The Shadow
On the morning of Friday, May 3, the Virginian Review visited a local Covington favorite: the Hot Dog House, to speak with new owners, Lynn and Bruce Wolfe. The “Hot Dog House,” previously owned by Cathy and Jim Lawson, was recently sold by Cathy to her former daughter-in-law, Lynn, and Lynn’s husband, Bruce.
According to Lynn, the “Hot Dog House” has a long history behind its success and has been operating since the 50’s. Since then, it has been owned and operated by many successors and once ran under the name “Paul’s Hot Dogs.” Lynn says the “Hot Dog House” has always been about their infamous chili recipe which, as it turns out, is most likely a Greek recipe.
After “Paul’s Hot Dogs,” the business was bought by Barbara Broughman who renamed it the “Hot Dog House,” and the rest, as they say, is history! Jim Lawson was a huge fan of the “Hot Dog House,” and would later purchase the chili recipe for a whopping $10,000 before securing the business for himself. Then, alongside his wife, Cathy, he ran the “Hot Dog House” until his death upon which time his son, Jamie stepped up to help his mother run the business. When Jamie passed suddenly in January of 2020, Lynn —with her husband, Bruce, and son, Alex— returned to Covington to help with the funeral arrangements at the request of Madison Lawson and Samantha Marshall, her two daughters that Lynn shared with Jamie.
Following Jamie’s passing, Lynn stated that “…she (Cathy Lawson) didn’t know what she was going to do, so she asked God to send her an angel.” Lawson was no longer able to run her beloved business alone. However, when Lynn came back to town, that all changed. She and her husband, Bruce, stepped in to help Cathy keep the “Hot Dog House” running, even through 18 months of COVID.
“The customers have known us for four and a half years,” Lynn stated, “so we’re not strangers… but we promised her (Cathy Lawson) that we would let it live on through them.” Lynn then turned to face the “Legends Wall” she and Bruce created which contains several photos of the Lawson family. “… That is for them. It’s showing people that they were the ones that made it. We will be the ones to continue it.”
The “Hot Dog House” remains in the same location where it has resided for several decades at 115 N. Maple Avenue in Covington. Their hours have changed since Bruce and Lynn Wolfe took over on May 1 to Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm, and closed on Saturday and Sunday. On their first day, however, they were forced to close 20 minutes early after running out of chili. The “Hot Dog House” burned through 5 gallons of chili that day! To put that into perspective, it typically takes the “Hot Dog House” one week to go through 5 gallons of chili.
On Friday, when the Virginian Review arrived to speak to Lynn and Bruce —who were in the middle of watching over their granddaughter, Kimora— we quickly learned that Lynn and Jamie’s daughter, Samantha Marshall, had gone to the hospital to give birth to their second grandchild: a son she planned on naming Tyrus James after her father, Jamie, who loved everything about the “Hot Dog House.” Ironically, around the same time the Virginian Review arrived outside the establishment and were collecting our things to go inside, Samantha was giving birth to “Baby Ty.”
