Omaha Exploration

The Home Cafe, an unassuming restaurant that sits in an easy-to-miss building along South Omaha’s 24th Street, has been a neighborhood fixture for decades.

The small building at 5110 S. 24th Street was constructed in 1905 and has operated as a cafe for almost a century. While I’m not aware of its primary purpose, it had been a series of cafes from the 1930s until present. They included Dot’s, Benny’s, Shorty’s, and finally Maltini’s Cafe, which closed in 1950.

The revolving door of names would stop in 1951 when Lucille “Lou” Spreitzer purchased it and opened the Home Cafe. Aunt Lou was born Lucille Humfeld in Fairbury in 1906. She moved to Omaha in 1922 and married Joseph Spreitzer, who worked for Metropolitan Utilities District. Lou would go on to eventually find work in the lard refinery department in the South Omaha meatpacking houses, where she remained for 12 years.

While Joe had initially wanted to open a hamburger stand, Lou convinced him to instead open another cafe in this location when it went up for sale in 1951. While they opened Home Cafe together, Lou was in charge.

Due to the popularity of the cafe and the long hours, she employed 12 women to assist her. Lou was very hands-on and preferred to do most of the cooking herself. She would unlock the doors at 5 AM every morning when the first of the packing house workers would arrive for a hearty breakfast. At that point she would begin serving coffee, cooking up bacon, eggs, and hotcakes until the rest of her staff arrived.

In order to provide hot meals for the nearby stockyard workers, her cafe was open from 5 AM until 11 PM, or until 2 AM on the weekends. After the whistle sounded at the packing houses, the first shift of diners would leave only to be followed by the next shift. Lou was the driving force behind South Omaha’s “cozy” cafe, which would serve as many as 500 per day. Oftentimes Home Cafe would get so crowded that people would just stand around and wait for an open table.

Beloved by her customers, employees, and community alike, Aunt Lou was particularly fond of children, whom she would often give free ice cream on a hot day. While she sold the Home Cafe in 1968, it would live on and remain open for decades more. Meanwhile, she would remain in the restaurant business, operating both the Trucker’s Cafe and Lounge at Lake Manawa and Lou’s Grill at 21st and Q Street. After Joe passed away in 1975, she retired. Aunt Lou passed away just three years later in 1978.

While business decreased after the last packing house closed in 1976, followed by the closing of the stockyards altogether in 1999, the cash-only establishment announced that it had closed in 2025. After being sold, the building will have its exterior updated to better fit with the neighborhood. It will reopen as Packer’s Building Cafe, a nod to its meatpacking history.

Please feel free to comment to share your thoughts and memories.

Until next time, keep exploring!

Additional pictures

Omaha Exploration is sponsored by

Click here to contact me if you’re interested in sponsoring OE.