Lunch is served at Shorty’s for 90 years and counting
Fourth-generation Shorty's staffer Matt Alexas piles hot dogs high with chili and onions. On a recent weekday, the seasoned pro had a pair of dogs plated in half a minute or less.
Katherine Mansfield
Matt Alexas slides two chili hot dogs onto Shorty’s staple ware: small, round plates rimmed in forest green. From any seat in the house, customers can watch the chefs dish up hot dogs all day long.
Katherine Mansfield
Nothing beats a Shorty’s “everything” hot dog – or two – at a diner bar seat inside the iconic shop along West Chestnut Street in Washington.
Katherine Mansfield
Shorty’s grill takes center stage along West Chestnut Street in Washington, where passerby and diners alike watch as cooks heat the locally-famous hot dogs. On a recent weekday, Matt Alexas slid more dogs on the grill before the lunch rush hurried in.
Katherine Mansfield
Katherine Mansfield
Shorty’s locally-famous hot dogs line the window-side grill like a work of modern art before the lunch crowd fills the small space on a recent weekday.
Shorty's locally-famous hot dogs line the window-side grill like a work of modern art before the lunch crowd fills the small space on a recent weekday.
Katherine Mansfield
Shorty’s chili dogs grace the iconic plates before being passed along to a regular.
Katherine Mansfield
Times have changed, but the sign inside Shorty’s along West Chestnut Street harkens back to the good old days, before menus were electronic or pulled up on cell phone screens. The locally-famous hot dog shop turns 90 this year.
Katherine Mansfield
On a recent weekday, Nicole Smith, Steve Alexas, Jean Alexas and Matt Alexas wait for the lunch crowd to arrive at Shorty’s Lunch along West Chestnut Street in Washington. Smith has worked at the locally-famous shop for nearly two decades, while Steve and his brother John (not pictured) serve as second-generation owners.
Katherine Mansfield
Jean Alexas’s husband George founded Shorty’s Lunch nine decades ago. Alexas joked that she is an original fixture inside the shop along West Chestnut Street in Washington.
Steve Alexas is the second-generation co-owner of Shorty's Lunch along West Chestnut Street in Washington. His brother John operates the Shorty's Wolfdale location.
Katherine Mansfield
Steve Alexas is the second-generation co-owner of Shorty’s Lunch along West Chestnut Street in Washington. His brother John operates the Shorty’s Wolfdale location.
Katherine Mansfield
Shorty’s Lunch along West Chestnut Street is celebrating 90 years of business.
Katherine Mansfield
For nearly a century, Washington natives and passers-through have stepped inside Shorty’s for hot dogs, coffee, soda and conversation. The eatery along West Chestnut Street celebrates 90 years this year.
In this photo from August 2021, Pittsburgh and state police motorcycles park outside Shorty's while officers take a lunch break inside the iconic hot dog shop. The officers visited Shorty's after participating in the late district attorney Gene Vittone's funeral.
By Karen Mansfield
When people ask brothers John and Steve Alexas, co-owners of the iconic Shorty’s Lunch in Washington, the secret to being in business for about 90 years, John’s answer is simple.
“We cater to regular people. There’s nothing really fancy, but we try to provide quality food and good service, and we do it fast,” said John Alexas.
Shorty’s Lunch hasn’t just survived since the early 1930s (neither John nor Steve know precisely when it was founded); it has become a beloved Washington area institution.
The star of the menu is the “everything” hot dog – a frank topped with mustard, onions and Shorty’s homemade chili sauce. Customers frequently accompany it with French fries smothered in gravy.
On a rainy Monday at 11:30 a.m., Eben and Daesha McClay of West Alexander sat at a booth and enjoyed their regular order – two hot dogs each and a plate of gravy fries that the pair split.
“(Shorty’s) is just a staple,” said Eben McClay. “I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid.”
There’s rarely a day that you don’t see Steve behind the counter at the original hot dog shop on West Chestnut Street and John at the helm of Shorty’s sister store in Wolfdale.
John and Steve’s grandfather, Pete Alexas, opened up the hot dog business with John “Shorty” Contorakes – for whom the diner is named – sometime around 1932. Their children, George Alexas and John Contorakes, owned it after them.
John’s son, Matthew Alexas, who works at the West Chestnut Street store, is the fourth generation to help run the family business.
When Shorty’s opened its doors, a hot dog cost a nickel.
Initially, the hot dog shop was open 24 hours.
“Back in my grandfather’s day, they didn’t even have a key to the door. It was never locked because customers were always there,” said John, laughing.
Steve recalled that during the heyday of steel mills in Washington, steelworkers would drop by the hot dog shop in the morning after a midnight shift and grab a couple of hot dogs before heading home.
“They didn’t want breakfast food because it was their dinner time,” said Steve.
At the original Shorty’s, which features a dark brown decor, little has changed over the decades – and customers don’t want the owners to make any kind of changes.
There are eight wooden booths along one wall, and the long bar/counter is lined with 10 stools.
The grill is situated in one of the front windows, allowing anyone walking along West Chestnut Street to see the rows of hot dogs being cooked inside.
“People love the oldness of it. It’s like stepping back in time, and they don’t want us to change anything, and they let us know it, so we try not to replace anything,” said Steve. “They didn’t even want us to replace the original grill top, even though it was worn out.”
The decor in the Wolfdale shop is more contemporary, and old family photos adorn the walls.
The brothers said they have resisted franchising the restaurant, despite repeated inquiries over the decades.
Shorty’s has attracted generations of Shorty’s Lunch lovers and has plenty of regulars.
“We have very loyal customers. A lot of them I knew when they were kids, and they keep coming back as adults. We’ve had whole families coming from the time their kids were little, and now they’re grown up,” said John. “For people who don’t live around here anymore, it’s their first stop as soon as they get off the airplane. They come to Shorty’s before they go home. They miss it. You think about things you had when you were growing up, and you can’t have it.”
The famous chili sauce is made on-site at the original shop – patrons can buy a gallon for $9 – and the smell wafts throughout the store.
“When you work uptown, and you go home, you have to take a shower because you smell like chili sauce,” said John, laughing.
Over the years, the restaurant has served many notable guests, including several Pittsburgh Steelers and the Rooney family.
The restaurant has persevered through difficult times, most recently serving up its hot dogs and hot beef sandwiches during the COVID-19 pandemic.
John and Steve’s father worked at Shorty’s until he was 80 years old, and John, 63, said he had originally planned to retire earlier.
Their plan, however, is to continue serving their famous hot dogs and chili sauce for as long as customers want to gobble them up.
“We keep plugging away. I’m honored that people have supported us and that it’s been in our family all of these years. I like talking to people, meeting people, and I love the employees and the people I work with every day; they’re like family,” said John, noting some waitresses have worked at the eatery for 30 years or more. “I honestly didn’t want to work until I was 80, but I think I’m going to be here a bit longer.”