Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Wehrman's Cafe

"It isn't a meal without good coffee." Words to live by. (1971 phone book).

Located at 1009 West 25th Street (1009 William Joel Bryan Parkway) and alluded to back when I did the Saenz Tamales post, Wehrman & Sons opened in July 1950 as a restaurant and grocery store with some Shell gas pumps out front. In 1953 the grocery store (associated with IGA) and the restaurant expanded, serving typical American food of that era (chicken fried steak, french fries, etc.). Unfortunately I don't have a picture for it but there are a few bad "took a photograph of a book page" images if you look for it on search engines. Over the years, Wehrman's Cafe as it was later known, changed hands, but remained in family ownership, removing the gas pumps and stores for additional seating. In the mid-1980s (possibly as early as 1979) it was sold and renamed "Jim's Catfish House and Wehrman's Restaurant" to try to transition to new ownership and a new name but that never happened as the restaurant closed in 1988. but a full transition to the Jim's Catfish House name never happened as it closed in 1988.1 About ten years later it was knocked down for Rodriguez Wheel Alignment.

1. No relation to Jim & Sue's Catfish & Steaks, which was both located nearby and around that same era.