Dixie Cafe

Dixie Cafe (also Dixie Restaurant) was listed in the Green Book ast “Dixie—106 E. Thomas Street” under “Restaurants” in 1950. The restaurant was listed in the Raleigh section but was actually located in Rocky Mount. It was listed in the Green Book as “Dixie—106 Thomas St.” under “Restaurant” in both Rocky Mount and Raleigh in 1951. The 1952-1955 Green Book listed the business as “Dixie—106 E. Thomas St.” under “Restaurant” in Rocky Mount and as “Dixie Restaurant—106 E. Thomas” in Rocky Mount from 1956-1957.¹

Dixie Cafe was located in the Douglas Building, built in the mid-1910s. The cafe was open as early as 1910 and changed ownership several times; prior to the Green Book era, the business was owned by James and Christ Wallace, James S. Hondros, John Pistolis, Chauncey C. Stokes, and Edward Pittman. James and Christ Wallace were white, Hondros and Pistolis were Greek immigrants, and Stokes and Pittman were Black. The restaurant always catered to an African American clientele.²

John Pistolis continued to own the building through 1955, though he did not continue to operate the restaurant. Dixie Cafe had three owners during the time that it was advertised in the Green Book, all of whom were white. Army veteran Benjamin F. Hedgepeth operated Dixie cafe from 1949 until at least 1952. Hedgepeth advertised the business as a place “where friends will meet to eat” that served home cooked foods, offered live music, and sold cigars, cigarettes, and soft drinks. Costas Perris operated the cafe in 1955; later that year, John Pistolis offered it for sale. It was purchased by Jordanian immigrant Albert Ismail Hamad, who briefly renamed it A&H Cafe.³

Mohammad Hamda operated the cafe as Dixie Cafe in the early 1960s. The final incarnation of the business was the A&H Cafe, which was owned by Thelma M. Stokes. It remained open until the Douglas Building was demolished in 2009.⁴

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1950 Green Book, 63; Victor Green, 1951 Green Book, 54;  Victor Green, 1952 Green Book, 54; Green, 1953 Green Book, 54; Green, 1954 Green Book, 54; Green, 1955 Green Book, 54; Victor Green, 1956 Green Book, 46; Green, 1957 Green Book, 47. 
2. Hill’s 1930 Rocky Mount City Directory, 123, 312 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1934 Rocky Mount City Directory, 107 (alphabetical listing); Hill's 1936 Rocky Mount City Directory, 116 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1938 Rocky Mount City Directory, 98 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1940 Rocky Mount City Directory, 112 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1942 Rocky Mount City Directory, 101 (alphabetical listing); “Compliments of Dixie Cafe,” (ad), The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), June 12, 1948, 4, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org. Note: The Bryant family businesses were briefly located in this building; for more information, see: https://aahc.nc.gov/green-book/wrights-motel.
3.  Benjamin F. Hedgepeth, March 15, 1897, Army, SSN 243014958, US Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010, accessed from www.ancestry.com“Dixie Cafe,” (ad), The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), May 14, 1949, 7, (digital image 15), accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org; “Dixie Cafe,” (ad), The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), April 15, 1950, 12 (digital image 20), accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org; Hill’s 1950 Rocky Mount City Directory, 107 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1952 Rocky Mount City Directory, 143 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1955 Rocky Mount City Directory, 115 (alphabetical listing); “Dixie Cafe (In Douglas Building)” (ad), Rocky Mount Telegram (Rocky Mount, NC), October 21, 1955, 15, accessed from www.newspapers.com; Albert Ismail Hamad, Petition No. 2271, April 10, 1961, United States of American Petition for Naturalization on behalf of a Child, North Carolina, US Naturalization Records, 1872-1996, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “A&H Cafe” (ad), Rocky Mount Telegram (Rocky Mount, NC), January 18, 1956, 19, accessed from www.newspapers.com; Hill’s 1957 Rocky Mount City Directory, 166 (street listing). 
4. “Negro Gang Members Levied Five Years Each,” Rocky Mount Telegram, September 21, 1961, 6, accessed from www.newspapers.com; Coscolluela, Nicole, Malorey Henderson, and Claire Kempa, “North Carolina Green Books Historic Preservation Study Report: Beaufort, Bertie, Caldwell, Davidson, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Guilford, Iredell, Nash, Pasquotank, Pitt, Rowan, and Wilson Counties,” HI 587: Cultural Resource Management, North Carolina State University, Spring 2016, 15.