Two female hot dog peddlers allegedly went to war over a prime vending site in West Hollywood’s Rainbow District.
The two wiener ladies screamed, kicked and yanked each other’s hair in the vicious fight that popped off after midnight on Sunday and was caught on video by a shocked bystander, highlight ongoing tension over sidewalk retail turf in the busy neighborhood.
The drama begins when the two women confront each verbally over hot dog cart placement on the hectic corner of Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards, as throngs of revelers gather to watch the brawl unfold in the tense scene posted online by WeHo Times.
The verbal confrontation in a heartbeat escalates into wild melee, with the two hawkers grappling each other behind their carts, falling into the street dangerously close to speeding traffic as the video continues.
Within seconds one of the vendors prevails, holding the other on the ground and pummeling her in the sidewalk divot leading to the busy crosswalk as the horrified crowd watches. The violence captured in the film only lasts a few moments.
The West Hollywood Sheriff substation had no record of a call to police regarding the fight. It was unclear if either of the two women were injured.
The video ends with the crowd walking past the busy corner as before, with the two ladies’ hot dog stands, still in operation as they were at the outset of the fight.
Larry Block, who owns the nearby business BlockParty WeHo, told KTLA that the conflict boils to “turf wars.”
The fight started after a “person tried to push a vendor out of the way in front of Beaches Tropicana and then they went at it,” he explained.
Block said the vendors are present “every weekend” and have grown more territorial – and mean.
The peddlers threaten business owners who ask them to move, creating a “really dangerous situation to go after them,” he added.
Block also griped that vendors are “killing the trees and pouring the grease on the street.”
Fed-up neighborhood business owners have brought their frustration to the West Hollywood public safety commission, according to KTLA.
The city has increased enforcement efforts against unlicensed vendors, but a 2019 state law limits the regulatory actions to administrative fines.
