I'm really interested in regional culinary phenomena. (For instance, I recently discovered 'beef on weck' in Buffalo, NY-a delicious sandwich that absolutely everyone in Buffalo is familiar with, and just about nobody outside of Buffalo has ever heard of.) Anyway, when I moved to New York City, I noticed that there were tons of places that sold only two things: hot dogs and sweetened juices. The juices were all of the tropical variety, and they were dispensed from these big vats in the back. As far as I know, this phenomena is unique to New York. Also, every one of these places had the word "Papaya" in their names. So what's the story?

Back in the 1930's, a guy named Gus Poulos opened a juice stand on 86th St. in Yorkville, a neighborhood on the Upper East Side. Eventually the store name was changed to "Papaya King".

Yorkville was heavily German and Polish at the time, and Gus, a Greek immigrant, eventually started serving a favorite local dish: frankfurters. Papaya King was the first of many Papaya hot dog stands in the city, and it's still in its original location today