Coney Detroit

Athens Coney Island

The expansion helped boost Athens’s popularity, which reaches new heights every August during the Woodward Dream Cruise, the nation’s biggest classic car event. In recent years, the coney island has served as General Motors’ cruise headquarters, the place where the automaker entertains its dealers, suppliers, and customers. “It’s turned into a holiday,” Mark Mitchell says of the ten-day celebration, Athens’s busiest time of the year. For all their success, the Mitchells haven’t forgotten Lipson, who died a few months before Athens moved to its current location. A picture of him hangs by the coney island’s front door. Just the right touch. Matt Peterson dresses a couple dogs at Athens Coney Island. Brown’s buns, like those in the bags on the shelves, are one of the standards at Detroit coneys. The other top choice is Metropolitan’s coney steamers. (Photo by Rob Terwilliger) Napkins—and plenty of them—might be a good coney dog’s sixth ingredient, right after bun, hot dog, chili sauce, onions, and mustard. Photo by Rob Terwilliger 39 Mark Mitchell gets demonstrative as he chats with counter customers at his Athens Coney Island. (Photo by Rob Terwilliger) The sign says it all. With such a heavy Greek influence on Detroit’s early coney islands, many names are Greek, even if the owners are not. Besides Athens, coney names with Grecian inspiration include Athenian, Greek Islands, Hellenic, Olympic, Apollo, and Zorba’s. (Photo by Rob Terwilliger) ...