Peep’s Hot Dogs a longtime lunch favorite for Hersey High School students and St. Viator students is closing today. Peep’s Hot Dog, 1600 North Rand Road, at the northwest corner of Rand Road and Thomas Street in unincorporated Arlington Heights was started in 1967 by Craig Stroder and his father, Don Stroder. Originally the true hot dog stand was a little white trailer.
In 1981 Sharon Rossman and her husband, Mel, purchased the restaurant from the Stroder family and built an addition to the brick building. The hot dog stand still had a loyal following.
A fire n Saturday, September, 19 2009, which started in a grease chute, closed the restaurant for a short time. The fire video below had a large number of ‘dislike’ on the YouTube rating system, attesting to the loyal fans of Peep’s who were sorry to learn of the bad news for Peep’s.
Nine dislikes for this fire video, as of August 12, 2011 — presumably loyal Peep’s fans giving a thumb’s down for the bad news at Peep’s.
The corner is likely to be re-developed. There was always confusion whether Peep’s was in Arlington Heights or Prospect Heights. At the September 2009 Peep’s fire, the jurisdiction was the Prospect Heights Fire Protection District. An Arlington Heights police officer on patrol saw flames shooting out of the chimney. Peep’s had an unincorporated Arlington Heights address.
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