Paul DeGrazia, final owner of the beloved Pacific Palisades eatery The Hot Dog Show, died on September 10 in Las Vegas at the age of 85. DeGrazia was born on December 4, 1926 in Chicago. Tall for his age, he joined the Navy and served with the SeaBees in the Aleutian Islands during World War II, helping to build airstrips. After the war, he moved to Los Angeles and drove trucks until he joined the LAPD in 1948. He served for eight years until he was shot in the back while on duty and had to retire with disability in 1956. He then tended bar, worked at a liquor store, and was a private investigator for Hughes markets, tracking down writers of bad checks. In 1969, DeGrazia took a leap of faith and bought The Hot Dog Show with the help of Eif Hoffman, who remembered him ‘to be honest and a hard worker at his liquor store.’ That same year, DeGrazia and his wife Arlene (whom he married in 1961) moved to the Palisades, and lived at different times on Embury and Altata. ’It was a great plus and blessing that the restaurant happened to be located in the Palisades [at the juncture of Sunset and Monument],’ recalled his son, Tony. ‘The community support was there when my dad took over a failing restaurant and, with their help, turned it into a landmark with its angel-winged hot dogs over the door. ’My dad was a tough but fair boss to his employees, many stating that they learned a strong work ethic that served them well in later life. He also mellowed, as evidenced in keeping employees for many years.’ Tony continued, ‘Dad was amazed in later years when friends of mine would comment on all their great memories of The Hot Dog Show. But it was never only about the restaurant. We all realized it was where The Hot Dog Show made its home, in the Palisades.’ Tony also fondly remembered the one-on-one time he had with his father. ‘The Hot Dog Show was hard to get away from, but Dad would take me to the shooting range, or to hit a bucket of golf balls. And we’d have lunch at Canter’s Deli, followed by a haircut and a manicure together in Century City.’ DeGrazia sold the restaurant in 1979, worked as an insurance agent for a year, then retired in Las Vegas. He and Arlene loved traveling in their retirement, and he greatly enjoyed playing golf. In later years, walking 18 holes in the dry heat of Vegas kept him happy and mobile. He also built remote-control model airplanes and was a passionate ham radio hobbyist. Degrazia leaves behind his wife of 51 years, Arlene, and his son, Tony, who lives in Arcosanti, Arizona.
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