> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Santa Monica’s hot dog icon faces rent increase - URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monicas-hot-dog-icon-faces-rent-increase/ - Published: 2002-07-22T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:33:29.000Z - Author: Andrew Fixmer - Tags: Real Estate & Housing, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Santa Monica’s hot dog icon faces rent increase* The city council may raise a Santa Monica beachside hot dog stand’s annual rent by nearly $20,000. Hot Dog on a Stick, an icon along the Santa Monica boardwalk that has served corn dogs and fresh-squeezed lemonade to beachgoers since the late 1940s, has paid the city $550 per month for its concession stand for the past 20 years. However, the city council has been asked by City Manager Susan McCarthy to raise that amount to the “market-rate rent” of $2,200 per month, which would be adjusted annually by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index. The proposed five-year lease will result in an annual rental payment of $26,400, which is $19,800 more than the stand previously paid. Though Hot Dog on a Stick officials could not be reached for comment, fans of the establishment only hoped the 400 percent increase in rent would not put the establishment out of business. “That sounds like a lot for a small stand like this,” said Jon Franco, a Venice Beach resident and longtime customer. “You’d have to sell a lot of corn dogs to make that.” At 3 p.m., the line at the corn dog stand was 20 people long and growing. People at the end of the line said they didn’t mind the wait. “The line moves fast,” said Rob Trimmer, a Culver City resident. “And besides when you come to the beach, this is absolutely a must. No trip to the beach would be the same.” Hot Dog on a Stick, located at 1633 Ocean Front Walk, is the original concession in the chain founded by David Barham in 1945\. Barham, who died in 1991, opened the hot dog stand across from the original location of Muscle Beach. According to a senior city staff report, Barham originally sublet the storefront from Selma Doumani for $50 a month from 1954 through 1958\. Then in 1958, the state of California acquired the property, which it transferred to Santa Monica in 1964. The city approved a month-to-month lease renewal with Barham at a rate of $300 per month — a 600 percent increase. In 1979, the city modified the month-to-month lease and increased the monthly rent to $450\. Rent was increased again in 1981 to $550\. Hot Dog on a Stick’s rent remained the same until the city ordered an appraisal in 1998 to assess what the stand’s market rate rent should be. However, the hot dog stand’s management convinced city officials to stave off implementing the new $2,200 rent until Santa Monica finished a nearby construction project that was negatively impacting the stand’s business. Now that the construction is complete, the city is going after the higher rent. Last year, the city nearly doubled the amount of base rent it receives from the building once occupied by the Boathouse restaurant on the Santa Monica Pier. The city ended its month-to month lease with the Boathouse and decided to lease the building to the movie-themed restaurant Bubba Gump Shrimp. Bubba Gump is expected to pay $10,417 in base rent per month, plus $1,889 annually for common maintenance and 2.5 percent of the restaurant’s food, beverage and retail gross sales. The Boathouse paid $5,429 in monthly rent; $168 for annual promotional fees and 8 percent of its gross revenues in excess of $688,088 in annualized sales. However, senior city staff members noted they did not look for a new tenant or use for the hot dog stand because of its Santa Monica heritage. “The city did not seek a new use or tenant for the location since the original Hot Dog on a Stick concession has become closely associated with the Santa Monica beachfront,” the staff report says. “Now that all construction adjacent to the property has been completed, staff has under-taken a current appraisal and recommends a market rate lease.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/072202-03_01.jpg) Customers line up Sunday outside Hot Dog on a Stick. (Photo: Andrew H. Fixmer/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 22, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/072202.pdf?ref=smdp.com)