So funny that I was just downtown this morning and thought I'd stop by to see you Carlos!? Found out that Tuesday is your day, so I'll see if I can be there next week.

The Minerva I believe was there in the 1930's through 1949/50, then Mr. Rallis had it, called the Stag (because of the stag paintings on the wall, at least from his recollection the name came second), changed it to Rallis Grill due to a visiting priest who thought it was a "stag" or men's club.? When Mr. Rallis sold it, the friend who bought it kept the name until he shot a customer who couldn't pay (just winged him) and Mr. Rallis asked him to please take his name off.? That's when it became just The Grill.? The restaurant at the Flamingo, I think about the same time frame maybe a bit later, was of course in the Flamingo hotel on Stone.? There was also a Rallis lunch cafe in the bus station that was where the post office is now on 6th (by the Odd Fellows building), I have the dates for that somewhere, and then finally, his son ran the one in the Transamerica building downtown.?

Thanks for getting them posted!? Sure hope we're going to be able to save what's left, though there's not much, of the original Congress location.? I'm sure Mr. Rallis had some feelings about the fire.

See you on Tuesday, Carlos!

Catherine

Several years ago I did an interview with the gentleman who owned the Grill for several years. Mr. Rallis had it from the early 50's or so. It was called the Stag Grill for awhile (anyone who has been in the restaurant and seen the paintings will understand why). He had to change the name to the Rallis Grill when a Catholic priest complained thinking it was a men's stag club, lol! Anyhow, one of the first restaurants there was called the Minerva, it goes back I think until the 1920's. He gave me an old zeroxed copy of one of their menu's, along with a couple of his menu's from 2 of his other locations, the restaurant in the Flamingo on Stone, and the other from a lunch place he had in a larger building downtown - I think his son ran that one. I was asked to write up a story about it, but have gotten side-tracked with other research, but I bring it up because I thought I'd make some copies of what I have and thought we should put them somewhere, perhaps the Historical Society? If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

There's a funny story about a shooting that took place in there (I found the newspaper clipping) that was after Mr. Rallis owned it. No one got really hurt, which is why it can be considered somewhat humorous.

Catherine

Does anyone know what they're going to do about the building? Will look awfully weird if they take it completely down. Wig-o-rama will have no neighbor on the block.

I well remember the Crescent Smoke Shop. My father, who owned and ran
Mission Drug Store at 1537 S. Sixth Ave., which is now the location of
the S. Tucson City Hall, was an inveterate gambler andused to place bets
on horses at the smoke shop which was the town's sole dispenser of the
Daily Racing Form in the forties and fifties. I don't know if he placed
them with the management or just some bookie who worked out of
there...that was not information he shared with me. Eventually he found
a bookie who made house calls who would come to his shop so he could
place bets more easily and probably more often. The Crescent was also
where you could find Jr. and Sr. High School boys sometimes two deep,
heads bent, avoiding eye contact with any adults in the area,browsing
Sunshine and Health magazine (or some such) to see the nude photos.
They were actually not very (perhaps even anti-) salacious but in that
puritanical age it was all a pre and actively pubescent boy could hope for.

It was quite definitely on the south side of Congress near, as I recall,
the Rialto either on the same block or the next block west. There was
also a penny arcade nearby. The State movie theater (2nd run) was
across the street perhaps. The State ran movies sometime after the
Rialto was through with them as the Lyric did after the Fox ran them as
first run. Tucson was pretty low on the totem pole at that time and we
had some godawful prints with sent to us often poorly synched and with
poorly aligned sprocket holes. More than once while watching a picture,
the film broke and we hooted and whistled until the harried
projectionist would do whatever magic was necessary to get it going again.

Ronstadt's hardware store was around the corner south of Congress on 6th
as I recall. I may be a block or so off on any of these. I can see
them clearly in my mind's eye though...one of the blessings of old age.

Carlos, I think you may know best on this. I'm wondering if we have the original drawings for the above buildings, plus the Tucson Warehouse on 6th Street (architect's office) by CA architect Aleck Curlette. I've seen a drawing of the original Hotel Congress, before the fire, I think in the files, but not the plans. Aleck Curlette and his father, William, worked on the addition to the Santa Rita, then William passed away, and Aleck did the Rialto and the warehouse. I'm thinking the architects who have the warehouse now might have it (though I think I've asked them before), I do have a copy of the original contract for the building, thanks to the plumbing folks behind the warehouse.

I contacted UC Santa Barbara who has the Curlette-Beelman collection from 1919 on, but it doesn't include the Tucson work.

Thanks!

?

Thanks for the correction - We forgot that there was a Crescent Jewelers.

JC (For Catherine)

--- In vanishingtucson@..., Bill Ahrens <billahrens@...> wrote:
>
> The business next door to the Fox was Crescent Jewelers, not the smoke shop.
>
> The smoke shop was never on the north side of Congress, always on the south side. Different location though. No knowledge before 1955. Yes there were some interesting characters working there.
>
> Bill Ahrens
> Tucson High Class of 1960
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On May 18, 2013, at 6:56 PM, "John Cramer" <jcramer2@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Think that's the Crescent Newsstand next door. Did a survey on their business and knew it had been on the opposite side of the street from where it is now, but didn't realize it was right next door to the theatre. In the 60's the Crescent had some interesting owners/managers...
> >
> > Catherine
> > John Cramer's fiance (I'm on his computer :)
> >
> >
>

The business next door to the Fox was Crescent Jewelers, not the smoke shop.

The smoke shop was never on the north side of Congress, always on the south side. Different location though. No knowledge before 1955. Yes there were some interesting characters working there.

Bill Ahrens
Tucson High Class of 1960

Sent from my iPad

On May 18, 2013, at 6:56 PM, "John Cramer" <jcramer2@...> wrote:

Think that's the Crescent Newsstand next door. Did a survey on their business and knew it had been on the opposite side of the street from where it is now, but didn't realize it was right next door to the theatre. In the 60's the Crescent had some interesting owners/managers...

Catherine
John Cramer's fiance (I'm on his computer :)

?

Think that's the Crescent Newsstand next door. Did a survey on their business and knew it had been on the opposite side of the street from where it is now, but didn't realize it was right next door to the theatre. In the 60's the Crescent had some interesting owners/managers...

Catherine
John Cramer's fiance (I'm on his computer :)

?

?