History of Downtown Greensboro Hotels : Restauranteur Minas Dascalakis

Minas Dascalakis, owner of downtown Greensboro's Matthew's Grill at 223 North Elm Street near the original O'Henry Hotel, talks about what Downtown Greensboro was like in the 1950s and 60s. Matthew's was a hub for city leaders, the movers and shakers.

Also heard is Aleck Alexiou, his father owned the Princess Cafe on South Elm, located where Cheesecakes by Alex was before the expansion. Downtown Greensboro in the 1950s was Aleck's backyard growing up.

(This first installment dealt with Minas' childhood in a war ravaged Greece before immigrating to America.)

In this video Minas Dascalakis takes us on a virtual tour of Elm Street in the 1950s, explains how the O.Henry & King Cotton Hotel got their start and why the Guilford Building failed as a hotel. (The Guilford building was virtually identical to the King Cotton.)

What life was like in Hamburger Square and all the hotels in the vicinity. Then details about the demise of the O.Henry: