Ben’s Chili Bowl, which has served half-smoke hot dogs and chili to customers at its original U Street NW location since 1958, is closing that store next week for months of repair work.
The restaurant said on its website that the U Street NW location will close at midnight Monday, with a grand reopening planned for November. The closure marks the first repair work for the historic building in more than 60 years.
The structure itself dates to 1910, per the Ben’s Chili Bowl website. Before hosting the restaurant, it served as a silent movie theater and pool hall.
“We are now going to renovate the wiring, the plumbing, the air conditioning and all those things that you need to run a restaurant safely. … There will certainly be some improvements in the stove, the grills and the counters, but things will look the same,” Ben’s Chili Bowl historian Bernard