Cruz's Drive Inn

On the corner of South Eleventh Street and Cleveland Ave, Cruz’s Drive Inn stood as a cornerstone to the community for over 50 years. Four generations of the Cruz family served both the neighborhood near the Kate Ross apartments and countless Hispanic Wacoans. The store became a hub for news and support for its many patrons.

 Cruz’s Drive Inn was opened in 1965 by Juan and Lilia Cruz. They purchased the store at 826 South Eleventh Street from the Tusa family, prominent Waco grocers at the time, to help relieve Juan’s father Cayetano from a depression caused by the loss of his wife, Leonarda. In the early years, Cayetano and Lilia ran the store during the day, and Juan closed the store at night after his shift at Clark Transit Mix Concrete. Juan maintained his job driving a concrete truck until the store was well established and proved profitable.

 The store had a deli counter selling meats and cheeses, bread, candy, beer, cigarettes, sodas, kerosene, and snow cones. As the business grew, so did the property around the store. Juan purchased a former bar and repair shop that would become storage buildings for the store. Lilia, who ran the financial side of the business, saved profits from snow cone sales to expand the store’s physical footprint. They saved enough to add onto the building, and in early 1980, the expanded store opened without missing a day of business. The larger establishment allowed for the sale of more products, many of which catered to the Hispanic community. Items included religious candles, oils, Mexican herbs and spices, piñatas, Spanish language books and magazines, card games such as lotería and naipes, paletas, Mexican sodas, and more. In later years, the store even sold phone cards and money transfers. These were purchased mainly by Hispanic immigrants and workers to stay in contact with and support their families in Mexico or other Latin American countries.

 As a neighborhood store, Cruz’s maintained a regular clientele, seeing generations of families returning year after year. Through good times and bad, the Cruz Family and their clients supported each other. Mr. Cruz often extended credit to those in need, allowing them to purchase goods and later pay the bill when they were able. Some of these debts remained unpaid when the store closed but were proof of the goodwill and faith between the family and community. This mutual respect also added to Juan’s property holdings. As neighbors moved away or passed, the families often offered Mr. Cruz the first opportunity to purchase the land or houses. In addition to supporting the immediate neighborhood, Cruz’s supported other small local businesses, including Jimenez Bakery and Tiempo Newspaper, by purchasing and distributing their goods.

In 1995, Juan’s first grandchild began working at the store part time in the evenings. Seven of his eleven grandchildren would do the same. In 1999, Juan suffered a heart attack and could not work for several months. At this point, his daughter Diana Hernandez began working full time at the store. She quickly learned the business, taking inventory, purchasing goods from regular vendors, operating the cash register, and serving as the food manager over the deli counter. As more family members became involved in the operation of the store, it became the setting for many birthdays and small holidays and a place for the grandkids to stop by and visit between classes at MCC, TSTC, or Baylor University. 

Juan Cruz passed in May 2007, leaving the business in the hands of his wife and children. His daughter, Diana Hernandez, was integral to the running of the store until it closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Mrs. Cruz sold the property, nearly a half city block acquired piecemeal by Mr. Cruz based on his foresight of the eventual change and development of the neighborhood. Mr. Cruz envisioned opening a storage facility on the land he acquired but never had the opportunity; however, the neighborhood did change as he predicted. Nearby houses that had long been rental properties were sold and renovated to accommodate the influx of visitors to the Magnolia Silos.

 Cruz’s Drive Inn was a family business, not only for the Cruzes, but for those in the surrounding community. Customers often returned after years of absence and recalled to their children buying candy, pickles, chips, snow cones, and chopped beef sandwiches. Additionally, bilingual service (English and Spanish), evoked a sense of place in a new environment for Hispanics new to Waco. Familiar products and the atmosphere made Cruz’s a place of comfort and community to all who walked through the doors.