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The Dew Drop Inn has been a Mobile institution since 1924, when George L. Widney opened a little sandwich shop at 156 S. Ann Street near Government St. Legend has it that Widney’s restaurant offered the city its first taste of a revolutionary new sandwich called the hot dog. Widney was pronounced HOT DOG KING in a 1939 Mobile Press Register article. About 1930, Mr. George opened another location on Old Shell Road across from Old Shell Elementary School. A year later, he sold the restaurant to Arthur Reid, who relocated in 1937 to its present location further away from the school in order to get a beer license. Curb boy Jimmy Edgar was recruited to be Reid's business partner. After Reid died in 1966, Edgar purchased The Dew Drop in 1967 and remodeled it. (The remodeling job was so successful that it hasn't been updated since). Shortly thereafter, Edgar decided to sell his business to George Hamlin. Edgar's advice? "Don't change nothing. You don't change the dining room or the help. Don't change the hot dog or nothin'." And Hamlin didn't. The Dew Drop is a constant in a changing world, where you can almost always count on a crowd, on seeing someone you know, and being served consistently good food. Among the Dew Drop's many fans is Jimmy Buffett, who grew up in Mobile. He writes in his ParrotHead Handbook that his 'burger lust was formulated" at the restaurant, which he lists first among the country's best cheeseburgers. So drop in anytime and experience a delicious taste of Mobile history as you enjoy our southern style home cooking, prepared from recipes that have been tried and true for 90 some odd years.
