If there's one thing that we've seen by now, it's that Chicago loves it's natives, and it love its food. And when the two of them combine, then all the better! Abe Drexler was born in 1910 on the near South Side, right about where the campus of UIC is now located. When Drexler was in school, he was subjected to a hazing ritual in which he was roped around the neck and dragged up a set of stairs. An onlooker remarked that the fact that he survived that seemed pretty Fluky--hence the nickname, which he carried with him for the rest of his life. Eventually, Fluky started selling hot dogs out of a stand on Maxwell Street. Then, the Great Depression hit.
At that same time, Abe Drexler was hit by an idea. During a time where people at times lacked a pot to pee in, what if he could whip up a hot dog, load it up with veggies, drag it through the garden, and make a bargain meal out of a single hot dog? Drexler put this idea into practice, and the Chicago Style Hot Dog was born. The dog was sold for the meager sum of 5 cents, although kids could buy the delicacy for as little as 2 cents if ol' Fluky was feeling generous. Drexler continued to sell hot dogs well into his golden years before finally passing away in 1986. But that's not where his legacy ends. The City Council later pronounced the portion of North Western Avenue where Drexler first sold hot dogs as Abe "Fluky" Drexler Way.
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