The Bungalow restaurant is located in the Historic Hyde Park District in the North End of Boise. Built by Bill Hodges of Western Reality Advisors around 1996, the building was designed to pay tribute to Hyde Park history and resemble older buildings of Hyde Park. The building itself is a variety of styles though mainly it strives to be a dedication to Hyde Park buildings and not a copy cat.
The building was renovated in March of 2007 by Eric McLaughlin, who ran Richard’s. He did the renovations himself and sought to return the building the roots of the community. He repainted, added new vintage light fixtures, and inside added two cut in booths that were placed into one of the walls of the restaurant making for an interesting experience.
The land Bungalow was built was once a store. As far back as 1912 a store of some kind has been there and around 1980, the store became Hyde Park U-Serve, a self-serve gas station. In 1980 Hyde Park area was designated as a local historic district and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The gas station that resided on the land at that time represented an intrusion in the Hyde Park district and was not credited as a contribution to the area. Bungalow is located right in front of the old streetcar turnaround which can still be seen in the road today. The streetcar service supported the district, connecting it to the surrounding neighborhood and downtown. These trolleys were essential for life in the early 1900?s in Boise, enabling passenger access to and from almost anywhere in Boise.