Two popular neighborhood restaurants in historic Dayton buildings are currently for sale, and in both cases the current owners as well as loyal patrons are hoping that someone new will step in to continue the tradition.
Thai 9 in the Oregon District and Angie’s Firehouse Tavern in the Belmont neighborhood are both on the sale block.
This article will look at the history of these two sites.
Thai 9 History (11 Brown Street)
County records indicate that the building Thai 9 occupies was constructed in 1910.
But according to the Dayton Police History Foundation, part of it dates back to when the site was a police station where Dayton’s first city ambulance was housed in 1886: “The kitchen pantry on the alley side of the building is still an interior portion of this old stable. The location of the opening seen here (image below) is where the banquet room currently is.”
After the patrol station was replaced, today’s Thai 9 property was a series of separate storefronts for many decades, which you can see in the 1918 map below.
The S. A. Spindler coffee and peanut house operated a peanut butter factory and peanut warehouse at 13 Brown Street. One of Dayton’s longest-operating businesses, the Spindler company operated from 1868 until 1943.
Its neighbors at the time were a garage with the capacity for 12 cars at 9-11 Brown and a hardware warehouse at 15 Brown.
Many years later, the property was a nightclub called Jonathan’s. In 1990 the city and neighborhood objected to and revoked the club’s liquor license.
In 1998 there was a proposal to open a brewpub in the building, but this also failed to win over neighborhood residents and the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Thai 9 faced some obstacles of its own to opening including its own liquor license, but it finally did so in early 2003.
It is owned by Rob and Nongyaw Strong who are retiring but prefer that a new owner keeps the restaurant as Thai 9 with its current employees.
Related article: 5 Oregon District Spots Not on Fifth Street
Angie’s Firehouse Tavern History (703 Watervliet Ave)
Another restaurant looking for a new owner is Angie’s Firehouse Tavern, located at 703 Watervliet Ave.
It has been open since 2010 in its current iteration but its roots go back much further.
In 1938 the building housed a restaurant known as Angi’s, which featured Hungarian food including the “best cabbage rolls in town.”
The building had been built in 1900 and was originally the Belmont Confectionery before becoming a restaurant.
In 2010 retired fire captain Patrick Reed bought the structure with plans for a family-owned restaurant that would be a staple for residents in the surrounding neighborhood.
At the time the building was vacant and “only inches away from the wrecking ball.”
Angie’s grew and has remained popular due to the fact that it makes most of its offerings from scratch.
And the cabbage rolls from years gone by are still one of its signature items.
For more information about these two restaurants, view the following Dayton Daily News/Dayton.com articles by Natalie Jones:
‘It’s just time’: Oregon District restaurant for sale after 19 years
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