Ideal Restaurant
Known Name(s)
Ideal Restaurant () Ideal Restaurant () Ideal Restaurant ()
Address
107 N. 2nd St. Waco, TX (1940, 1941)109 N. 2nd St. Waco, TX (1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952)902 N. 8th St. Waco, TX
Establishment Type(s)
Café, Restaurant
Physical Status
Demolished
Description
Two-story commercial block building that was reduced to one-story block after the 1953 tornado.
Detailed History
Born in Navasota on October 25, 1879, Benjamin Goodman “B.G.” Ashford moved to Waco in 1900. He married Rhoda Swanson in 1901 in Waco, and they had at least three sons: Benjamin Goodman Junior, Youree/Urea, and Johnnie. B.G. first started working as a pantryman at the State Hotel and was soon promoted to cook. He cooked for various restaurants and cafes, including the Hotel Metropole and Sanger Brothers, before opening Ideal Cafe at 107 North Second Street in the main Black business district by 1934. He ran his cafe at this location for 17 years before he retired in 1951; the restaurant became the short-lived El Serape Cafe, which did not survive the 1953 tornado.
According to many issues of the Negro Motorists Green Book travel guide, the Ashford’s two-story residence at 902 North 8th Street was also a tourist home with rooms for rent from at least 1940 through 1966 that was managed by Rhoda. In the early 1960s, B.G. dealt in real estate and was a salesman before he passed away in 1965 at the age of 78. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery with his longtime wife Rhoda.
City Directories: CD 1926 p560: 8th N 902 Ashford B G (o), rear vacant; CD 1928 p574: 8th N 902 Ashford B G (o), rear Wright Simon, Woodall Gus; CD 1934 p394: 2d N 107 Ideal Café; CD 1934 p205: Ideal Cafe (B G Ashford S C Cobb) 107 N 2d; CD 1934 p512: restaurants Ideal Café 107 N 2d; CD 1934 p394: 2d N 107 Ideal Cafe; CD 1936 p211: Ideal Cafe (B G Ashford) 107 N 2d; CD 1936 p402: 107 N 2d Ideal Cafe; CD 1936 p521: restaurants Ideal Cafe 107 N 2d; CD 1938 p426: 2d N 107 Ideal Cafe; CD 1938 p590: restaurants Ideal Cafe 107 N 2d; CD 1939 p604: restaurants Ideal Cafe 107 N 2d; CD 1939 p414: 2d N 107 Ideal Cafe; CD 1939 p208: Ideal Cafe (Benj G Ashford) 107 N 2d; CD 1943 p186: Ideal Cafe (Benj G Ashford) restr 107 N 2d; CD 1943 p370: 2d N 107 Ideal Cafe, 107 1/2 Ashford Benj G; CD 1943 p536: restaurants Ideal Café 107 N 2d; CD 1946 p665: restaurants Ideal Café 107 N 2d; CD 1946 p466: 2d N 107 Ideal Café restr; CD 1946 p223: Ideal Café (Benj G Ashford) 107 N 2d; CD 1946 p466: 2D N 107 Ideal Café restr; CD 1948 p486: 2d N 107 Ideal Café; CD 1948 p234: Ideal Café (Benj G Ashford) 107 N 2d; CD 1948 p704: restaurants Ideal Café 107 N 2d; CD 1951 p2: 2D N 107 Ideal Café; CD 1951 p50: restaurants Ideal Café 107 N 2d; CD 1951 p236: Ideal Café (Benj G Ashford) 107 N 2d; CD 1953 p2: 2d N 107 El Serape Café; CD 1954 p2: 2d N 107 x;
