Jake Walker's Towne House restaurant, 1220 South Dale Mabry Highway
Jake Walker's Towne House restaurant, 1220 South Dale Mabry Highway. 1954 Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
BJ's Alabama barbecue, 1220 South Dale Mabry Highway. 2020 © Chip Weiner
This image is mislabeled in the Burgert Collection, a somewhat unusual occurrence as the company was known to keep meticulous records. Jake Walker had two restaurants. The Towne House Restaurant was indeed at 1220 S. Dale Mabry Hwy., but opened in 1953. This photograph, taken in 1954, is Jake Walker’s Chicken ‘N Chips at 3423 South Dale Mabry, which opened in 1949. It was a popular restaurant until the mid-1960s.
The building was then a used appliance store for many years until BJ’s Alabama BBQ moved in 2019. One can still see the concrete slab in the foreground in front of the red brick woodshed where the Curb Service sign once stood.
© Chip Weiner. All rights reserved
From Burgert Brothers: Look Again, Vol.2