Cheever’s Cafe

On May 19th, 1889, the first baby was born in the newly formed Oklahoma City. She was proudly named “Oklahoma Belle Cunningham”,and—in 1912—she married Lawrence “L.L.” Cheever. In 1927, Oklahoma Belle began her flower career selling roses from her backyard to help with family finances. When L.L. became unemployed during the Great Depression, the flower business became the family trade. In 1938, the Cheevers moved into Belle’s family home on Hudson Avenue, and purchased the property from her grandmother. They added a stylish Deco storefront–built of limestone and black glass with huge plate glass windows and terrazzo floors. The Cheevers also procured a 20-foot flower display cooler from Chicago. All the while, they lived in the back portion of the original Victorian house. Cheever’s flowers continued in this location until the mid-nineties and served as the home to three generations of Cheevers.

The Cheever’s Building was sold in 1998 to a young woman from Louisiana and had a short life as a French Cajun restaurant before Heather and Keith Paul purchased the building in 2000. Much of the

original property remains as it was years ago. The flower case still sits as the centerpiece of the storefront—now displaying a variety of desserts and wine bottles. The back portion of the house has been converted to business use–including a private dining area, while the front houses a bar and wine case as well as the original terrazzo floors. Cheevers Café proudly retains the name of the family that made the location a part of Oklahoma City history, and we thank you for sharing in its present and future.