KEEPIN' IT SIMPLE: CHEAP FARE, GOOD FOOD HOT DOG STANDS ARE LABOR OF LOVE.

Byline: BRENT HOPKINS Staff Writer

Sixty years ago, just after the war, Richard F. Walsh lay in bed, dreaming of hot dogs.

He'd just come back from a nice dinner out with his wife, but his mind danced with hot dogs and onions. Hot dogs with mustard. Hot dogs, most definitely, with chili. Cokes, Pepsis, Hires Root Beers on the side, but mainly hot dogs.

And, the dream told him, name them after the flying Roman god of love.

When Walsh woke, he knew he would open Cupid's Hot Dogs. It took a while, but on June 17, 1946, he finally had his first stand on Burbank Boulevard in North Hollywood.

A Massachusetts transplant, he worked in the movies before trying his hand as a restaurateur. His wife, L. Berniece, a Kansas farm girl, worked at Hughes Aircraft. At Cupid's, they cut their own onions.

They worked hard, made some money and kept selling hot dogs. Lots and lots of hot dogs.

``We never changed,'' said Rick Walsh, their son and current owner of the company. ``My three stores are doing what they did when they opened: They sell hot dogs, chips and drinks.''

There have been some alterations. Stores have come and gone, non-company locations have changed the brand and stretched it as far as Arizona.

But at his trio of shops in Northridge, Canoga Park and Simi Valley, things aren't too different than when his mom and dad chucked their day jobs for the hot dog world 60 years ago.

Today, at the three stores, Walsh is offering 60-cent hot dogs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Though limited to five dogs per order, patrons can indulge in the commingling of nostalgia and chili at prices not seen for years.

``My dad used to take me when I was a kid in Panorama City,'' said Marty Bresler, a 51-year-old truck driver. ``There's other places around, like The Stand, but that's yuppie hot dogs. It's always the same, good ol' thing here.''

His standard meal is four dogs: two with everything, two with cheese; two for now, two for later.

And it's people like him that have kept the chain going all these years.

Walsh, a database administrator who took over after his parents died in the 1980s, tries to keep things traditional. The chili recipe hasn't changed since the day his dad opened the first site.

And in that way, the chain became interwoven with the modern development of the Valley. Countless kids like Bresler grew up eating its hot dogs and drinking from its paper cups, emblazoned with little red hearts.

Cupid's was never where you went to impress a date -- it was the place you met up with your buddies or you took the kids to get 'em out of the house on a hot summer Saturday.

The original site shut down in the mid-1960s after the Walshes lost their lease, but they added the Canoga Park spot in '62, then the Northridge store, co-owned with partners, in '65.

Walsh opened the Simi Valley site in 1988 and a number of licensed stores operate outside his corporate control throughout the area.

``There's not too many places you can say that lasted this long,'' said Len Campa, a 52-year-old from Reseda who works for United Parcel Service and favors chili, mustard and onions on his pair of dogs.

``They must be doing something right if they're still here. It's nice to know places like this exist -- it's like a tradition.''

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Rick Walsh, who inherited Cupid's Hot Dogs from his father, shows off the Valley institution's hot dogs.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(2 -- 3) Cupid's Hot Dogs, a Valley favorite, is celebrating 60 years of serving franks. The Walsh family started the business at this North Hollywood location, above. Founder Richard F. Walsh pours soda in a vintage shot, below.