Deceased Name: Dorothy Hoersch: Hob Nob Hill restaurant regulars mourn loss of cafe's driving force
When she gave up her secretarial job with Consolidated Aircraft in 1944, Dorothy Hoersch knew nothing about running a restaurant, but she took over the Juniper Cafe anyway.
She learned the business fast and the Midwestern fare she grew up on in Kansas soon became the bread and butter of today's Hob Nob Hill restaurant in the Uptown area. Long a place where the city's movers and shakers huddle over breakfast, it's also where families and the elderly gather for a square meal. Chicken and dumplings, roasted turkey, short ribs -- and homemade bread and pies.
Mrs. Hoersch, of Uptown, a San Diego resident for 49 years, died Tuesday of heart failure at Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. She was 74.
The restaurant, initially the Juniper Cafe, was a 14-stool operation whose name changed a few times as the restaurant expanded in the same building at First Avenue and Juniper Street.
Her husband, Harold, with whom she owned the restaurant, called her the driving force behind the business' success. "She ran the dining room, controlled the staff," he said.
The couple also owned two other restaurants at various times, including the Hob Nob near Horton Plaza in days before downtown redevelopment.
They agreed to start the family business because previous to his arrival in San Diego, where he also worked for Consolidated Aircraft, Harold Hoersch had been self-employed.
"She was game. ...She said 'You've always been in business for yourself. It's in your blood; so what if you don't know anything about the restaurant business? If that's what you want to do, do it.' "
But she quit her job first, he said.
The cafe evolved into a restaurant where the food was tasty and dependable, the service friendly from longtime employees who saw the restaurant grow up.
And Mrs. Hoersch spearheaded the effort until diabetes set her back a few years ago.
Tribune editor Neil Morgan said "she was as frisky and friendly as the village switchboard operator."
Mrs. Hoersch was born in Bazine, Kan., where she and her husband were childhood sweethearts. She came to California after their marriage in Yuma, Ariz., in 1942.
She was a member of the downtown San Diego Lioness Club and the First Presbyterian Church.
Memorial services will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 320 Date St. Merkley-Mitchell Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Cremation was planned.
San Diego Evening Tribune: Nov. 14, 1991 Page B-3
When she gave up her secretarial job with Consolidated Aircraft in 1944, Dorothy Hoersch knew nothing about running a restaurant, but she took over the Juniper Cafe anyway.
She learned the business fast and the Midwestern fare she grew up on in Kansas soon became the bread and butter of today's Hob Nob Hill restaurant in the Uptown area. Long a place where the city's movers and shakers huddle over breakfast, it's also where families and the elderly gather for a square meal. Chicken and dumplings, roasted turkey, short ribs -- and homemade bread and pies.
Mrs. Hoersch, of Uptown, a San Diego resident for 49 years, died Tuesday of heart failure at Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. She was 74.
The restaurant, initially the Juniper Cafe, was a 14-stool operation whose name changed a few times as the restaurant expanded in the same building at First Avenue and Juniper Street.
Her husband, Harold, with whom she owned the restaurant, called her the driving force behind the business' success. "She ran the dining room, controlled the staff," he said.
The couple also owned two other restaurants at various times, including the Hob Nob near Horton Plaza in days before downtown redevelopment.
They agreed to start the family business because previous to his arrival in San Diego, where he also worked for Consolidated Aircraft, Harold Hoersch had been self-employed.
"She was game. ...She said 'You've always been in business for yourself. It's in your blood; so what if you don't know anything about the restaurant business? If that's what you want to do, do it.' "
But she quit her job first, he said.
The cafe evolved into a restaurant where the food was tasty and dependable, the service friendly from longtime employees who saw the restaurant grow up.
And Mrs. Hoersch spearheaded the effort until diabetes set her back a few years ago.
Tribune editor Neil Morgan said "she was as frisky and friendly as the village switchboard operator."
Mrs. Hoersch was born in Bazine, Kan., where she and her husband were childhood sweethearts. She came to California after their marriage in Yuma, Ariz., in 1942.
She was a member of the downtown San Diego Lioness Club and the First Presbyterian Church.
Memorial services will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 320 Date St. Merkley-Mitchell Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Cremation was planned.
