My wife and I had a busy summer. So we decided to travel to New York City from August 5 to 7.
Part of the reason was that my mother-in-law has a timeshare, but since she isn’t traveling, my wife has been trying to transfer control to herself, since she has signatory power. My wife has also been paying the monthly fees. It took several months, but it is (mostly) rectified.
So we had many “points” that had to be used up by September 30. Yikes! Thus, the trip, with no hard plan; we took Amtrak both ways.
The problem is that it can be REALLY hot in Manhattan in the summer. Temps in the 90s, humidity in the oppressive range.
So we’re in Times Square, on Broadway between 46th & 47th Sts, and we see a giant frankfurter. What? Am I hallucinating? Hot Dog: The Second Serving? They’ve done this before.
Okay. From the Times Square official site:
“Two years after its initial staging, the world’s largest hot dog (sculpture) returns to Times Square on the occasion of the nation’s semiquincentennial to offer a renewed grandiose portrait of the United States at 250.”
Deux
“The 65-foot-long sculpture comes back, not as a replica of its former self, Hot Dog in the City (2024), but as an altered monument with surprise additions amid a time where the political and cultural climate is increasingly shaped by spectacle and violence.” The previous image is pretty straightforward, large but simply decorated.
“Bursting with American spectacle, patriotism, and national mythology, Hot Dog: The Second Serving (2026), by Brooklyn-based artists Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw, is on view from July 21–August 8, 2026, on Duffy Square at Broadway and 46th St.” Ah, we lucked into seeing this in person.
“’The hot dog returns in an altered form to reflect an altered nation. As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, we found ourselves returning to questions that animated the original project: spectacle, patriotism, celebration, and power. Symbols persist. Myths persist. Their meanings shift. Two years after its initial appearance, the sculpture returns to a country that is both familiar and changed, revealing new tensions within a symbol that once seemed self-evident,’ said Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw.
“Complete with an oversized bun, a classic frankfurter, and a sweeping ribbon of yellow mustard, the satirical monument asks for national reflection—on where we’ve been, and where we’re headed.”
And here I thought a hot dog was just a hot dog.
