Spa City razes barbecue restaurant

HOT SPRINGS -- A former Hot Springs barbecue restaurant was demolished over the weekend after an emergency condemnation was initiated by the city in the interest of public safety.

Hot Springs Planning and Development Director Kathy Sellman said Monday that Dewey's Town Talk BBQ at 200 Pleasant St. was razed because of damage to the building.

"There was extensive damage to the roof, and that caused extensive damage to the inside and had begun affecting the structural integrity of the walls," she said. "The brick walls had cracks through the mortar, and that was causing the walls to bulge outward.

"It had already been yellow-taped off by the fire department, and it was proving difficult to keep secured. The door was always being removed, and it was no longer safe."

Sellman said the roof of the building had fallen in and that the condemnation could not wait any longer. It took place Saturday.

"The deterioration was such that although the place was boarded, there wasn't really anything to attach the boards to anymore. That wasn't accomplishing the goal of keeping out who should not be in there, and it was going to tumble," she said.

Cheryl Batts, executive director of P.H.O.E.B.E./The Uzuri Project, said Dewey's Town Talk BBQ had been a black-owned business that "touched our entire community."

"It was doing a good business, but it wasn't just black people that make the history of Dewey's. ... It was always there and was a landmark business that had everybody's heart," she said. "I've received several text messages from different people who remember it, and we're all kind of outdone and don't know what happened."

City Director Elaine Jones said she worked for a short time as a waitress at the restaurant in the 1980s.

"Back then, people didn't make a lot of money, but they paid as much as they could, which was more than most people made. I enjoyed working there, and I met a lot of people. In fact, that's where I met my husband," she said.

Longtime resident and former City Director Elmer Beard said Dewey Smith told him that he bought the lot in 1929 for less than $100.

"I ate there many times. Dewey lost money on our family reunions because he forgot to charge for the kids, and they ate as much as the adults," Beard said.

State Desk on 07/01/2015

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