Spot Lunch & Cigar

Spot Cigar & Lunch was a downtown staple, known for its smoky back room, as well as its breakfast and lunch fare, like biscuits and gravy. It was first opened in 1940 as Spot Cigar store at the site of the current Campus Edge offices on Charles Street, and was last listed at this location in 1946. Spot Cigar Store opened at 118 N Walnut Street under a new owner in 1950, and they added food in 1955. 

The Spot was men- only until the 1960s, with women only able to order carry-out, and the business offered pool tables, card games, and gambling machines in the back. Various colorful personalities in the local political world ensured that the Spot’s backroom went mostly unmolested.  The Spot changed hands six more times from the 60s-early 2000s, but the business remained mostly unchanged. Postal workers were banned from eating there in 1994 because of the gambling machines. 

Spot Cigar & Lunch stopped selling cigars and became smoke free in 2003, then removed breakfast and lunch service in 2004. It reopened as “The Spot,” a diner, in 2005, with pinball and pool, but no gambling or cigars. It reopened under new ownership again in 2011, and was last mentioned in 2013, sitting empty since then.