In 1923, a 16-year-old Greek boy named Gus Poulos arrived at the docks of Ellis Island from Athens, Greece, with no contacts and his family left behind. Penniless, but industrious and driven, Gus quickly immersed himself in the spirited mood of the roaring 20's and set his sights on achieving the American Dream. Working at a deli in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, it didn't take long for the hard-working Gus to make his mark. Within three years, he bought the business outright.

Now that he was a business owner, Gus was able to take his first vacation and, like many Americans, set his sights on the sunny beaches of Miami, Florida. When he got there, he noticed the plentiful supplies of excellent fruit: oranges, mangoes, grapefruit, bananas, pineapples and most importantly, papayas. He quickly came to love various concoctions of fruit juices.

When he got back to New York, he went looking for papayas and other tropical fruits to satisfy his newly acquired craving. None could be found. At that time, Florida was a world away by train and most tropical fruits were unknown to New Yorkers. In 1931, after several years of planning and developing fruit sources, Gus decided to sell his deli and open his first juice store, Hawaiian Tropical Drinks, Inc.

At first, no one came. His store piled high with perishable tropical fruits, Gus decided that if he couldn't sell his drinks, he would give them away rather than letting the fruit go to waste. So he hired waitresses to dress up in traditional Hawaiian skirts and had them stand on the corner handing out free glasses of fruit drinks as Gus worked a blender inside the store.

It didn't take long for New Yorkers to get hooked. Soon he had lines forming outside his shop on the days of his fresh fruit deliveries and the legend of his papaya drinks began to spread. In 1935, he opened another store in Brooklyn, and in 1937, he set up his third shop in Philadelphia. He expanded his drink lines to include fresh-squeezed strawberry shakes and coconut drinks mixed with papaya juice. Despite his success, however, he knew something was missing.

Gus' first store was on 86th Street and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, which at the time was heavily populated with German and Polish immigrants. One day while trying to impress a young German-American woman named "Birdie" on his newly purchased roller skates, Gus took a fall and badly injured his ankle. The young lass took pity on him and helped him during his recuperation, bringing him food from the German establishments in the neighborhood. Gus quickly took a liking to all things German, and after he and Birdie decided to marry, he introduced the frankfurter to his juice stand. The rest is history.

As the decades passed, Gus' fruit stands grew in stature and fame. Gus opened several more outlets in New York and even opened restaurants as far away as Baltimore and Miami. Though still officially the Hawaiian Tropical Drinks Company, a regular patron (reportedly a Brooklyn Dodger baseball player who became addicted to Gus' fare) had dubbed Gus the "Papaya King," and customers began to refer to the fruit stands as "The Papaya King."

By the 1950's, the "Papaya King's" fame had spread across the country and the original store on 86th Street began to attract worldwide attention. Early in the 1960's, he agreed to officially change the name of the store to Papaya King. Travel guides began to hone in on the corner frankfurter shop as an essential New York City pit stop.

In 1958, his son Peter, fresh out of college, decided to join in and took over the day-to-day operations of the New York stores. Peter began to influence the business more and more, and opened up another very successful location on 59th Street and 3rd Avenue in New York City. In the 1960's, because the 86th Street store was so busy, Peter and Gus opened up another Papaya King directly across the street just to handle the overflow of customers!!

In the 1970's, Peter's cousin Alex, Gus' nephew, joined in the business. Despite their success, however, Peter and Gus wanted to focus their attention on the 86th Street store so as to spend more time with their families. By Gus' death in 1988, Papaya King was back to its original single store.

Today, say the words "Papaya King" to a New Yorker and hot dogs and fruit drinks will instantly come to mind. Papaya King has been called by Zagat the "best, cheapest (stand-up) lunch in the city", and a "must visit" highlight of any trip to New York City. Critic Ed Levine of New York Eats calls it the "best hot dog in the world." Over the years, Papaya King has become a tradition with local residents, tourists, political and business luminaries, and the jet set of New York society. Papaya King represents the ultimate in quick dining -- stand-up fare and ready-made juice drinks enjoyed as you rub elbows with all walks of people. Papaya King stands for inexpensive fast food made from all-natural products and the store provides a nostalgic visit to old New York.