A Final Taste of the Tropics

Visiting Papaya King on the eve of its probable destruction.

- By Adam Platt

IF YOU READ THE PAPERS, then you know that Papaya King, the colorful little counter that created the template for the city's other Papayas, is facing demolition after an impressive run of more than 70 years on the same corner of 86th Street and Third Avenue. This original branch was opened in the late 1940s by a juice-loving entrepreneur named Gus Poulos, who at first sold only his tropical potions but added hot dogs-along with his trademark sweet onions-to the menu a few years later in deference to the legions of sausage-loving Germans in Yorkville. The slim, snappy dog has its charms, but what has long separated the place from your average street cart is the tangy papaya drink that, to me, has always tasted like the magic of the big city.