 cents. Yes, "weiners," misspelled and all. That way they didn't infringe on anyone "wiener" trademark. The "weiners" were smaller than normal franks, on smaller-than-normal buns.
One of these shotps was in Tulsa, started in 1926, and it became a staple in the middle of downtown. Customers sat in antique school desks. It was owned by the family of the original owner, Greek immigrant Christ Economou. That guy may have been the founder of the national chain for all I know. I know that he started his first one in McKeesport, PA, in 1919 and started others as well. His deal was start 'em up, get 'em profitable, and then sell 'em and move on. Anyway, when he got to Tulsa he stayed.
I don't know what happened to the chain, but the Tulsa store kept going on. And it still exists, at its 3rd or 4th different location in downtown Tulsa.This was, I think, the original. It's either the one I remember going to back as early as 1963 or one that looks very much like it. You can see the little school desks at the far right in the background.[img width=500 height=376.989]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f0/be/4b/f0be4baab21dd6a1f1f4d256642deabe.jpg[/img][/size][/color]
At some point in the 1970s, the Economou family began opening copies, but named "Coney I-Lander." I don't know if there was a family falling out or what, but the Coney I-Landers are now separate from the original store. But they serve the same things: little hot dogs ("coneys"), tamales, chili, even spaghetti covered with the same chili.
Another Greek family in Tulsa, the Bouakadakises, started a hot-dogs-and-more restaurant called Jim's Never on Sunday Coneys in 1968. My sister played softball as a kid with a later owner of this restaurant, which closed up shop about a year ago. Maybe the younger generation didn't want to run a restaurant any more.
"Coney" may have come from the old Dutch word for "rabbit,"
conyn. So "Rabbit Island."
