Caspers – National Hot Dog Month Day 24

Caspers Hot Dogs have been a San Francisco Bay area staple since the 1930’s. The original stand is located in Richmond, California – just north of Oakland. There are  now eight Caspers in the Bay Area and they’ve been manufacturing their own hot dogs since the 1980’s. Many hot dog cart operators use Caspers Franks – a beef and pork blend in a natural casing (with that tell-tale SNAP); we sampled them at Divco Dogs earlier this month.

I never made it to Caspers when I was out in California recently, but my Uncle Loren (lovingly referred to as “Uncle Duck” by my kids due to his excellent Donald Duck voice characterization), really wanted to go and do a hot dog story. Imagine my surprise when I received this email along with a bunch of video files:

Hi,

Well, Rob, you created a monster!! Your Uncle Loren went to Caspers Hot Dogs in Richmond, CA today with his friend Roy. He recorded nine videos that he thought you might want to edit and use for hot dog month or whenever.

I’ll be sending them one at a time since I doubt this computer could do more than that without taking hours!

Take care.

Love,
Auntie Regina & Uncle Loren (Intern Reporter)

It seems the honorable Dr. Thompson was impressed with my body of work and wants to be the “west coast correspondent” for Hot Dog Stories!

Caspers is a California Icon

Caspers is the kind of place I just love. They’ve been doing it the same way since 1934 and they are so dedicated to the fine art of the hot dog that they make their own! I wish I’d taken the time to go there myself. You can read all about Caspers’ history on their website and follow along on their Facebook page.

In the absence of a personal visit, I present my uncle’s video as the very first guest video on Hot Dog Stories. The sound isn’t the best in all spots, but he caught a nice glimpse of the flavor of the place. His status as “Intern Reporter” aside, it’s a pleasure to welcome “Uncle Duck” to the Hot Dog Stories production staff!

Enjoy the video.

I shoot Hot Dog Stories with a Kodak Zi8 camera with an Audio Technica ATR288W VHF Battery-Powered TwinMic Microphone System, a Flip Ultra HD camera, and a 60″tripod. I edit with Cyberlink PowerDirector 11 Ultimate. I will also take some stills with my new Canon EOS Rebel Camera.