Papaya King shuttered its iconic hot dog stand on Recent York City’s Upper East Side last week after 90 years — nevertheless it reportedly will reign again.
The venerable venue — whose neon signs had been fixtures on the Northwest corner of East 86th Street and Third Avenue for generations — is reportedly moving to an area across the road at 1535 Third Ave. between East 86th and East 87th Streets.
That’s after Papaya King shuttered its longtime location at 179 E. 86th St. on Friday — a move that frankfurter fiends had dreaded for months, anticipating it spelled the demise of the outfit that introduced the unlikely combination of hot dogs and fruit juices in 1939.
Extell Development, headed by property billionaire Gary Barnett, bought the squat constructing for $21 million in 2021 and filed plans with the town last yr to demolish it to make way for a luxury tower.
The unique Papaya King opened on the corner of East 86th Street and Third Avenue in 1932.Google Maps
News of Papaya King’s recent lease appeared on an indication on the old location’s front door and was first reported by Uppereastsite.com.
One in all the unique restaurant’s neon signs “now hangs above the brown paper used to cover the windows” while staff ready the brand new space, in keeping with the blog.
Employees told Uppereastsite.com that the restaurant could open inside per week as signs and the previous countertop was faraway from the unique space into the brand new one.
The brand new space had previously been a Modell’s Sporting Goods store.
Papaya had been in litigation with its former landlord since 2020 over non-payment of rent at its last remaining restaurant, in keeping with reports.
Still, it’s not clear who actually owns Papaya King today.
Founded by the late Constantine “Gus” Poulus in 1932, Papaya King was taken over by Poulus’ son Peter who opened multiple recent eateries and attempted to franchise the business.
It was sold in 1997 to a gaggle of investors and locations opened in Hollywood and Las Vegas, all of which closed shortly thereafter.
Papaya King started off selling tropical fruit juices and later added hot dogs to the menus in 1939.AFP via Getty Images
In 2010, a gaggle of investors and caterer Wayne Rosenbaum bought the business, telling Recent York magazine on the time that he planned to deal with franchising.
“Papaya King might be here for an additional 178 years,” Rosenbaum boasted to the publication.
By then it had spawned quite a few spinoffs and copycats including Gray’s Papaya, Mike’s Papaya, Papaya Dog, Papaya Heaven, Papaya Paradise and Papaya Place.
Even Nathan’s Famous muscled into the neighborhood in 1976, opening a location next to the flagship store and igniting a hot dog war that lasted six months until Nathan’s moved away.
Papaya King is moving to a recent location across the road from its original store on Third Avenue.AFP via Getty Images
But Rosenbaum told The Post on Tuesday he has not been involved within the business for “4 years” and declined to debate the matter further.
Meanwhile, the owner of Grab & Go Convenience LLC, Sajid Sohail, claimed to be the owner of the business, in keeping with litigation between Sohail and Papaya’s former landlord on East 86th St. Imperial Sterling.
Imperial alleged that Grab & Go Convenience broke into the shop at East 86th St. after the lease was terminated for non-payment of the rent and continued to operate the restaurant without permission, in keeping with court filings.
Sohail couldn’t be reached for comment.