At downtown Birmingham's longest surviving Greek-owned hot dog stand, it is the end of an era.

And the start of a new one.

George Nasiakos -- the wiry, white-haired Greek immigrant who has quietly worked the grill at Gus's Hot Dogs since he bought the place in 1995 -- has hung up his familiar blue apron for good.

Soon, the 77-year-old Nasiakos will move back to Chicago to rejoin his brothers and sister, and to brace for those long, brutal Windy City winters he escaped when he came to Birmingham 22 years ago.

But "Mr. George," as his customers call him, is leaving his place in good hands.

Lee Pantazis -- a stocky, bearded young man who has been eating at Gus's since he was too little to see over the counter -- bought the business from Nasiakos, and he promises not to tinker too much with tradition.

And just to make sure that he doesn't, Carl Lee Alexander -- "L.A.," as he's better known to Gus's regulars -- is sticking around to be Pantazis' right-hand man on the grill, just as he has been for Mr. George the past nine years.

"He didn't want to sell it to just anybody," Alexander says. "He wanted to leave it with somebody that would know how to keep it running. Just anybody can't come in here. I've been here nearly nine years, so I've kind of got a little system."

For the 29-year-old Pantazis, this isn't just an opportunity, but a responsibility.

"I am still nervous about taking over because of how much clout the (Gus's) name carries, and, in all honesty, how much the Birmingham hot dog means to the Birmingham community," he says.

"I've got friends from New York who talk about the first time they came down here to visit Alabama, and how they went to a Greek hot dog stand. So that's a heavy weight."

Carl Lee Alexander, better known as "L.A." to customers, has worked at Gus's Hot Dogs for nine years and will continue under new owner Lee Pantazis, (Joe Songer/jsonger@al.com)

The last one standing

Tucked into a narrow, shotgun-style building that adjoins a parking garage on Fourth Avenue North, Gus's Hot Dogs is the last of the old-school downtown Birmingham hot dog joints.

It doesn't seem that long ago, though, that there was one on almost every block: Jimmy's Hot Dogs at the corner of Fourth Avenue North and 21st Street, Tony's Terrific Hot Dogs at Second Avenue North and 21st Street, Lyric Hot Dogs & Grill on Third Avenue North, right across from the Alabama Theatre.

And, of course, Pete's Famous Hot Dogs on Second Avenue North, where, for more than 60 years, the cantankerous Constantine "Gus" Koutroulakis reigned as Birmingham's hot dog king until he died six years ago.

Pantazis -- whose late grandfather, George Pantazis, immigrated here from Greece and co-owned the old Hickory Hut and Coffee Cup restaurants -- has a lot of respect for Birmingham's hot dog heritage, and the role Greeks have played in it.

"Forty years ago, you couldn't throw a stone without hitting a Greek hot dog stand, whether it was a little restaurant like this or a cart on the side of the road," he says. "I don't want that to disappear.

"Call it nostalgia, but I remember when I would come here (to Gus's) with my dad and my brothers on a Saturday, and Mr. George would give us candy. Or we would go to Pete's Famous and (Koutroulakis) would call me 'Chunky.'

"I remember those glass-bottle Coca-Colas and the Grapicos and all of the different sauces. Every single Greek hot dog sauce is a little bit different. You had a cult following behind each one.

"Being Greek," Pantazis adds, "our allegiance was to all of them."

George Nasiakos, who came to Birmingham from Greece via Chicago, bought Gus's Hot Dogs in 1995. (Joe Songer/jsonger@al.com)

A 'microcosm of Birmingham'

Tracing the history of Gus's Hot Dogs is, as Pantazis says, "kind of a little microcosm of Birmingham, isn't it?"

Gus Alexander -- who, like many Birmingham restaurateurs of his era, came here from Greece -- opened Gus's sometime in the late 1940s, likely in 1947, according to oral history projects from the Southern Foodways Alliance.

About 20 years later, in the late'60s, Alexander sold his place to another Greek immigrant, Aleck Choraitis, who had been a chef at the old Gold Nugget restaurant, just down the hill from Vulcan.

