Friday, October 5, 2012

Luis' Place


Although most of the old commercial buildings are gone, and the few remaining are mostly shuttered, Francisco Lemos Street was once the bustling heart of Kerrville's Mexican community. This building at 325 Francico Lemos Street was Luis' Place, owned by the Espinosa family.   It was a restaurant, and also offered billiards and dominoes.
It was in business by 1933 and continued until at least 2002.  The last mention in the newspaper is when the restaurant held a fundraiser for victims of the July 2002 river flood.

Before Luis' Place there was a restaurant called El Felix that may have been at this location. It ran ads in the Kerrville Mountain Sun in January and early February 1933, then disappeared from the record.
It advertised thus: "El Fenix Restaurant and Grocery, Lemos Street--opposite Castillo's.  Theo, well known cook, will have charge of the kitchen.  Mexican dishes served at exceptionally low prices."

Castillo's general store, which was originally at 306 Lemos, moved to 328 Lemos in 1931 putting it directly across from this building, thus my thinking that El Fenix may have become Luis' Place.




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