We recently wrote about two architectural gems on North Main Street in Riverdale. Continuing north a few blocks we find an impressively intact group of commercial buildings: the Santa Clara Business District.
Historically this was a thriving area for shopping and entertainment. This 1959 image looks south toward the Dale Fashions dress shop.
The Riverdale Theater, later the Dale Theater, was located at 1937 N Main St and opened in 1927. It closed its doors in 1959, the very year the below photo was taken which also depicts Marlyn Jewelers and Gallagher’s Drug Store:
A 2019 shot of the same buildings, which are vacant but still standing:
As recently as the 1990s this strip was known as the “Santa Clara Arts District” and lined with art galleries, retail stores, and eateries. A favorite was the Upper Krust deli, known for its “Tom Turkey sandwich (and) the choice of beets, chips or apple sauce.” Although Santa Clara had suffered from divestment and vacancy for decades, the city designated the area a “Town Center” in the early 90s which opened up city resources to help spur development, the same strategy that propped up the Oregon District.
But despite gaining momentum at times, the plan didn’t work and most businesses eventually fled. Some relocated to other parts of the city, like Omega Music. More recently nearly all of the buildings were vacant and deteriorating with the district’s future looking grim. The surrounding residential area also suffers from high levels of vacancy but has many remaining gems including the house at 153 Santa Clara Ave which was reported to be under renovation when we wrote about it last year.
But one new business in the area, the Santa Clara Juicery, opened in 2018 and its owners envision it as a first step towards a rebound in the area.
And this past month there was news that a developer planned to restore the corner building (the site of Gallagher’s and the building on the left of the 1919 picture).
On Dec. 11, however, Dayton At Work and Play reported that a stop work order was visible on the building, suggesting some sort of setback.
An article also revealed that the former Riverdale Theater building is scheduled for demolition, although the developer said that “he would buy that building, too, with a little help from Dayton government.”
Outside of 5th Street in the Oregon and 3rd Street in Wright-Dunbar, Dayton doesn’t have a historic neighborhood business strip with this level of density remaining–after so many were lost to highways, planned renewal, or piecemeal demolition by neglect–so losing any of these structures would be a major loss.
There are efforts underway to address the area’s challenges. In 2018, a North Main Street Corridor Plan was adopted by the City Plan Board and City Commission, which focuses on several strategic priorities including Traffic and Pedestrian Safety and Architecture and Preservation.
Santa Clara was called “ground zero of Ohio’s foreclosure crisis” and “one of the 10 most abandoned areas in the country,” so such initiatives aim to restore a basic level of neighborhood amenities and service to a neglected and abandoned community, not to set in motion expensive new developments that would sit out of reach of current residents, or worse, push them out. Greater downtown is booming, but we’ll see what the next few years bring to areas like Santa Clara.
I hope everything gets saved. What a vital area this was only a short time ago, with no fewer than three popular restaurants (Upper Krust, Joe Bissett’s, and the Brown Derby). Further back in time this was a big shopping district. Naturally it would be folly to let the theater go. When will they ever learn that’s not just about cash?
The Santa Clara District is very heartbreaking. It’s one of my favorite memories when I was working at Omega Music in the mid-90s, getting lunch at Milano’s or the Upper Crust, and enjoying music at the awesome Ethiopian cafe Club Safari. The Color Purple sold unique art and the Dayton Voice newspaper operated upstairs. Many bands such as Brainiac, Salvador Deli, and the Kommandoz OGC practiced and performed weekly. The regulars were very colorful from artists, vagrants, business folk, and hippies all in the same area. It was the arts district as Jeff Rutledge of the Rutledge Gallery had envisioned! Shame the city turned its back on it letting it turn into the destroyed center it is today!
https://www.mostmetro.com/entertainment/street-level-art/santa-clara-orphaned-arts-district-dayton.html
I just spoke with my cousin, Eddie Takacs about his dad’s meat market that was located on the Santa Clara Street side of the wraparound building. My uncle (Donald Takacs) used to have a store located there. It was called The Dale Meat Market. Eddie remembers it as being on the far left side of the wrap around building, and a TV repair place and a peanut shop also being next door. I’m not sure which storefront it was…unfortunately, Eddie doesn’t have any photos of it. I have no idea what year that was…most likely back in the 1950s or maybe early 1960s?
Just thought I would pass that along to everyone. I would love to find a photo of it…I’m working on my family’s geneology.
hi,
My Great Aunts and Uncles owned the store in Dayton Ohio, DALE Fashions, Does anyone remember this or have any pictures? I’m an Artist living in NYC, currently working on my Memoir, I would be so happy to get some info.
best, Shelly
We have repeatedly asked the city to get rid of this delapadated eye sore the roof on the second building has collapsed on itself, we are tired of living in a slummy looking neighborhood , because big time city planners holler historical crap. Nothing has been done and we pay our taxes just like everyone else. The city of dayton has allowed all of North Main street to turn into the biggest slum in the city… TARE IT DOWN !!