The ghost of Joe Izzo bought me a hot dog and then we went for Indian food around the corner on Alum Rock Avenue—the best of Western and Eastern culinary delights.
Seventy-five years before Instagram, there was Mark’s Hot Dogs. The orange dome is a San Jose landmark that debuted in 1947 on Alum Rock Avenue, before it was relocated in 2002 to its current spot on Capitol Avenue. The dome is mentioned on Atlas Obscura and many other websites, proving that if San Jose just acknowledged its own strangeness, then maybe people would actually take it seriously as a city.
The orange dome wasn’t the first location, however. Mark Yeram first opened his restaurant at Fifth and Santa Clara in 1936, before he moved into the dome. The original address was 181 East Santa Clara, right where the Starbucks now sits across from City Hall.
Yeram was one of many immigrants who drove San Jose’s restaurant industry in those days. Originally from Armenia, he came to the US in 1914, landing in Oakland, where he worked in the cleaning and dyeing business. Then he moved to San Jose and started his hot dog joint.
In 1936, the neighborhood was rocking. Franco’s Supermarket occupied the block where City Hall is now. There were numerous cleaners, barber shops, shoe repair businesses, butchers, manufacturing, multiple music teachers, sheet metal shops and a few car dealerships. The Medico-Dental building was filled up with doctors and dentists. Fancy that.
In 1947, Mark launched the orange dome at 1920 Alum Rock Ave., not knowing the structure would go down in San Jose history. As the grand suburbanization of California began to emerge, and along with it lots of glorious roadside architecture, Mark’s Hot Dogs became one of San Jose’s most legendary structures.
Mark passed away in the ’50s but his family carried on the business, making it all the way to the 50th anniversary in 1997, using 1947 as the starting point. I remember the words “50 years” appearing on the front of the building in those days.
Alas, in 2002, the iron wrecking ball of progress was set to smash Mark’s out of existence but everyone finally agreed to save the dome and relocate it to where it now sits. At that time, Metro sent the late food writer Joe Izzo, a local legend, to wax poetic about the entire history. Historicizing about the year 1936 when the original Mark’s first opened, Izzo observed: “Franklin D. Roosevelt was in his first term. The Spanish Civil War had begun. Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Olympics in Berlin, discrediting Hitler and his Nazi theories of Aryan superiority.”
Izzo was one of the best food writers San Jose ever had. He also wrote for the Merc, but his Metro scribbles were the stuff of legend. His review of Mark’s was a prime example. He quoted some locals and spoke of the sordid variety of ilk he found at Mark’s near midnight—back when Mark’s stayed open that late.
When Izzo showed up in 2002, the prices ranged from $2.25 for a hot dog to $2.95 for the works with chili, cheese and onions. Sauerkraut dogs were $2.50.
I knew Izzo personally, so I brought his ghost with me on a recent visit. The menu at Mark’s, a famous Rey Giese signboard, was the same one from decades ago. Only the prices were different. Hot dogs were now $8.10, chili dogs $8.95. This is not a complaint. Things change.
However, Alum Rock and Capitol, especially at nighttime, is not a neighborhood for everybody. Probably why Mark’s isn’t open until midnight anymore. But that’s fine. There is still plenty to do in the daytime.
The Calvary Catholic Cemetery is a great place to explore, for example. When it comes to graveyards, Oak Hill, where Mark Yeram is buried, gets all the attention while the East Side gets ignored. As always.
At the end of the night, Izzo and I then investigated Jewel of India, just across the street in a sketchy stripmall, right next door to a boarded-up pool hall destroyed by fire. Jewel of India was amazing, as always, especially the desserts. May East and West always meet.
Our family loved those hot dogs! A short drive away, we’d often go there and they were the best dogs ever.
My family went to Mark’s Hot Dogs (which we kids called “The Big Orange”) several times a year…sometimes my mom picked up ‘dogs to go’ for us. We always preferred going there cause we loved eating at the Orange. Their chili cheese dog with raw onion was & remains my fave! That was Alum Rock location. Now I drive over once a month to Capitol Ave location & just love the nostalgic feeling I get with every bite! Their milk shakes are also memorable. Thanx for reminding everybody how good the dogs are, Gary!