Fluky's

Fluky's
Niles location in 2023
Restaurant information
Established	1929 (1929)
Street address	5630 Touhy Ave.
City	Niles
County	Cook
State	Illinois
Postal/ZIP Code	60714
Country	United States
Coordinates	42.014944°N 87.768611°W / 42.014944; -87.768611

Fluky's is a Chicago-area fast food restaurant and mail-order food purveyor known for hot dogs.[1]

History

Fluky's began in Chicago in 1929 on Maxwell and Halsted Streets. Founded by Abe Drexler, the original stand "claims to have invented" the Chicago-style hot dog.[2][3] They sold what was known as a "Depression Sandwich," a frankfurter on a bun with mustard, pickle relish, onion, dill pickle, hot peppers, and tomatoes, accompanied by french fries, for 5 cents.[1]

Still owned by the Drexler family, Fluky's maintains an in-store restaurant in a Walmart in Niles, Illinois. The one-time chain had dwindled by the time the last location in Chicago at 6821 N. Western Avenue changed its name to U Lucky Dawg[4] on February 14, 2006; that site had been owned by a licensee for the previous ten years.[2] A later location in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, was open only a short time.

References

1. "Fluky's History". Archived from the original on August 22, 2016.
2. Zeldes, Leah A. (March 31, 2006). "New Name, Same Good Dogs at Landmark Stand". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on May 17, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2016. When the Fluky's sign on Western Avenue came down in February, a lot of hot-dog lovers' hearts sank. This was the only freestanding location and the last city site of the venerable wiener purveyor that, most agree, originated the Chicago-style hot dog back in the Depression.
3. Apple, R.W. (April 14, 2004). "A Taste of Chicago: Stand-Up Food in a City of Big Appetites". New York Times. Retrieved August 30, 2016. ... Fluky's, which claims to have invented the salad-laden dog on Maxwell Street in Depression-ridden 1929, when it sold for a nickel...
4. "U Lucky Dawg's hot dog legacy".