The forgotten Pearl hot dog stand

Freddie’s Hot Dog Stand on Pearl Street battles the bitter winter and the recession but comes out on top.

This winter isn’t even treating the hot dog stand business right.“It’s terrible. It’s cold. It’s cloudy. It’s ugly. This is the worst I can ever remember, at least temperature wise. We’ve had more snowy days. But the amount of cold weather we’ve had. I don’t remember it being like this,” said Mike Horowitz, owner of Freddie’s Hot Dog Stand on Pearl Street in Boulder for the last thirteen years.

Mike tries to get his Hot Dog stand out to Pearl St. every day from 11 a.m. to around 5:30 p.m. during the winter and until around 9 or 10 p.m. during the summer. These days Mike can use all the hours he can get because of the bitter winter and the ongoing recession.

“No ones going on vacation. A lot of people got laid off on the mall so those people aren’t around anymore for lunch. A lot of people aren’t shopping as much, so there’s less people down at the mall altogether... It’s hard. I go home and cry every night and just pray for a sunny day the next day,” said Horowitz, half kidding. Without all the tourists and workers Freddie’s Hot Dog Stand is having some financial woes.

Mike isn’t the only Hot Dog stand on Pearl. “There is another hot dog guy down the other end near the courthouse. I don’t like him. Nah, I’m just kidding. There’s no hard feelings. The mall’s big enough for two people. Besides, I’m better, so it doesn’t really matter,” said Horowitz laughing.

Owning a Hot Dog stand of course has its perks. Mike gets to spend lots of time outdoors and meet lots of interesting people. But the best part according to Mike, “Working for myself. You don’t want to work for the man. [That would be] Terrible, haha.”