Governors and gangsters, spies and socialites—it seemed that all of Manila dined out at the two-floor restaurant that rose above the bustle of Plaza Goiti. Inside, waiters handed you menus with more than three hundred dishes on offer, and, for special guests, directed you to special themed dining rooms upstairs. But there was enough entertainment on the first floor. There was a jazz band playing live music. There was a boxing promoter hamming it up at the next table. There was a steady stream of VIPs coming in through the front door.

This is the story of Tom’s Dixie Kitchen.

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References:

Manila Electric Co. (1932). “City of Manila and Suburbs [map].”

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Mount, Guy Emerson (2018). “An Open Door: The Geopolitical Possibilities and Pitfalls of Black Colonization to the Pacific.” In Mount, The Last Reconstruction: Slavery, Emancipation, and Empire in the Black Pacific [doctoral dissertation], The University of Chicago.

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