Ask Vance - August 2012

08/23/12

Does Anyone Remember This 1960s Memphis Coffeehouse?

A standard feature of old (and maybe recent) high-school yearbooks is to pose groups of students in popular settings or hangouts away from the school. And so the editors of the 1964 edition of the White Station High School yearbook did just that, by putting their "Who's Who" campus leaders in places like Shoney's Eastgate or the parking lot of the Tropical Freeze. Most of these places are (or were) close to the school. After all, that's where the kids hung out, and it made it easier on the school photographer if he or she didn't have to haul the students all over town just for one picture. But I'm stumped by this photo, which shows a group of clean-cut students listening to a stand-up bass player in what seems to be a coffeehouse. The background...

Posted at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments: 14

08/20/12

Lost Memphis (and Good Riddance): The Palomino Motel

The one good thing you could say about the old Palomino Motel, just past the city limits on Summer, was that it had a cool-looking neon sign. But just everything else about this place was bad news. I'm sure at some point in its long history the motel, located where Bartlett Road runs into Summer, must have been an attractive place to stay, for business travelers or families on vacation. But during my lifetime, it mainly had a reputation for trouble — a place to go if you had a fondness for drugs or prostitutes and other unsavory aspects of our city. The worst event of all came sometime in the 1970s 1987, when a policeman, called to the motel to quell some kind of domestic disturbance, shot and killed a young boy playing with a BB pistol in the motel parking lot. It...

Posted at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments: 5

08/16/12

Take a Look at Vance Lauderdale's Personal Shock-Treatment Machine

Various biographies mention that I "probably" am the only person on the Memphis magazine staff (if not the entire city) who has his own personal shock-treatment machine. I can't say if that is absolutely true, because I have not visited the tumbledown shacks along the railroad that are occupied by my co-workers, and since I rarely invite my colleagues to the Mansion, it's not like they have ever spotted my own device and claimed to have one just like it. But never mind about them. This blog is about ME, and since several people have actually asked if this claim is true, here's the proof. I obtained this interesting item more than 30 years ago, from a fellow who had purchased it (or so he said) from a now-closed mental hospital somewhere in North...

Posted at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments: 4

08/13/12

A Memphis City Beautiful Parade in 1941 — What's Going On Here?

The Memphis Room at the Benjamin Hooks Central Library contains a marvelous collection of old photographs: buildings, streets, people, and events. Many of the images are so well-known — to history buffs anyway — that they are immediately recognizeable. And then you'll occassionally turn up things like this. This photo is identified only as "Memphis City Beautiful Parade - 1940." But I just keep looking at it and wondering what it was really all about. I mean, here you have three women in rather bizarre outfits (look at those hats!) pushing what are obviously fake garbage cans. Well, they might be real garbage cans, but they are clearly wrapped in shiny foil and mounted on what seems to be push lawnmowers. Not exactly on par with a Macy's...

Posted at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments: 4

08/08/12

Lost Memphis: Pitchfork BBQ

Consider this a "tease" for a longer piece I intend to run on the old Pitchfork BBQ restaurant, located on South Second, close to The Peabody. It's entirely possible that another Memphis landmark is in that location today, but I won't give it away. The only reason I'm even sharing this with you is because I found this interesting old ad in a 1958 issue of a handy publication called the Memphis Hotel & Motel Guide. As you can see, the Pitchfork offered all the usual fixin's you'd expect from a barbecue joint: hickory-smoked pit barbecue (is there really any other kind?), beans in a pot, ribs, and chicken. And if you're tired of pork, you could get a steak, salad, or even a sandwich of some kind. Now what is a little unusual is that...

Posted at 07:13 PM | Permalink | Comments: 2

	08/23/12 Does Anyone Remember This 1960s Memphis Coffeehouse? A standard feature of old (and maybe recent) high-school yearbooks is to pose groups of students in popular settings or hangouts away from the school. And so the editors of the 1964 edition of the White Station High School yearbook did just that, by putting their "Who's Who" campus leaders in places like Shoney's Eastgate or the parking lot of the Tropical Freeze. Most of these places are (or were) close to the school. After all, that's where the kids hung out, and it made it easier on the school photographer if he or she didn't have to haul the students all over town just for one picture. But I'm stumped by this photo, which shows a group of clean-cut students listening to a stand-up bass player in what seems to be a coffeehouse. The background... Posted at 11:23 AM \| Permalink \| Comments: 14
	08/20/12 Lost Memphis (and Good Riddance): The Palomino Motel The one good thing you could say about the old Palomino Motel, just past the city limits on Summer, was that it had a cool-looking neon sign. But just everything else about this place was bad news. I'm sure at some point in its long history the motel, located where Bartlett Road runs into Summer, must have been an attractive place to stay, for business travelers or families on vacation. But during my lifetime, it mainly had a reputation for trouble — a place to go if you had a fondness for drugs or prostitutes and other unsavory aspects of our city. The worst event of all came sometime in the 1970s 1987, when a policeman, called to the motel to quell some kind of domestic disturbance, shot and killed a young boy playing with a BB pistol in the motel parking lot. It... Posted at 02:05 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 5
	08/16/12 Take a Look at Vance Lauderdale's Personal Shock-Treatment Machine Various biographies mention that I "probably" am the only person on the Memphis magazine staff (if not the entire city) who has his own personal shock-treatment machine. I can't say if that is absolutely true, because I have not visited the tumbledown shacks along the railroad that are occupied by my co-workers, and since I rarely invite my colleagues to the Mansion, it's not like they have ever spotted my own device and claimed to have one just like it. But never mind about them. This blog is about ME, and since several people have actually asked if this claim is true, here's the proof. I obtained this interesting item more than 30 years ago, from a fellow who had purchased it (or so he said) from a now-closed mental hospital somewhere in North... Posted at 11:28 AM \| Permalink \| Comments: 4
	08/13/12 A Memphis City Beautiful Parade in 1941 — What's Going On Here? The Memphis Room at the Benjamin Hooks Central Library contains a marvelous collection of old photographs: buildings, streets, people, and events. Many of the images are so well-known — to history buffs anyway — that they are immediately recognizeable. And then you'll occassionally turn up things like this. This photo is identified only as "Memphis City Beautiful Parade - 1940." But I just keep looking at it and wondering what it was really all about. I mean, here you have three women in rather bizarre outfits (look at those hats!) pushing what are obviously fake garbage cans. Well, they might be real garbage cans, but they are clearly wrapped in shiny foil and mounted on what seems to be push lawnmowers. Not exactly on par with a Macy's... Posted at 07:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 4
	08/08/12 Lost Memphis: Pitchfork BBQ Consider this a "tease" for a longer piece I intend to run on the old Pitchfork BBQ restaurant, located on South Second, close to The Peabody. It's entirely possible that another Memphis landmark is in that location today, but I won't give it away. The only reason I'm even sharing this with you is because I found this interesting old ad in a 1958 issue of a handy publication called the Memphis Hotel & Motel Guide. As you can see, the Pitchfork offered all the usual fixin's you'd expect from a barbecue joint: hickory-smoked pit barbecue (is there really any other kind?), beans in a pot, ribs, and chicken. And if you're tired of pork, you could get a steak, salad, or even a sandwich of some kind. Now what is a little unusual is that... Posted at 07:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 2

August 2012