Posted on 04/05/2021 8:20:56 AM PDT by mylife
In October 1990, the food critic Jonathan Gold reviewed an inexpensive fast-food joint on Pico Boulevard called Oki-Dog for the LA Times. The piece, “Trans-Global Junk Food,” doubled as an obituary for the late-night hangout of his youth: the 24-hour Oki-Dog on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, which had recently closed. In the early days of punk, Gold spent many a night at the nearby nightclub, the Starwood, which gave many future rock heroes their first big gigs, and played cello in two short-lived bands, Overman and Tank Burial. Years later, he was still an evangelist for Oki-Dog and its eponymous dish: two hot dogs, a slice of cheese, a slice of pastrami, and chili wrapped up in a flour tortilla, which he described as “a cross-cultural burrito"
A post-show visit to Oki-Dog would become a rite of passage for a generation of L.A. punks.
And by 1982, punks even gave the hot-dog spot a song: “Oki Dogs” by Youth Gone Mad. The cult hit also helped the newly established band establish its punk bona fides. Geza X, an in-demand producer in the scene, recorded it, and the influential KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer played it on his show, “Rodney On The ROQ.” The newly established zine Maximum Rocknroll, which would become the national punk scene’s bible, praised the song, calling it “surprisingly good for [an] unknown band” and “hilarious.”
Youth Gone Mad’s founding guitarist, Paul “Ena” Kostabi, first visited Oki-Dog in the late 1970s after attending a metal show at the Starwood. “There were people milling about, some of the early punks,” he remembered. “I wasn’t really in the scene yet. But that’s kind of what turned me onto the punk, avant-garde art movement, was going there and seeing people milling about.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thetakeout.com ...
I miss Byron’s drive inn, in Honolulu
So do you have to know the “sign” to eat there? It’s been a while since I was “banging” with the Van Buren Boys.
I have eaten there several times. It was God awful awesome.
:) I love iconic joints like this.
No but you have flash a sign in
Margaritaville..
Next time I’m bringing my own dang salt!

Absolutely the best places.
You ever been?
No, I was in SD back then, completely different scene, and rating at Alberto’s
I have never been to OK believe it or not
I follow this guy,,he's funny and profane but he know's how to cook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7f-P6JaWSA
Those longtime griddles at Clauds with decades old ‘seasoning’ built in transfers that extra flavor to those burgers.
Yep!
I quite agree.
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