Ask Vance - July 2012

07/30/12

Mystery Photo: Is This the Luau or the Tropical Freeze?

Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis — don't make me humiliate you by naming names — know how obsessed I am about locating a high-quality image of several "Lost Memphis" establishments around town. Two of them being the Luau, the Polynesian-themed restaurant on Poplar across from East High School, and the Tropical Freeze, the ice-cream parlor/drive-in that was at the southwest corner of Poplar and White Station. So what am I to make of this photo, found in the back of a 1968 yearbook for Overton High School? The yearbook editors, as was often the case then and now, posed various "Who's Who" members of the senior class at local landmarks or popular hangouts, such as the Shoney's Big Boy in Eastgate, or McDonald's,...

Posted at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments: 6

07/26/12

Remember the Rainbow Lake Terrace Room?

Last week I posted an old color postcard of Clearpool, and everyone — well, at least some of my half-dozen readers — got such a thrill out of it that I thought I'd mosey down the road a bit (that road being Lamar Avenue) and show you an old photo of the Rainbow Lake Terrace Room that I turned up in the Special Collections Department at the University of Memphis. The two places are actually connected, in a way, because at one time they were owned by the Pieraccini family. Rainbow Lake was considered a bit more upscale than Clearpool. Just look at their fancy "AIR CONDITIONED" restaurant, that was proclaimed the "South's Finest," and who am I to argue with such a claim? Just to the right of this building, barely visible in the photo, is...

Posted at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments: 2

07/23/12

Lost Memphis: Clearpool

I found this old postcard at an estate sale, and I keep it propped up on my desk during these miserably hot summer days, because just looking at it makes me feel cooler. Not that many years ago, we had a choice of huge swimming pools and bathing beaches around town: Clearpool, Rainbow Lake, the Fairgrounds pool, and just across the state line, Maywood, the "Beach Within Reach" with its genuine white Florida sand beaches. It's hard to believe that a place as Hades-hot as Memphis couldn't keep these pools open, but each one is gone.

Posted at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments: 12

07/13/12

Safety Patrol GIRLS at Memphis City Schools?

I've written many times before about the quasi-military Safety Patrols that guarded the lives of children attending schools in Memphis. Most of those stories were written in the "dark ages" — before the Internet — so I can't even provide you with a handy link to them here. But some of you surely remember the Safety Patrol boys, with their white sashes (yellow if you were lucky enough to be elected "captain" of the squad), wide-brimmed white plastic helmets, and wooden poles with the red warning flags. (In bad weather, you wore bright yellow raincoats and clunky black rainboots, which made the uniform complete.) These brave children would stand on street corners around the city's schools and help their fellow students cross the streets,...

Posted at 02:33 PM | Permalink | Comments: 12

07/09/12

Lost Memphis: Downtown's War Memorial Fountain

I wonder how many people have forgotten about the magnificent stainless-steel memorial fountain that once stood outside the Front Street post office? Well, here's a great image of it — from the Memphis Room at the main library. Impressive, no? It was erected in 1962, as a tribute to the dead of World War II. Later, I believe the inscription was altered a bit so it could also serve as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the Korean War as well. How did such a thing come about? It seems that a local group called the Gold Star Mothers — mothers of sons and daughters lost in action in our nation's wars — raised $50,000 and recruited Memphis architects to design a suitable memorial. What they wanted was a traditional, shrine-type structure —...

Posted at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments: 3

	07/30/12 Mystery Photo: Is This the Luau or the Tropical Freeze? Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis — don't make me humiliate you by naming names — know how obsessed I am about locating a high-quality image of several "Lost Memphis" establishments around town. Two of them being the Luau, the Polynesian-themed restaurant on Poplar across from East High School, and the Tropical Freeze, the ice-cream parlor/drive-in that was at the southwest corner of Poplar and White Station. So what am I to make of this photo, found in the back of a 1968 yearbook for Overton High School? The yearbook editors, as was often the case then and now, posed various "Who's Who" members of the senior class at local landmarks or popular hangouts, such as the Shoney's Big Boy in Eastgate, or McDonald's,... Posted at 11:05 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 6
	07/26/12 Remember the Rainbow Lake Terrace Room? Last week I posted an old color postcard of Clearpool, and everyone — well, at least some of my half-dozen readers — got such a thrill out of it that I thought I'd mosey down the road a bit (that road being Lamar Avenue) and show you an old photo of the Rainbow Lake Terrace Room that I turned up in the Special Collections Department at the University of Memphis. The two places are actually connected, in a way, because at one time they were owned by the Pieraccini family. Rainbow Lake was considered a bit more upscale than Clearpool. Just look at their fancy "AIR CONDITIONED" restaurant, that was proclaimed the "South's Finest," and who am I to argue with such a claim? Just to the right of this building, barely visible in the photo, is... Posted at 11:31 AM \| Permalink \| Comments: 2
	07/23/12 Lost Memphis: Clearpool I found this old postcard at an estate sale, and I keep it propped up on my desk during these miserably hot summer days, because just looking at it makes me feel cooler. Not that many years ago, we had a choice of huge swimming pools and bathing beaches around town: Clearpool, Rainbow Lake, the Fairgrounds pool, and just across the state line, Maywood, the "Beach Within Reach" with its genuine white Florida sand beaches. It's hard to believe that a place as Hades-hot as Memphis couldn't keep these pools open, but each one is gone. Posted at 11:58 AM \| Permalink \| Comments: 12
	07/13/12 Safety Patrol GIRLS at Memphis City Schools? I've written many times before about the quasi-military Safety Patrols that guarded the lives of children attending schools in Memphis. Most of those stories were written in the "dark ages" — before the Internet — so I can't even provide you with a handy link to them here. But some of you surely remember the Safety Patrol boys, with their white sashes (yellow if you were lucky enough to be elected "captain" of the squad), wide-brimmed white plastic helmets, and wooden poles with the red warning flags. (In bad weather, you wore bright yellow raincoats and clunky black rainboots, which made the uniform complete.) These brave children would stand on street corners around the city's schools and help their fellow students cross the streets,... Posted at 02:33 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 12
	07/09/12 Lost Memphis: Downtown's War Memorial Fountain I wonder how many people have forgotten about the magnificent stainless-steel memorial fountain that once stood outside the Front Street post office? Well, here's a great image of it — from the Memphis Room at the main library. Impressive, no? It was erected in 1962, as a tribute to the dead of World War II. Later, I believe the inscription was altered a bit so it could also serve as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the Korean War as well. How did such a thing come about? It seems that a local group called the Gold Star Mothers — mothers of sons and daughters lost in action in our nation's wars — raised $50,000 and recruited Memphis architects to design a suitable memorial. What they wanted was a traditional, shrine-type structure —... Posted at 03:10 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 3

July 2012