If that building was in the 800 block of East 26th Avenue, those people were probably waiting for food.

"It's really fun when there's a line of people out the door and you can see they're excited," said Steve Jankousky, co-owner of Tom's Home Cookin.'

He and Tom Unterwagner opened the business 10 years ago in the historic Five Points neighborhood, which has been home to countless soul food restaurants like the famed Ethel's House of Soul, which closed in early 2008.

"All different kinds of people come here. Everybody comes to eat here," customer Charles Taylor said.

Charleszine Terry Nelson of the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library says the fact that soul food is so sought-after seems ironic, being that much of the dishes were created by slaves who were only given the scraps of food that no one else wanted.

"Whatever part of the meat or main dish was left, we had to make something out of it," Nelson said. "And it had to be sturdy, because we didn't get much of it."

Jankousky and Unterwagner now serve up many of those dishes, including collard greens, cornbread and white beans.

"My dad was the son of Lithuanian immigrants, but he made killer fried chicken," Jankousky said.

Those types of meals are bringing people together in Five Points.

"You feel like its down-home cooking with extended family," customer Eric Poole said.

In celebration of Black History Month, 9NEWS Reporter TaRhonda Thomas and Photojournalist Byron Reed produced a five-part series on the Five Points Neighborhood. It is airing all this week on 4 O'clock at 9NEWS.