Coney Island: 2016 Hot Dog Eating Contest

~ 100 ~

YEARS

Happy Birthday Nathan's Famous!

Congratulations on triumphantly hitting the century mark in grand New York City fashion, flair, and food!

Thanks for your unyielding resiliency through decades of good times and bad, and most recently returning from Hurricane Sandy stronger than ever, and for continuing to serve as one of the bedrocks of Coney Island - all year long, ever year since 1916.

My son and I are 2nd and 3rd generation native Nathanites.  As part of the love of Borough, we greater Brooklynites wear your very existence like a red badge of courage where ever we go.

Birthplace of the hot dog, you're among the TITANS of Brooklyn institutions.  Within every bite, an enduring freakishly historic and delicious reminder of an era when Coney Island was the preeminent vacation destination of the entire east coast ... and never apologized for nuthin'.

A modern trip to Sin City, Las Vegas, would be nothing more than adult day care compared to the hey day of Coney Island, where Six Flags met Oktoberfest and Vaudeville met Jackass at the Hotel California on the Island of Moreau.

July 4, 2016

The first hot dog contest did not take place between four immigrants 

on July 4, 1916, in order to decide who was the most patriotic among them.  

Suffice to say this tradition as we know it started in the early 1970s.

JOEY CHESTNUT

regained the title, breaking his own record,

scarfing down a new record 70 hot dogs with buns. 

Meanwhile, on the way back home...

I couldn't help myself, so I also contributed two bucks

YBR?

You Breed Raptors?

!dinosaur cloning research!