

In the 1950s, brothers George and Bill Ahlrichs ran a bar and grill at Eighth and Baymiller streets in the old West End. George, now 99 years old, shared with The Enquirer some of the photos he snapped of the patrons, Black and white, who came in for a cold beer or a cup of coffee.
He’s forgotten most of their names. A woman named Roxie made pies every day. Mrs. West was her helper. They served brats and metts, hamburgers and chili.
‘We have to preserve the residents’ stories’: Memories of growing up in West End focus of new podcast
“Joe Louis was boxing champ of the world,” George Ahlrichs recalled. “Not many people had TVs but we had a small one. When Joe fought, our café was packed with wild customers. It was overwhelming. It was the place to be.”
Then the highway came through in 1959. Whole sections of West End were razed, thousands of people relocated. Baymiller Street was cut to a stump, replaced by an expressway and a commercial/industrial complex.
The old neighborhood is gone, has been gone for years. Just black-and-white snapshots of a neighborhood bar in a lost neighborhood.
View them here:
Source link