The Torch of Acropolis was the height of dining in Oak Cliff in the 1960s. Better known as The Torch, at 3620 W. Davis, it was owned and operated by the Semos family for decades.
Victor H. Semos, who was born in Greece, opened the Torch in 1948 after 30 years managing a restaurant, the Jefferson Hotel Coffee Shop in Downtown near Union Station. The Torch restaurant cost $150,000 to build and comprised more than 4,000 square feet. The restaurant, which served Greek specialties as well as steaks, chops and chicken, was a neighborhood favorite until it closed in 1970 after a fire. Find video from Texas Archive of the Moving Image of firefighters working the blaze here. The building now houses Fut 360 indoor soccer.
Photo by Danny Fulgencio.
