King Richard’s Antique Mall in Whittier might be my favorite place to browse the detritus of America’s last century. The massive sprawling former orange packing house is filled to the rafters with everything from religious relics to gumball machines to elegant midcentury furniture. There is, however, one item that they have never offered for sale in their 46 years of hawking goods along Route 72: The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.
The 27-foot-long kustom fiberglass hot dog on wheels arrives at the landmark on Sunday, February 15, for a “Vintage Valentine Extravaganza” and sticks around from noon to 4 p.m. They are planning for photo ops, a meet and greet with the Hotdoggers, the energetic crew that drives this beast around the country, raffles and prizes.
King Richard’s opened in 1980 as King Richard’s Antique Madness. The space was converted from the Whittier Citrus Association’s 1903 orange packing house into a 25,000 square foot antique center. Today, it has more than doubled in size and the owners claim it is the largest in California.
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile is probably America’s most famous example of a “productmobile,” a vehicle shaped like the product it promotes. The frank-shaped car never fails to delight Angelenos when it pulls up in the next lane and offers some lucky drivers a tiny commemorative wiener whistle. It’s almost as exciting as Angelyne pulling up in the next lane in that pink Corvette.
The first version of that vehicle was created in 1936 by Oscar’s nephew Carl, and it puttered around until 1973, when the meat maker temporarily parked the fleet to focus on TV advertising. I mean, they kinda killed it with that jingle……