Last week as I was walking on 6th St. in downtown Cincinnati, I happened to peer into a construction site and get a glimpse of this “BDL” tilework. There are two configurations of the monogram and a pretty repeating pattern.
The buildings in question are the former Maisonette and La Normandie, now owned by 3CDC and currently under construction. The plan is for Boca to move from Oakley into one of these spaces, while the other will become an Italian restaurant. You can read more about that here and here, and check out more construction photos here.
Dear Powers That Be: please retain the tile as you rehab the space. It’s so pretty! On another note, what was BDL?
this is beautiful and i agree, i hope they keep it! i posted about tile work from cincy today too!
Greetings Maya!
From 1974 thru 1978, I worked my 1st job right next door to this building….
Gregory’s Steakhouse — I bussed tables/worked the line…
1st floor under the original Barleycorn’s Bar on 6th Street.
The letters BDL has me totally baffled…
I’ll reach out to a couple old Cincy contacts on this issue.
Wow, Brian, you’re such an old-timer!
Please, please try to find some information about BDL.
Which building exactly was this in?
Unfortunately, I don’t remember which of those two buildings it was. I snapped these photos in passing and forgot all about them until a few days later, at which point I couldn’t remember and didn’t have a chance to go back to jog my memory.
It was the Baltimore Dairy Lunch, a soda and lunch counter restaurant which started in Baltimore and spread throughout the Midwest. http://www.restaurantwarecollectors.com/forums/showwiki.php?title=Baltimore+Dairy+Lunch
Wow, that’s awesome! I still don’t know which of the two buildings has the tile, but it’s amazing to read a bit about the history of the restaurant.
It was at 116 E. 6th, the eastern part of the Maisonette building according to a 1930′s map.
Thanks for digging!