Peter Randall-Dimes House (4508 Rhode Island Avenue)

The Peter Randall House was the second house built in North Brentwood by Peter Randall, the eldest son of Henry Randall, in 1896. Located next to the Henry Randall house on Holladay (now Rhode Island) Avenue, the property stayed in the Randall family until the late 1940s when the Dimes family purchased the house. Around this time, Mamie A. Dimes opened a lunch counter in the downstairs portion of the house. The Dimes Lunch Counter offered eat-in and take-out options. Ms. Dimes served various dinner platters such as burgers, fried fish, and chitlins with cornbread, biscuits, potato salad, and greens. According to Valgene B. Banks, Ms. Dimes offered both string beans and kale because “everybody don’t like string beans, everybody don’t like kale.,” In nice weather, outdoor seating was available in addition to indoor tables and chairs. Barbara Spriggs remembered that you could access the restaurant from the back of the house via 41st Avenue. Several residents of North Brentwood, including Georgie Jennings, Ms. Spriggs, and Ms. Banks reported that Ms. Dimes had the “best fish [and] fish sandwiches” in town. As young girls, these residents would ask their parents for money to get lunch from the Dimes Lunch Counter.

Sources

Photograph of the Peter Randall House from Peter Randall-Dimes House Historical Properties Inventory Form.