SINCE 1926

In 1926, veteran café proprietor Vic Paris established a humble little restaurant that would become a beloved Fort Worth landmark. Opening Paris Coffee Shop just east of Hemphill Street on Magnolia Avenue, Paris sold the business to Greg Asikis (who changed his name to Smith) in 1930. Taking over for his dad in 1965, Mike Smith grew the café to icon status, even as he moved it one block west in 1974 to a former Safeway grocery store at the corner of Magnolia and Hemphill.

Over the past century, generations of Fort Worthians – along with TCU students, countless celebrities, and local luminaries – came to call Paris Coffee Shop home. Family and friends built traditions around frequent visits to Paris for biscuits and cinnamon rolls, bacon and eggs, chicken and dumplings, and slices of the many popular pies.