Look at 299 E. Main St. in downtown Ventura today and you'll see a parking lot and the Top Hat Burger Palace. Visit the half-acre space in the future, and you may find a four-story building with shops on the bottom and more than 30 residences on top. But what came before? Here's a look back at the site's recorded history.

Mid 1880s: According to materials from the research library at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art, the northwest corner of Main and Palm streets is home to the Golden Gate Saloon. A bowling alley in back runs parallel to Palm Street, ending at a hose house that may have been used by Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1, organized in 1878. Next to the saloon on Main Street is a billiards hall and, beyond that, the Chaffee, Gilbert and Bonestall lumber yard, which apparently is using some of the rooms of the neighboring San Buenaventura Mission as storage.

1888-1928: The saloon is gone. So are the billiards hall and the lumber yard. In their place is the three-story, woodframe Anacapa Hotel, built for the then-princely sum of $95,940. Next to the hotel on Main Street is an empty lot and, after 1890, the Armory Hall. The hotel's amenities include rooms in which visiting salesmen may display their wares for local merchants. When torn down in 1928 or 1929, the hotel is described as having 60 bedrooms and six baths. The once-empty lot next door is being used for parking and used-car sales.

1938-1943: According to research library materials, a State Super Market Grocery store is in residence at 295 and 299 E. Main St. from 1938 to 1940. A photograph thought to have been taken in 1943 of Seabees marching down Main Street during a war-bond rally shows an unidentified structure set back from the corner at Palm Street. People are standing on the empty curb that today is occupied by the Top Hat.

1946-1948: U.S. Army and Navy recruiting offices share the premises at 299 E. Main St., according to phone directories from the era. A building permit issued Feb. 2, 1948, OKs a 5-by-5 addition to what is described as an all-metal "hot dog stand," encouraging speculation that the structure that would become Top Hat is already in existence at this time.

1950: A fire-insurance map of Main and Palm streets shows a tiny square marked "Rest," for "restaurant," at 299 E. Main. The remainder of the lot is devoted to an auto-sales office and cars.

1966: Top Hat is purchased for about $3,000 by Homer and Gretchen McKee, parents of current owner Charlotte Bell.

1988: Maintenance worker George White, 63, is found stabbed to death inside the Top Hat.

1989: Venturan Lynda Axell, 35, is found guilty of White's murder and sentenced to 26 years to life in prison. She is the first person in California to be convicted of murder on the basis of DNA evidence.

2005: Top Hat's owners are asked to vacate the property by the end of July, but the landlord extends the month-to-month lease agreement when city officials show an interest in relocating the burger stand. In October, the city planning commission asks developers to come up with a way to include Top Hat in their project.