It pays to eat at J's - Finest Food Anywhere
The first J's Cafeteria opened Dec. 14, 1959 at 2600 W. Jefferson in the Jeff Davis Shopping Center. It was the brainchild of "Mr. J", aka J.W. Cunningham Jr., a former SMU student who quit school after three years of engineering studies to start a career in the cafeteria business. Mr J, with partners E.R. Hinson Jr. and Wilton H. Hasty opened a second J's in August 1962 at the Park Cities Village at Mockingbird Lane and North Central Expressway, and a third J's at 5025 Lemmon in Nov 1963. Another J's opened in 1967 at the newly built North Town Mall at Webb Chapel and Forest Lane. This was the mall that contained a Montgomery Ward's and Dallas' first Woolco Department Store.
In 1969 the cafeteria at North Town was purchased by Furr's Cafeterias. I could find no further developments on the other three locations. Probably all were long gone by the time the 1970s rolled in.
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J's Cafeteria was open at the Mockingbird location until about 1979 or 1980 when La Madeleine replaced it.
ReplyDeleteAround '76-'78 my Mom and Dad used to take my Sister an I to J's and then to see the Dallas Tornado soccer games at Ownby Stadium. Loved J's.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather (Clyde Walker) managed the J’s on Mockingbird well into the 1970s. My family would eat there after church on Sundays. I have many pictures and a few newspaper clippings. I sure wish we had their fudge pecan pie recipe. It was a childhood favorite.
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