Tip Toe Inn

Tip Toe Inn was listed in the Green Book as “Tip Toe Inn—Cor. Davis & Bloodworth” under “Taverns’ in Raleigh from 1951-1953 and as “Tip Toe Inn–Cor. Davis & Bloodworth Sts.” under “Taverns” in Raleigh from 1954-1955.¹

The Tip Toe Inn was a restaurant owned by Mrs. Evelyn L. Wilson. The restaurant was open at the corner of Davis and Bloodworth Streets at 329 E. Davie Street for about a decade, from 1949-1959. The Tip Toe Inn offered quick sandwiches and hot lunches.²

Evelyn L. Wilson was a widow who lived at 324 E. Davie Street. She later moved to Rochester Heights.³

329 E. Davie Street was listed as vacant and Evelyn L. Wilson was no longer listed in the Raleigh city directory for 1960. Today, 329 E. Davie Street is a vacant lot.⁴

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2024

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1951 Green Book, 54; Green, 1952 Green Book, 54; Green, 1953 Green Book, 54; Victor Green, 1954 Green Book, 53; Green, 1955 Green Book, 54. 
2.  Hill’s Raleigh City Directory, 1948-1960, street listing, alphabetical listing, classified listing. A Tip Toe Inn was advertised at 229 Davie in a 1947 edition of The Carolinian, but it is unclear whether this is the same business. See: “Support The YMCA,” The Carolinian, July 19, 1947, p. 14, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn80008926/1947-07-19/ed-1/seq-14…; “Tip Toe Inn” (advertisement), The Carolinian, December 31, 1949, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn80008926/1949-12-31/ed-1/seq-3/print/image_648x817_from_3775,1463_to_6198,4516/.
3. Hill’s Raleigh City Directory, 1948-1960.
4. Hill’s 1960 Raleigh City Directory, street listing, classified listing, alphabetical listing; Google Maps for 329 S. Davie Street; “Parking Downtown” (advertisement), The News and Observer, August 13, 1970, p. 37, accessed from https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-and-observer-229-e-davie-wa…;