When Murphy’s Southern Barbeque first opened in December of 1924 on Memorial Highway (now Kennedy Boulevard), it was considered out in the country. Their advertisements read, “1 ¼ miles west of the monument (WWI memorial at Howard Ave and Grand Central), you will find our large barbeque stand, just a pleasant distance from town.” This photograph is of their new, larger location, built at 2150 Memorial Hwy in 1925. In 1926 Tony A. Vaccaro, the owner of the Red Top Cab Company, purchased Murphy’s, changing the menu to mostly Italian dishes along with some American cuisine. He changed the name to Tony’s Café and Italian Gardens. By the end of 1926, any reference to barbecued food was gone. In July of 1927, after opening under new management, police raided the place and arrested ten people for “conducting and operating a disorderly house.”

By 1929 it was known as the Turnstile Inn and was reportedly involved in illegal gambling and liquor operations. It was raided again several times, with county and federal officials confiscating alleged gambling equipment. Owner Vaccaro was arrested and charged in each raid. In December 1929, a suspicious fire destroyed the building. By the 1980s, the land had reverted to food service and was the site of a Taco Tico franchise. In 1983 Naugles American & Mexican Restaurant, a 24-hour quick-service franchise took over. Clucker’s Grilled Chicken started cooking here in 1988, and in 1992 the Doo-Wop A-Doo ‘50s-style diner- with poodle-skirted servers- opened. The last eatery to operate on this corner was the national franchise Boston Chicken in 1993. They closed in the early 2000s. First Citrus Bank announced plans to open a branch here in June of 2008, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on October 6, 2009.