LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As we approach Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it's important to recognize that his influence is seen all over the Las Vegas Valley.
It's just on the street or the senior center that bears his name, but also through Black-owned businesses like Gritz Cafe in the Historic Westside, where a bustling Saturday morning is about more than the breakfast.
"We're not just serving food," server Olivia Love said. "We're not just making grits or eggs; we're serving our community."
Love knows that firsthand. She grew up a few blocks away from the cafe, which is located near Lake Mead Blvd. and MLK Blvd.
"I've always known Gritz, I've heard of Gritz when I was little," Love said. "The feeling and the atmosphere here, it's home for us."
Gritz opened in 2008 by former fire investigator Trina Jiles, who's been serving up soul food ever since.
It's gone on to be named one of the best restaurants in the city, but more than that, Las Vegas King Week co-chair Shaundell Newsome says it's serving our community in more ways than one.
"It's an employer in a community that needs employment," Newsome said. "The zip code, 89106, has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state."
Newsome says people usually focus on Dr. King's accomplishments fighting for social freedoms, but another one of Dr. King's goals was economic freedom for Black Americans through education, entrepreneurship and more.
"He said, 'what good is it for a person to have the opportunity to sit at a lunch counter, if they can't afford a meal?'"
Newsome calls Gritz the embodiment of those goals.
"Trina, when she was a firefighter, had aspirations to own this business," Newsome said. "Now, she's fully immersed in growing and developing the economy through great jobs in the food and beverage industry."
Channel 13 wasn't able to interview Jiles on Saturday, not because she was taking a day off, but because she's in Los Angeles serving fire victims and firefighters.
"To get to meet Trina, and get to know her heart for service and her heart for the community," Love said. "To get to work for her, there's nothing like it."
Newsome said one of the most important things people can do to honor Dr. King's legacy is to use Monday's holiday not as a day off, but as a "day on," through service and giving back to our community, something the folks at Gritz do every day.
Channel 13 is your hub for the Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Parade.
Local News
