Introduction: In this heartwarming story, Melissa Davenport Berry writes about the “Hot Dog Man” who made New Year’s Day special for poor children in Boston’s North End in the 1920s. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today my story covers the “Hot Dog Santa” of Boston’s North End (aka “Hot Dog Man” and “Hot Dog Saint”), who made many young boys happy on past New Year’s Days. The fellow’s generous weenie feast lasted throughout the 1920s, and his story is worth telling.
I thank my good friend Beth Coughlin for bringing this holiday tidbit to my attention. Last week she said to me, “Hey, have you heard of the Hot Dog Santa?” I had not – so I immediately went sleuthing.
The first mention of the “Hot Dog Santa” I found was in the Boston Globe on 27 December 1921. It was a photo of him distributing 500 warm weenies in hot buns and telling the excited lads to form a line, with the headline: “Hot Dog Santa Had Weenies in His Bag. Jovial Vender Knew What Children Liked Best.” It was his first hot dog giveaway.
The vender’s name was Axel Andreas Bjorklund (1869-1930), a Swedish immigrant who arrived in America in 1889 and settled in the Boston area. He was not wealthy – far from it – but his generosity was enormous!
According to the news clip the “Hot Dog Giveaway” was broadcasted days before the event. The poor and needy children of the North End would have to be there at 11 o’clock sharp the day after Christmas to get one of the 500 juicy, tempting frankfurter sandwiches.
Axel set up his hot dog cart at the corner of Hanover and Blackston streets, aka “Hot Dog Corner.” Here is the location, shown in the photo below.
The dogs were so well received that Axel repeated his charity the following year on New Year’s Day. For the rest of the decade Axel served warm dogs to the grateful young fellows and gradually increased the number until it reached 3,000!
Within a few years Axel suffered from severe rheumatism, and he was short on coin. In 1924, with aid from the community and a determined and generous heart, nothing deterred him from dog duty. Headlines read: “Hot Dog Man Has His New Year Party. Gives Away 1500 Frankfurters to Children of the North End.”
This article reports:
Yesterday, although feeling far from his usual care-free self, he dragged his “weenie” basket to the corner of Blackstone and Hanover streets, and prepared and distributed to eagerly waiting and clamoring children, 1500 steaming frankfurters.
Because of his illness, the “New Year’s Santa Claus” was unable to collect sufficient funds for the distribution yesterday, and an appeal was made to the public a short time ago. The necessary funds were soon available, and it was announced a few days ago that the “dogs” would be distributed this year as usual.
The distribution began shortly before noon, and when the first steaming “dog,” garnished plentifully with mustard, was given into a grimy little hand, there were hundreds of children standing in a long line. In 15 minutes little faces, wreathed in smiles and smeared with mustard and bread crumbs, testified to the success of the New Year treat.
In 1925 it was reported that Axel was giving away 2,000 hot dogs.
The following year, with a few Santa helpers including some police, Axel distributed 2,500 hot dogs! Here is a photo showing the annual event.
Sadly, hard times befell the Hot Dog Man.
I found three newspaper reports on his terrible fate. He was found in late October 1927 in his tiny tenement, incapacitated by rheumatism and penniless. He was about to be lugged off to Tewksbury State Hospital when Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Hendrickson of 683 Hancock Street came to his rescue.
The couple took him in and helped him secure a small room and get back on his feet. However, by the end of 1928 just before Christmas he was homeless again, according to the Evening Gazette, which noted the Hot Dog Santa was getting charity from the Salvation Army’s Comdt. George Johnston. Part of the headline read: “Hot Dog Saint Ousted from Humble Home.”
This article reports:
Axel is physically below par, and his nerves are a bit shaky. He is only 60, but his life, as he told it yesterday to Brig. W. G. Hammond, has been one long story of poverty, privation and misfortune.
However, Axel is firm in the belief that he will be able, New Year’s Day, to again distribute his celebrated hot dogs. “I want to give out at least 3000,” he said. “I’ll get on my feet again before long and then things will be all right.”
The first night Axel was displaced, Comdt. Johnston secured him a room at the Salvation Army’s People’s Palace Hotel for Men. Below is a photo of the building located on Brookline Street.
Axel never recovered his health, and was unable to perform his hot dog giveaway on New Year’s Day 1930. He died on 10 November 1930, in Cambridge Municipal Hospital. Thanks to the Swedish Charitable Society, Axel was given a proper burial.
Long live the Hot Dog Santa! May he be in frankfurter heaven!
Here is a tribute poem for Axel Bjorklund, written by Anthony I. Werner and published in his 1926 book Chips from My Chisel.
AXEL BJORKLUND
Axel Bjorklund, the frankfurter man,
Heats up his wares with a stove and a pan,
Sells ’em all hot at the sides of the street,
Just where the curb and the paving stones meet,
Clerks? He has none, nor a window to show
Why, if you’re hungry, inside you should go.
Tables and chairs are no part of his fixtures,
Nor can he serve us delectable mixtures,
Things for the epicure’s dainty caress –
Axel’s no chef – he’s a cook, more or less.
“Cook by appointment to you and to me” –
So might be worded our royal decree –
“Given this day from the depths of our souls,
Hail to Sir Axel, his frankfurters and rolls!”
Many a merchant like Axel we meet,
Crying his wares at the side of the street.
Little they differ from princes of trade
Seated on thrones that their industry made,
Reaching and grasping and holding their hoards.
Gold is their ruler, and they are its lords.
But Axel Bjorklund, the frankfurter man,
Warms to the world like his big frying pan.
Little has he on the poor to bestow,
The wolf at the door must be battled, you know;
And many a “dog” is consumed in the fray,
To keep the e’er ravenous varmint away.
But, when the children of alley and street,
Shivering gather, the New Year to greet,
Axel’s kind face drops the mask of his trade,
And lo! His true spirit is richly displayed.
On the cold pavement, with basket and gear,
Axel starts business the first of the year.
Great is his burden, but not for display;
Little indeed are his profits today,
Though, with a shout and a scramble and race,
“Customers” gather and struggle for place!
Boys of all sizes and nations galore,
Line up to sample the dog-vendor’s store.
Mike and Pasquale and Jimmy and Red,
Pete and Erastus come out to be fed;
Fatty the Bootblack, and Jakey the Horse,
And Ash-barrel Willie, are present, of course.
Gee! But the odor of sizzling-hot meat
Fills in a minute the wintery street!
Out from the alleys, like mice from their holes,
The torrent of growing Americans rolls,
Clad in their garments too large or too small,
But happy as lords in their ancestral hall,
While with dexterity Axel prepares
Frankfurters and rolls in proportionate shares.
It doesn’t last long, such a banquet as this,
Where etiquette forfeits to appetite’s bliss;
The basket soon empties, the fire is turned out;
The kids have departed with joy in their shout,
And traces of mustard on chin and on sleeve
In napkins these gentlemen never believe.
Then Axel packs off with his stove and his pan,
His purse quite as empty as when he began;
The silver that glitters in Gratitude’s tear
Is profit enough for the first of the year.
But, stored in the vault of his generous heart,
Are jewels that only good deeds can impart;
Ah, rich in a treasure few mortals can span
Is Axel Bjorklund, the frankfurter man.
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Note on the header image: Axel Andreas Bjorklund. Credit: Boston Public Library Archives.