PHOENIX, NY – Bill Thomas and his wife Fran, owners of Our Family To Yours Cafe, an eatery found along Route 57 in Phoenix, are making the hard decision to paint over murals illustrated along the walls; the paintings designed decades ago.
In 1968, when the mural was painted on the walls of this spot in Phoenix’s Three Rivers Plaza, the location was an Italian restaurant. In the years since then, the location has been many business enterprises. Sadly, next week though, the mural will be painted over.
“I’d love to save it,” Thomas said. “The long wall is all Mediterranean scenes, and the back wall has paintings of Venice. But it’s just not feasible to keep the wallboard.”
“The mural is covered with grease spots,” co-owner Fran Thomas said. “And the paint comes off if we try to clean it. It’s a piece of Phoenix history, but since it can’t be cleaned, we need to paint over it.”
Our Family To Yours Cafe opened at the end of 2018, and quickly became a popular breakfast spot for many locals. The Cafe is closing from Monday, Jan. 17 through at least Wednesday Jan. 19 for minor renovations, including changing the walls.
They hope to re-open on Thursday, Jan. 20. They’re normally open seven days a week for breakfast, and on Friday afternoons for dinners.
“Many of our regulars remember when the walls were originally painted,” Thomas said. “We love hearing their stories. We’ve had photos done so that the paintings won’t really be gone for good.”
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