Mickey's snack bar

[bigfitz2004 19]

Hot dog lovers rally for Mickey's

By REBECCA BAKER

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: February 2, 2007)

GREENBURGH - Mickey's snack bar may live to relish another day.

News of Michael DiFate's struggle to reopen his father's popular hot-dog stand on Jackson Avenue has caused a groundswell of public support and led to a pledge from Town Supervisor Paul Feiner to help the family.

The Greenburgh Building Department closed the 78-year-old snack bar late last year because it violated town zoning codes banning roadside food vendors and businesses in residential neighborhoods.

Feiner originally told The Journal News that he felt bad for the family but was hesitant to change the zoning rules. After reading about the DiFates in The Journal News yesterday, Feiner said he would personally go to the Zoning Board of Appeals with the DiFates to help them apply for a variance.

"I was sort of annoyed with myself," he said, referring to his comments in the newspaper. "It is a landmark."

Getting the variance could be difficult. Building inspector John Lucido said the DiFates would have to prove they could not get a "reasonable return" on their half-acre property for anything other than a snack bar.

Feiner said he would try to rally support for the hot-dog stand to help the DiFates make their case to the zoning board. He got a number of e-mails yesterday that lambasted the town for cracking down on Mickey's and urging the town to put it back in business. He had asked for public feedback about Mickey's on his blog, www.pfeiner.blogspot.com.

The elder DiFate, who founded the hot-dog stand in 1929, was overwhelmed with the public show of support.

"I got 10 to 12 calls today supporting me," he said, his voice cracking.

Yesterday, people vividly recalled their experiences at the hot-dog stand.

Tim Kaiser, a 36-year-old warehouse manager from Bergen County, N.J., said Mickey's was a favorite hangout for him and his older brother about six years ago.

"I worked construction in White Plains and he worked construction in the city," he said in an e-mail. "We would get outta work and that was our meeting place during the summer on Fridays. We get a couple of dogs with sauerkraut and mustard with black cherry sodas. It was so delicious. It just hit the spot on a hot day. Those were good times."

Kaiser, who works in Nyack, said he was sad to hear the truck closed and planned to call his brother, who now lives in Florida.

Not all memories of Mickey's were fond ones. Peter Zucker, a 42-year-old schoolteacher from Mount Vernon, has resented the elder DiFate since he was 12, when he and a pal were found trespassing in the snack bar.

"We just wanted to peek inside," Zucker said. "The minute we stepped a foot in, he pulls up in his truck, and we bolted. He chased us all over the neighborhood. He pushed down my friend's 4-year-old brother and called the cops on us. He lied and said we threw a box of Milk Duds all over the yard, and we never did."

Zucker said he was going to confront DiFate a few years ago, but changed his mind when he saw how frail his childhood nemesis has become. DiFate said he couldn't remember the incident.

"I will never forget it," Zucker said.

Paul Kane, a 51-year-old electrician from Yonkers, had been a Mickey's patron for 30 years. He described the snack bar as one of the few places left in Westchester to get a hot, cheap lunch.

"It's like an ice cube in the desert," he said. "The working man who wants a $5 lunch can't get a $5 lunch anymore. You have La Chateau du Fontaine for a $10 sandwich."

Not only was Mickey's cheap, Kane added, "the hot dogs are excellent."

"It was the best hot dog I've had in the area," he said.

Edited February 2, 2007 by bigfitz2004

[x635 4,066]

This enraged me when I heard the story while I was in WMC.

This establishment has been there for years, and is a landmark in Greenburgh/Yonkers.

All of a sudden, it's a problem for Greenburgh. I guess they want to build another high end furniture store, bank, senior housing, or church there- since that's seemingly the only types of businesses Greenburgh wants. We lost Barnes and Noble, we're losing Carvel, and now Greenburgh is forcing Mickey's out. What's next? Must they break everyones balls?

Edited February 10, 2007 by x635

[Guest bibbles10504]

where is this place located? anymore specific other than yonkers?

[BFarr156 0]

Mickey's Hot Dog Stand is located in Greenburgh just over the Yonkers/Greenburgh line on Jackson Avenue.

If you are coming S/B on the Sprain, getting off the Jackson Avenue exit, you would make a right at the traffic light and it will be right there on your left hand side, just passed the powerlines.