FARMING + GARDENS
In an effort to combat food insecurity and waste while creating sustainable community development, Lucille’s 1913 launched its farming initiative in 2022. The program’s hub is stationed in Kendleton, TX, a once historic farming community turned food desert that was originally inhabited by emancipated slaves following the Civil War. Led by Horticultural Director Jeremy Peaches — a fourth generation urban farmer — the farm’s function is to provide residents with produce access at whole sale prices; create employment opportunities for Kendleton residents; and power Lucille’s Hospitality Group’s vertically integrated ecosystem, providing freshly grown produce to its culinary and community concepts.
A smaller growing effort also exists at The Community Collective in Southwest Houston, which also serves as the home of Lucille’s 1913’s community kitchen. The waste and excess from both properties also helps drive the non-profit’s sustainability initiatives, providing contents for its fermentation and composting efforts — both of which propel its ultimate goal of becoming a zero waste entity.
FARMING + GARDENS
In an effort to combat food insecurity and waste while creating sustainable community development, Lucille’s 1913 launched its farming initiative in 2022. The program’s hub is stationed in Kendleton, TX, a once historic farming community turned food desert that was originally inhabited by emancipated slaves following the Civil War. Led by Horticultural Director Jeremy Peaches — a fourth generation urban farmer — the farm’s function is to provide residents with produce access at whole sale prices; create employment opportunities for Kendleton residents; and power Lucille’s Hospitality Group’s vertically integrated ecosystem, providing freshly grown produce to its culinary and community concepts.
A smaller growing effort also exists at The Community Collective in Southwest Houston, which also serves as the home of Lucille’s 1913’s community kitchen. The waste and excess from both properties also helps drive the non-profit’s sustainability initiatives, providing contents for its fermentation and composting efforts — both of which propel its ultimate goal of becoming a zero waste entity.
MEAL DISTRIBUTION
Born out of a need during the heart of the pandemic, Lucille’s 1913’s meal program fueled the non-profit’s inception, providing a consistent and holistic meal source for food insecure communities — from strained healthcare workers to under-resourced seniors. Crossing the threshold of 1,000,000 meals distributed, the program has now evolved to deepen its impact. In partnership with Bread of Life Healthy Houston Collective and Quest Diagnostics Foundation, Lucille’s 1913 meal distributions will help fuel a multi-year initiative focused on addressing healthcare disparities in underserved communities and reduce health inequalities for more than 10,000 people in Houston and Harris County.
FARMING + GARDENS
In an effort to combat food insecurity and waste while creating sustainable community development, Lucille’s 1913 launched its farming initiative in 2022. The program’s hub is stationed in Kendleton, TX, a once historic farming community turned food desert that was originally inhabited by emancipated slaves following the Civil War. Led by Horticultural Director Jeremy Peaches — a fourth generation urban farmer — the farm’s function is to provide residents with produce access at whole sale prices; create employment opportunities for Kendleton residents; and power Lucille’s Hospitality Group’s vertically integrated ecosystem, providing freshly grown produce to its culinary and community concepts.
A smaller growing effort also exists at The Community Collective in Southwest Houston, which also serves as the home of Lucille’s 1913’s community kitchen. The waste and excess from both properties also helps drive the non-profit’s sustainability initiatives, providing contents for its fermentation and composting efforts — both of which propel its ultimate goal of becoming a zero waste entity.
HOGAN BROWN GALLERY
The Hogan Brown Gallery seeks to provide community-centered education and commerce for burgeoning local artists. Operated by Lucille’s 1913 — the philanthropic arm of Lucille’s Hospitality Group — the gallery’s inception serves as an art-focused extension of the nonprofit's mission to empower communities to discover a self-sustainable livelihood through cultural and culinary arts. Hogan Brown’s name pays homage to the surnames of LHG Founder Chris Williams’s grandparents, who persevered during the segregation era by succeeding at the “art” of entrepreneurship. Led by Houston-based artist Robert Hodge, the gallery will channel that same spirit to empower working artists with a community-embedded gallery space to exhibit and sell their works, while also providing business-centered education and resources to further their artistic enterprise. The Hogan Brown Gallery and its exhibiting artists will also devote art-driven educational opportunities to Third Ward’s next generation of creatives.
FARMING + GARDENS
In an effort to combat food insecurity and waste while creating sustainable community development, Lucille’s 1913 launched its farming initiative in 2022. The program’s hub is stationed in Kendleton, TX, a once historic farming community turned food desert that was originally inhabited by emancipated slaves following the Civil War. Led by Horticultural Director Jeremy Peaches — a fourth generation urban farmer — the farm’s function is to provide residents with produce access at whole sale prices; create employment opportunities for Kendleton residents; and power Lucille’s Hospitality Group’s vertically integrated ecosystem, providing freshly grown produce to its culinary and community concepts.
A smaller growing effort also exists at The Community Collective in Southwest Houston, which also serves as the home of Lucille’s 1913’s community kitchen. The waste and excess from both properties also helps drive the non-profit’s sustainability initiatives, providing contents for its fermentation and composting efforts — both of which propel its ultimate goal of becoming a zero waste entity.
The reimagined Eldorado Ballroom channels the historic venue’s legacy as a visual and spiritual symbol of the Third Ward community. Operated by Lucille’s 1913 — the philanthropic arm of Lucille’s Hospitality Group — the Ballroom’s return serves as a living extension of the nonprofit's expanded mission to empower communities to discover a self-sustainable livelihood through cultural and culinary arts. The venue’s future will honor its past, continuing to serve as a home for both established and emerging musicians to share their talents via live concerts and music events as well as providing a community-centered space for the neighborhood to host, gather, and celebrate.
Making its debut in the fall of 1939, Anna Johnson Dupree and Clarence Dupree opened the Eldorado Ballroom to provide Black residents of Third Ward a place where they could experience performers, host events, and celebrate milestones with dignity and without discrimination. A beacon for Black talent, Houston-based musicians such as Sam “Lightning” Hopkins and Johnny “Guitar” Watson honed their skills at the Eldorado and went on to bigger fame, while many internationally known jazz and blues musicians, including B.B. King, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Etta James, and Count Basie, also made regular appearances.
After three decades of successful operation and the death of her husband, Anna Johnson Dupree sold The Eldorado in the 1970s as the neighborhood fell into decline. Soon thereafter, Hubert “Hub” Finkelstein, the founder of Medallion Oil Company and a generous but modest philanthropist who grew up in Riverside Terrace, purchased The Eldorado to save it from destruction. In 1999, Finkelstein donated the building to Project Row Houses so that it could be preserved for the use of the community.
