There, uptown laborers and Broad Street lawyers alike gathered to enjoy favorites like the “Red Dempsey,” a lean hamburger “gussied up” with peppers, onions, and hot sauce. In this 1970s photograph, the restaurant’s original owner, Neeley Katherine “Miss Kitty” Proctor, stands with longtime cook Maddie Heneghen. Miss Kitty ran the diner from her perch behind the register from 1963 until the late 1980s, when she sold it to David Runey. In 2006, Martha Grant acquired Miss Kitty’s and paid homage to its 40-year-old heritage by renaming it “Kitty’s Diner” and preparing the same classic Southern fare. Jen and Mike Kulick purchased the iconic location and opened their restaurant, Tattooed Moose, there in March 2010. In doing so, they honored a legacy of husband-and-wife ownership begun by Kitty and Tom Proctor and helped to plant roots for the growth of the modern NoMo corridor.

Photograph courtesy of Kitty Proctor