Choraitis, who also owned Andrew's Bar-B-Q in East Lake, subsequently recruited Nasiakos to take over for him at Gus's. The two of them connected through their brothers, who were friends.

Nasiakos, who came to America in 1964 from Tripolis, Greece, had been living in Chicago, where he worked in his brother's diner. Having grown weary of the winters there, he was easily talked into moving South.

"(Choraitis) asked me, 'Do you like it here, George?'" Nasiakos recalls. "I like it because Chicago is too cold. I don't like the cold weather. I like hot weather.

"He asked, 'Would you like to move here?' And I said yes."

Nasiakos still remembers the date he bought Gus's: March 23, 1995.

Although there have been, and still are, a few other places called Gus's Hot Dogs in the suburbs of Birmingham, they are separately owned, Pantazis says.

"This was the original," he says. "(We) are not related, other than that we sell hot dogs and we share a name."

Lee Pantazis, left, has been eating at Gus's Hot Dogs since he was a little boy. George Nasiakos -- "Mr. George," as Pantazis calls him -- used to give him candy. (Joe Songer/jsonger@al.com)

Like a member of the family

Pantazis, who, grew up in Birmingham, comes to Gus's with a fairly extensive background in the restaurant business that includes everything from barbecue (Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q) and Mexican food (Little Donkey) to Vietnamese cuisine (Saigon Noodle House) and fine-dining (Satterfield's Restaurant).

Both his younger brother, Evan, and his older brother, D.G., followed in the footsteps of their father, Birmingham attorney Dennis Pantazis, and became lawyers. Their mother, Libby Pantazis, also practiced law but is now an artist.

Lee, though, was the renegade who figured out early on that, like his grandfather, he wanted to be in the restaurant business.

When he was 13, he started washing dishes and busing tables at the Fish Market, where George Sarris, a friend of the Pantazis family and yet another Greek restaurateur, passed along some valuable advice.

"He always said Greek hospitality and Southern hospitality aren't that different," Pantazis says. "And I think that shows in Birmingham, with the amount of Greeks that have been successful in the restaurant industry.

"They just do what they know, which is take care of people like family."

The Pantazises have treated Nasiakos like an extended member of their family, too, even inviting him to spend Thanksgiving with them at their place at the lake.

So when Mr. George was getting ready to retire, Lee's dad told his middle son he should look into buying his place.

"It was an opportunity for ownership and to work for myself," Pantazis says. "My goal always was, you need a restaurant by 30. You've got a college degree. You've got every opportunity to be successful. If you don't take advantage of it, it's your own shortcoming."

Gus's Hot Dogs, located at 1915 Fourth Ave. North in Birmingham, opened in the late 1940s. (Joe Songer/jsonger@al.com)

Handing over the keys

A lifelong bachelor, Nasiakos says his work and his customers have taken the place of marriage and family for him.

"The customers, they are friends," he says. "I have a lot of friends, friends for years. Good people. I never have a problem with nobody. In 22 years, I never had an argument with nobody.

"But I am retired now, and I leave it for the younger generation to work."

Nasiakos officially handed over the keys to Gus's on April 1, but he still stops by on occasion, just to keep an eye on Pantazis during the transition and to say goodbye to some of his old customers.

At the end of the month, Nasiakos plans to move back to Chicago, where he has two brothers and a sister. He also has two more brothers and another sister back in Greece.

He has entrusted Pantazis with Gus's distinctive hot dog sauce, a tart, sweet and spicy concoction which was passed down from original owner Gus Alexander and which Nasiakos later tweaked.

"The (original) sauce was very hot," Nasiakos says. "I hear so many people say, 'Oh, my God, it's too hot.' So I changed it. I make it my own."

So there's nearly 70 years of secrets in that sauce.

"Mr. George sat and watched me like a hawk while I made it by myself the first time," Pantazis says. "(He) did not say a word.

"And that's one of the best compliments I've ever gotten," he adds. "Because I know, as a Greek man, not complaining about it is the same as praising it."