The devastating fire that tore through four bars and restaurants on Greenville Avenue early Tuesday will leave a sobering backdrop for the annual St. Patrick's Day block party, but it won't stop the fun, organizers say.

The event will go on, "a little charred, but the spirit still there," said Steve Betzelberger, former owner of Stan's Blue Note and organizer of the March 13 party for the Lower Greenville Merchants Association.

The four businesses – Terilli's Restaurant and Bar, Greenville Bar & Grill, Hurricane Grill and Mick's Bar – occupied a vintage 1930s building. Greenville Bar & Grill calls itself the oldest bar and grill in the city.

The cause of the fire is still undetermined, although investigators believe it started in Terilli's, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said this morning.

The estimated losses in the fire were put at $1.2 million for the building and nearly half a million dollars for its contents.

Despite Tuesday's blaze, the business owners already are talking about setting up a large tent behind Blue Goose, near the centerpiece of one of Dallas' biggest parties.

"We'll figure out something," Betzelberger said. "We'll make it work. We're not going to fold up our tents and leave."

The fire, which broke out around 5:45 a.m. in the 2800 block of Greenville Avenue, burned through the four businesses within an hour, leaving little but the brick-and-stone façade standing.

"The fire got up into the walls, and then it got up into that common attic and just shot all the way through the strip," Evans said.

Firefighters were forced to retreat and battle the flames from outside.

"When that roof came down, we were all pretty thankful we did that," Evans said.

Residents stood nearby, some crying, as the neighborhood landmarks burned.

"A whole bit of history just went up in smoke," said Di McPherson, who lives in one of the homes nearest to the fire scene.

Patricia Carr, president of the Lower Greenville Neighborhood Association, said she was close to tears.

"Everyone has such good memories of those places," she said. "That was the prettiest strip of commercial property on Greenville."

Betzelberger learned about the fire when he flipped on the TV shortly after 6 a.m.

"I thought, 'Hey, that looks like my business,' " he said, remembering when Stan's and The Zanzibar next door were gutted by fire in 1991.

The Zanzibar closed, but Stan's rebuilt, Betzelberger said.

"That's when we expanded and took over the place next door."

Many along Lower Greenville hope the same thing happens this time.

"We've been talking with the other neighborhood associations in the area, and others, who are very concerned about what happens to that strip," Carr said. "There could be questions about zoning, parking.

"We don't want businesses that have the attitude they're there for the short run. These four businesses have been here for years and years and years."

Gregg Merkow, owner of Hurricane Grill and Greenville Bar and Grill, plans to rebuild, even though he didn't have fire insurance.

"We'll be back, maybe better than ever," he said.

Evans said more than 70 firefighters responded to the four-alarm blaze, finally bringing the fire under control at 8:09 a.m.

Officials don't think anyone was in the buildings when the fire began, and the only injury reported was a firefighter who suffered heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. He was taken to Baylor University Medical Center with injuries that weren't considered life-threatening, Evans said.

The collapse of the roof will slow the department's investigation into the fire's cause, Evans said.

"There is so much debris that we're going to have to wait until we can get heavy equipment in there to get some stuff out so that investigators can get in there and start looking around," Evans said.

No damage estimates were immediately available, but Evans said the building was expected to be a total loss and would probably have to be leveled.

Tuesday's fire wasn't the first at this structure. In 1998, faulty wiring in Terilli's sparked a kitchen fire that briefly closed all the businesses located there.

And a few blocks away in 2006, a six-alarm fire that started in the kitchen of Nuevo Leon spread to the old Arcadia Theater and adjacent businesses. The historic theater had to be razed.

But Tuesday's fire leaves the affected businesses and their employees with uncertain futures.

Residents and regulars at the bars and restaurants opened a page on Facebook called Help Lower Greenville, where other businesses can post job openings and where people who want to help employees until they find work can make PayPal donations.

Meanwhile, people who paused to look at the fire's damage said they hoped the businesses could rebuild and lamented the loss to the neighborhood.

"It's the end of an era," said Lower Greenville resident Andrea Rigsbee.

Staff writer Aida Ahmed contributed to this report.

TERILLI'S RESTAURANT AND BAR

Terilli's opened in 1985 as an Italian food and live jazz spot. Dimly lighted, clubby and chic in its heyday, its dishes were from recipes that owner Jeannie Terilli was raised on. But the restaurant became known for "Italchos" – an Italian take on nachos that involved fried pizza dough topped with tomato sauce, cheese and diners' choice of toppings.

One of the few Dallas venues that still featured jazz, it came to be known as a good live music place where you could get decent bar food and well-mixed drinks.

GREENVILLE BAR & GRILL

An energetic pub scene for 20somethings, area residents and Southern Methodist University students, the 70-plus-year-old spot was popular for its everybody-knows-your-name atmosphere and bar food such as sizzling chicken wings, burgers, meatloaf, fish and chips, and baby back ribs.

HURRICANE GRILL

The New Orleans-style seafood place featured an oyster bar, fried catfish, po'boys and jambalaya, along with giant Hurricane cocktails and Red Bull-Jagermeister shooters. Before 2001, it was Flying Burro, a restaurant featuring New Mexico cooking.

MICK'S BAR

Mick's drew a late-night, hipster crowd. On "Detour Mondays" it offered $3 drinks with clever, off-color names.

Leslie Brenner