Although his last name means “foreigner” in German, Ray Auslander is a Pittsburgh native through and through. The 75-year-old Fox Chapel resident who grew up in the Hill District and East Liberty is the man behind Wiener World since it opened in 1965. This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the Downtown restaurant.
As Pittsburgh’s old buildings see new life, Wiener World is a perch for taking stock of transitions in the Smithfield Street corridor. The hot dog chain’s last remaining location at the corner of Smithfield Street and Strawberry Way resides within sight of the 1953 Alcoa Building — now home to offices and lofts — as well as the relatively new Hotel Monaco in the former Reed Smith Building. It is a stone’s throw from 45-year operation S.W. Randall’s Toyes and Giftes and the former Smithfield Cafe, which closed in 2012 after an 80-year run. Just last week, it was announced that Macy’s in the former Kaufmann’s Department Store down the street would be closing.
Wiener World is still here for now, although Mr. Auslander is contemplating its future as he faces possible retirement, with the building up for sale.
It’s not hard to find this Smithfield Street icon — just look for “The Two Andys.”
Weiner World’s giant neon letters light up a black sign on the corner below the colorful mural from Tom Mosser and Sarah Zeffiro, which depicts Andy Warhol and Andrew Carnegie wearing curlers, sitting under salon dryers. Warhol looks up from his copy of August Wilson’s “Fences,” while Carnegie soaks his cuticles as part of a manicure. The Wiener World sign shaped the tone of the piece.
At its peak, Wiener World had at least seven locations, with one serving hot dogs and hoagies in Heinz Hall and another at Fifth Avenue and Wood Street that was sold to Roy Rogers.
When Mr. Auslander bought out his partner in 1991, there were three stores left; in addition to the flagship, Wiener World operated at Mountaineer Mall in Morgantown, W.Va., and another on Downtown’s Cherry Way that Mr. Auslander sold to Primanti Bros. in the ’90s that closed in 2013.
Mr. Auslander and his family also ran Noodles for several years in Station Square, an Italian restaurant next door to what is now Kiku Japanese restaurant. His daughter, then a teenager, would make pasta on a machine outdoors in the common areas of the development.
“We were ahead of our time,” he said.
The pasta-making daughter now lives in Cranberry, while his other daughter lives in Upper St. Clair. Mr. Auslander and his wife, Nancy, have four grandchildren.
Mr. Auslander ended up a hot dog man after two members of his wife’s family who ran the operation fell ill and died: first, her father, Jack Berman, then her brother-in-law, Richard Novick. Mr. Auslander took it over in 1970.
In those days, Wiener World played a morning, noon and night role in the neighborhood, before fast food and Starbucks entered the market, he said.
His day started with a brisk coffee business at 7 a.m., and then hot dogs were served until 10 p.m., providing dinner for hungry department store employees after work. Once those stores closed, he dialed back to daytime hours; the shop now closes at 4 p.m.
What’s happening Downtown today is a microcosm of how Pittsburgh is changing, he said. In the 1980s, blue- and white-collar types walked shoulder to shoulder; today, it’s “mostly young executives living and working down here,” he said. They’re employed at banks or tech jobs, lured here by Google and the universities. There also are more visitors and workers from abroad.
Although he thinks the direction of Downtown’s development “is going the right way,” he believes that Mayor Bill Peduto is too heavily focused on the Cultural District and Market Square.
“There are other areas that need work,” he said, pointing to the Smithfield Street corridor.
A tested formula
Since the restaurant opened, Mr. Auslander has had five suppliers for his best-selling hot dog on a menu that includes beef dogs, a Polish-style sausage, bratwurst in the fall and fish sandwiches as well as plain or cheese fries.
Midcareer, he developed a recipe for the mixture of garlic and seasonings he uses, as well as the ratio of beef to pork. Today he uses that recipe for hot dogs supplied by Silver Star Meats in McKees Rocks.
In the shop on a recent rainy Friday at 11 a.m., a handful of customers were midway through their meals of cheese fries and dogs as they stood against the mirror-lined counter. While one employee waited on customers, Mr. Auslander’s wife, Nancy, worked the register. A few people stood at the walk-up window to order ice cream and milkshakes.
The ice cream window is open from April to November; during the cold months, Mr. Auslander and his wife head to Naples, Fla.
The lean proprietor looks as tan as if he’d been in Florida recently, although he was wearing a boot on his foot for tendinitis.
“It makes me crazy that I can’t go to spin class at the gym because of this thing,” he said.
He attributes his good health to regular exercise and “taking it easy,” when it comes to feasting on the merchandise.
A storied place
Wiener World has always had outspoken customers. Many years ago, when he switched coffee brands, “to something better!” he said he got letters from people who were very upset. Even today, he observed, “Pittsburgh people are not subject to change,” and they will let him know about it.
Although he sells a 16-ounce cup of coffee for a buck, he has lost customers to Starbucks and boutique coffee shops. “It’s a status thing,” he said. “That’s what young people want.”
For much of the year, Wiener World maintains a steady business, but last winter was lean.
The restaurant experienced several peaks through the ’70s’ and ’80s, and again in the early 2000s, as well as after the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009. His customers include valets on lunch break, hotel employees and regulars. Between 200 to 250 hot dogs are sold per day in the warmer months.
He wishes he had written a book about what he has learned running restaurants and managing up to 60 employees among seven shops. He has just three employees now, including his grandson who works at Wiener World as a summer job. One of his career highlights was the filming Downtown of “The Dark Knight Rises,” the 2012 Batman movie directed by Christopher Nolan.
The warmest stories involve those employees who met here as teenagers and later got married. Recently, a couple of former managers he had not seen in 30 years paid him a surprise visit.
“They worked here when they were 17 or 18 years old,” he said. “But as soon as they came in, I knew who they were right away.”
Melissa McCart: 412-263-1198 or on Twitter @melissamccart.
First Published: July 19, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
