Ernie's father, a frugal English-born builder, had saved broken bricks from the many homes he had built in the then young suburban neighborhood of Alamo Heights. When Ernie returned home from college to work with his dad, his first project was to build this building from what would have been rubble to most. In 1975 a young visionary developer and graduate of the Height's school system, George Geis
, envisioned breathing new life into the declining Alamo Heights business district. George approached me about opening a restaurant in Ernie's building. I patiently explained to him it was too old, too small and couldn't even be seen from Broadway. In short I told him no - he was nuts. Well, George persisted and Cappy's was opened in 1977. It took George two years to convince City Hall and me that revitalization was economical and necessary. Today Alamo Heights has many, many successful restaurants and businesses. In hindsight, it all seems so obvious and simple. In the years since, I've designed and built many other restaurants, but this is our favorite. As we all observe, older neighborhoods are not easy to keep viable and vibrant. Because of folks like Ernie and George, Alamo Heights is a wonderful place to live and do business. Thanks for coming,
Cappy and Suzy Lawton