San Diego Evening Tribune: Nov. 14, 1991 Page B-3
Deceased Name: Dorothy Hoersch: Hob Nob Hill restaurant regulars mourn loss of cafe's driving force
When she gave up her secretarial job with Consolidated Aircraft in 1944, Dorothy Hoersch knew nothing about running a restaurant, but she took over the Juniper Cafe anyway.
She learned the business fast and the Midwestern fare she grew up on in Kansas soon became the bread and butter of today's Hob Nob Hill restaurant in the Uptown area. Long a place where the city's movers and shakers huddle over breakfast, it's also where families and the elderly gather for a square meal. Chicken and dumplings, roasted turkey, short ribs -- and homemade bread and pies.
Mrs. Hoersch, of Uptown, a San Diego resident for 49 years, died Tuesday of heart failure at Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. She was 74.
The restaurant, initially the Juniper Cafe, was a 14-stool operation whose name changed a few times as the restaurant expanded in the same building at First Avenue and Juniper Street.
Her husband, Harold, with whom she owned the restaurant, called her the driving force behind the business' success. "She ran the dining room, controlled the staff," he said.
The couple also owned two other restaurants at various times, including the Hob Nob near Horton Plaza in days before downtown redevelopment.
They agreed to start the family business because previous to his arrival in San Diego, where he also worked for Consolidated Aircraft, Harold Hoersch had been self-employed.
"She was game. ...She said 'You've always been in business for yourself. It's in your blood; so what if you don't know anything about the restaurant business? If that's what you want to do, do it.' "
But she quit her job first, he said.
The cafe evolved into a restaurant where the food was tasty and dependable, the service friendly from longtime employees who saw the restaurant grow up.
And Mrs. Hoersch spearheaded the effort until diabetes set her back a few years ago.
Tribune editor Neil Morgan said "she was as frisky and friendly as the village switchboard operator."
Mrs. Hoersch was born in Bazine, Kan., where she and her husband were childhood sweethearts. She came to California after their marriage in Yuma, Ariz., in 1942.
She was a member of the downtown San Diego Lioness Club and the First Presbyterian Church.
Memorial services will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 320 Date St. Merkley-Mitchell Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Cremation was planned.
San Diego Evening Tribune: Nov. 14, 1991 Page B-3
When she gave up her secretarial job with Consolidated Aircraft in 1944, Dorothy Hoersch knew nothing about running a restaurant, but she took over the Juniper Cafe anyway.
She learned the business fast and the Midwestern fare she grew up on in Kansas soon became the bread and butter of today's Hob Nob Hill restaurant in the Uptown area. Long a place where the city's movers and shakers huddle over breakfast, it's also where families and the elderly gather for a square meal. Chicken and dumplings, roasted turkey, short ribs -- and homemade bread and pies.
Mrs. Hoersch, of Uptown, a San Diego resident for 49 years, died Tuesday of heart failure at Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. She was 74.
The restaurant, initially the Juniper Cafe, was a 14-stool operation whose name changed a few times as the restaurant expanded in the same building at First Avenue and Juniper Street.
Her husband, Harold, with whom she owned the restaurant, called her the driving force behind the business' success. "She ran the dining room, controlled the staff," he said.
The couple also owned two other restaurants at various times, including the Hob Nob near Horton Plaza in days before downtown redevelopment.
They agreed to start the family business because previous to his arrival in San Diego, where he also worked for Consolidated Aircraft, Harold Hoersch had been self-employed.
"She was game. ...She said 'You've always been in business for yourself. It's in your blood; so what if you don't know anything about the restaurant business? If that's what you want to do, do it.' "
But she quit her job first, he said.
The cafe evolved into a restaurant where the food was tasty and dependable, the service friendly from longtime employees who saw the restaurant grow up.
And Mrs. Hoersch spearheaded the effort until diabetes set her back a few years ago.
Tribune editor Neil Morgan said "she was as frisky and friendly as the village switchboard operator."
Mrs. Hoersch was born in Bazine, Kan., where she and her husband were childhood sweethearts. She came to California after their marriage in Yuma, Ariz., in 1942.
She was a member of the downtown San Diego Lioness Club and the First Presbyterian Church.
Memorial services will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 320 Date St. Merkley-Mitchell Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Cremation was planned.
San Diego Evening Tribune: Nov. 14, 1991 Page B-3
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