Though it may seem unlikely, this isn’t the first time the Coney Island Boardwalk has arrived at a crossroads in Colorado.
Ever since it first went splat on West Colfax Avenue in 1966, the Brooklyn transplant and hot dog stand has become a local roadside legend.
It’s even gone on the road for appearances from Denver to Aspen Park and finally to Bailey, where it’s sat alongside Highway 285 since 2006.
The bun-shaped restaurant continued operating on and off until 2021. Before the pandemic hit, it nearly went to public auction for unpaid taxes. This week, the wiener went up for sale for the third time, at least, in just over a decade. It’s been a long journey for the Coney dog.
This time, owner Greg Aigner has priced the property — which includes the giant stand attached to a small house and a neighboring gift shop with two apartments — to sell at $1.5 million. It’s around the same price that his brother, Ron Aigner, listed it for back in 2015.
“That’s pretty much an estimate of what my brother has into it,” Greg Aigner, 65, explained. He acts as conservator of the Boardwalk since Ron Aigner, 72, lives in Uruguay.
A retired Jefferson County Public Schools teacher, the younger Aigner now spends a few days each week on Old Stagecoach Road fixing up Coney Island. The house needs a new roof, the stucco on the hot dog needs replacing and the boardwalk itself needs repaired.
“The goal is to get it open as soon as possible,” Aigner said.
He’s working with neighboring business owners to search for buyers who will “keep it local.” But he also wonders if “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone would be interested in adding the Coney to their list of saved Colorado attractions. After all, Parker is from neighboring Conifer.
And like Casa Bonita, which the duo purchased last year, Coney Island Boardwalk is known more for its structure than its service — or even its food.
“I went to college down in Durango, and I was up and down (Highway) 285 all the time,” Aigner said. “And I only went in one time. I didn’t really care about the food… but just to be inside of it…” he said, trailing off.
When his brother had the 42-foot hot dog loaded onto a flatbed semi-truck and driven down to Bailey, it was a sight to behold. A couple of weeks earlier, customers had lined up by 11 a.m. in Aspen Park to order their last hot dogs from the Boardwalk. The Coney was welcomed just a couple of towns over with an old-fashioned (and single-grill) hot dog cookout.
Kathryn Scott, Denver Post file
The Coney Island hot dog stand moves from it's home in Aspen Park down US 285 to the town of Bailey.
Kathryn Scott, Denver Post file
The Coney Island hot dog stand moves from its home in Aspen Park down U.S. 285 to the town of Bailey.
Kathryn Scott, Denver Post file
The Coney Island hot dog stand moves from it's home in Aspen Park down US 285 to the town of Bailey. As the building arrives in Bailey, Paul Eastridge and his friends and family decided to celebrate by cooking hot dogs on the the roof outside his apartment.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Greg Aigner stands in the Coney Island Boardwalk restaurant in Bailey on May 8, 2022. Aigner has been preparing the property of the Coney Island Boardwalk for sale for a few months.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Greg Aigner stands in the kitchen in the Coney Island Boardwalk restaurant in Bailey on May 8, 2022. The property includes the restaurant, a building attached to the restaurant which was once an old house, a gift shop and two apartments above the gift shop on just over an acre of land.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
A room inside the Coney Island Boardwalk restaurant in Bailey on May 8, 2022.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Crocheted hot dogs are for sale inside The Fun & Funky Art Gallery and Gift Shop which will be part of the sale of the Coney Island Boardwalk restaurant in Bailey on May 8, 2022.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Greg Aigner checks looks to see if the neon OPEN sign still works in the Coney Island Boardwalk restaurant in Bailey on May 8, 2022.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
A painting by a customer of the Coney Island Boardwalk restaurant on in Bailey on May 8, 2022 in Bailey.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
The Fun & Funky Art Gallery and Gift Shop will be part of the sale of the Coney Island Boardwalk restaurant in Bailey on May 8, 2022.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
A sign tells customers that The Fun & Funky Art Gallery and Gift Shop is for sale along with the Coney Island Boardwalk restaurant in Bailey on May 8, 2022.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Greg Aigner checks out the cracked plaster on the outside of the Coney Island Boardwalk restaurant in Bailey on May 8, 2022.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Saphira Bulota, 9, and her older sister Aeryn, 13, check out the exterior of the Island Boardwalk restaurant in Bailey on May 8, 2022. The sisters and their father had hoped to eat at the restaurant but didn't know it was closed.
Fast-forward 16 years and the Boardwalk sits like a still-life for drivers along Highway 285. Families will still stop for the Colorado Coney Island experience and settle for a photo opp. A February episode of “South Park” somehow anticipated all of this.
“We know that good houses are getting hard to come by in South Park,” the realtor on the episode starts. “And that’s why we are so excited to bring you this exceptional new property. This is the historic Aspen Park hot dog: 200 square feet of pure luxury.”
The question now is whether that one-off sitcom joke could become a real-life business endeavor.
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