Omaha Exploration

After he returned, he did anything he could to make money during the Great Depression including work as a painter to operating a billiard parlor and even did some bootlegging. By 1942 he opened his own restaurant in East Omaha at 4825 N. 16th Street. The name was two-fold: first it appealed to those that needed a late-night meal to sober up after leaving the pool hall across the street or one of the nearby bars, in addition to incorporating his last name.

In those days, 16th Street with its streetcar track was lined with businesses as it was the primary route to get downtown from points north. Its location provided a steady stream of business that included the working families in the area. The family-run business was operated by both Dan and his wife Alice as it occupied a two-story brick building that previously housed a grocery store on the first floor with apartments on the second floor. In addition to those in need of a meal to soak up alcohol, it was also popular with railroad workers from the neighborhood, day workers, and families headed to Levi Carter Park.

After Dan Sr. passed away in 1961, his son Dan Jr. and his wife Nadean kept the restaurant going. Within a few years they demolished the original building and replaced it with a new single-story structure that was five times larger and a parking lot. Nite Hawkes remained as popular as ever and attracted a diverse crowd that by this time included police officers, politicians, blue collar workers and even Hell’s Angels. At its height, they served 800 meals per day during lunch.

By this time though, East Omaha had started to change. The streetcar stopped running, and the area had largely been swallowed up by Eppley Airfield. Not only that, but 16th Street, North Omaha’s main access point into downtown, was cut off at Dodge Street by the construction of the Hilton Hotel. Adding insult to injury, the connection of Storz Expressway to the North Freeway allowed traffic that would normally pass through the area to completely bypass it. All of these changes, many made in the name of progress, had a detrimental impact on the business and residents that lived in the area, turning a once-lively area into one that was increasingly poor and isolated.