Ashley Ruiz will premiere her latest documentary about the Louis White Grocery Store, a historical landmark in the Fifth Ward May 17.
Ruiz is a Fifth Ward native, mother, and Harris County 911 dispatcher who purchased the Louis White Grocery at 4101 Lyons Avenue a decade ago with the simple goal of flipping it for profit. She had no idea what she had bought. What she eventually learned changed the direction of her life.
“This building belongs to the community,” Ruiz said. “I didn’t know there was so much history behind this building and the positive impact of the owners.”
Founded in 1925 by Louis and Elnora White, the store operated for more than 50 years as one of the most important anchors on Houston’s Black commercial corridor. The City of Houston’s landmark designation report describes it as a “haven for those who needed credit, counsel, and medical help.”
The White family extended groceries on credit, treated neighbors’ illnesses when they could not afford a doctor, and became pillars of a community navigating segregation with dignity.
“Those grocery stores were like an anchor,” said Debra Sloan, a Fifth Ward native, professional genealogist, and historian currently writing a historical guidebook on the neighborhood.
“Lyons Avenue was the main thoroughfare where Black people spent their money. They were entertained there. Churches were there. If you got a Black grocery store in the community, you knew you were going to be treated fairly.”
Debra Sloan, a Fifth Ward native, professional genealogist, and historian.
Lyons Avenue served as the central hub for Black individuals, offering shopping, entertainment, and fair treatment at local establishments, including grocery stores and churches.
The Whites operated their store through some of the most perilous decades of Jim Crow. In the 1940s, Elnora White was arrested inside her own business after refusing to back down when a white vendor verbally abused her.
The incident is documented in the city’s landmark designation files and is widely cited as a catalyst for her involvement in Houston’s early civil rights movement. By her 80th birthday, she had received commendations from the President of the United States, the Texas Legislature, the governor of Texas, and the mayor of Houston.
Sloan said the courage Elnora White showed that day cannot be separated from its full historical context.
“The idea of a Black man or Black woman speaking up for themselves, looking white people in the eye, that was dangerous,” she said. “But their reputation speaks for itself. That story could have gone wrong in so many ways.”
When Ruiz paid off the building in 2018, she was approached by Houston preservation officials who informed her that the property qualified for a city landmark designation. She did not hesitate.
“I’m a double minority. I’m Latina. I’m a female. I’m from this community,” Ruiz said. “That story should not be buried. Let’s breathe life into it.”
That decision launched years of city hearings, grant applications, and community outreach. A turning point came when Sloan, brought on as a historical researcher, tracked down Charles White, the 89-year-old last living son of Louis and Elnora, in Ohio.
He returned to Houston, walked through the building on camera, and revealed that prominent lawyer and politician Barbara Jordan had once held her first office in the space above the grocery store. The upcoming documentary preserves his testimony.
Through her nonprofit Urban Healing HTX, Ruiz now plans to restore the building as a community space offering free programming throughout the week, art therapy for young people, financial literacy workshops, and self-development classes, with weekend event rentals sustaining operations.
“I grew up right here,” Ruiz said. “My zip code today is the same as this building’s. If we can give people in this community access to things I had to figure out on my own, nobody’s turning the lights off on us because I own the building.”
The documentary screening and fundraiser takes place May 17 from 4 to 7 p.m. at The DeLUXE Theater, 3303 Lyons Avenue, Houston, TX 77020.
