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A steady stream of diners come and go from the Malt House on a busy Friday night.<\/p>\n
kin man hui, staff photographer<\/p>\n
Once upon a time, you could mosey on over to San Antonio’s\u00a0Westside (if you weren’t there already) to grab a crispy dog<\/a>, a chocolate malt and a chicken-fried steak at Malt House for just a few dollars. Today, a 7-Eleven stands in its place<\/a>, wearing the iconic Malt House sign like a hat, on the corner of South Zarzamora and Buena Vista Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n It has been 10 years\u00a0since Malt House closed its doors, but the storied restaurant remains in the memories of so many San Antonians who enjoyed its fare over the years. The business is also remembered for reliably offering local delicacies, like the aforementioned crispy dog, a snack that can be sparsely found on restaurant menus today.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Customers enjoying a meal inside of Malt House.<\/p>\n Juanito M.Garza\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n Malt House got its start in San Antonio in\u00a0the 1940s<\/p>\n It’s commonly asserted that Malt House got its start in 1949, but at least one source<\/a> traces its beginnings back a few years earlier than that. Over the years, the eatery became a go-to for Mexican, American and Tex-Mex food, serving everything from enchilada plates to burgers to onion rings. Malt House’s food\u00a0specials were colorfully advertised on window paintings, and prices were always relatively low, allowing people from all walks of life to dine at the restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n Malt House also acted as a place to hang out, meet new friends and catch up with loved ones. Its role as a food and social space throughout many decades led to the business being declared a historic landmark by the city of San Antonio in 2013. Unfortunately,\u00a0the restaurant would fall on hard times shortly after this designation, leading to\u00a0its eventual\u00a0closure in 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Malt House’s iconic sign lives on after the restaurant closed.\u00a0<\/p>\n ROBIN JERSTAD\/For the San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n Malt House was demolished in 2018 after a battle to preserve it<\/p>\n Following Malt House’s unexpected closure in 2016, contention arose about what would become of the property at 115 S. Zarzamora Street. That same year, 7-Eleven submitted an application<\/a> to demolish the building that was home to Malt House for more than half a century in order to build a convenience store, resulting in pushback from local preservation-focused organizations.<\/p>\n San Antonio’s Historic and Design Review Commission (HDRC) would go on to consider this application despite opposition.\u00a0On October 5, 2016, members of the Westside Preservation Alliance wrote a letter\u00a0to the HDRC<\/a> to implore the body to reject the demolition of the former Malt House.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “While the Malt House recently closed its doors, the closing of a business in no\u00a0way reverses a historic landmark structure\u2019s cultural or historical\u00a0significance.\u00a0Indeed, businesses come and go in landmarked buildings all the time,” the letter said.\u00a0The letter went on to criticize the proposal that 7-Eleven would retain elements of Malt House’s design, referring to the notion as a “bizarre Walt Disney-esque\u00a0fraud.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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