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Monday, Sep. 21, 2009

More blasts from the past

It had nothing to do with all the rain we’ve had, but I opened up a floodgate of memories with last week’s column on Macon places and faces of yesteryear.

Almost as soon as I jumped from the Pig ’N Whistle to the Piggly Wiggly, readers were filling my ears and mailbox with their own blasts from the past.

I promised this space to you this morning, and you have more than filled it. In fact, I have a whole stack of memories left, so I will need to devote at least two more columns to the effort.

I now yield the floor.

Richard Taylor was among those readers who recalled the drive-in theaters, among them the Dixie.

“You could sit and watch the movie, eat popcorn, and swat mosquitoes. Then, around 8 or 9 o’clock, you could watch the Nancy Hanks (passenger train) going to Savannah,” he said.

There also was the Riverside Drive-In, the 41 Drive-In and the Weis Drive-In, which Taylor said was one of the few with air-conditioning and heating hook-ups. They were located only on the front four rows, so you had to get there early.

Jean Weaver not only remembered Capitol Cycle (now Joshua Cup) but that it was College Hill Pharmacy before that.

“We called them drug stores, and there was one on almost on almost every corner in downtown Macon,” she said. “One of my favorites was Glass’s pharmacy on the corner of Mulberry and Broadway. You could drive up to the curb, blow your horn and a curb boy would run out and take your order. Usually I would order a chocolate soda and with it, at no extra charge, came a stick of peppermint, an olive and a cheese cracker. How about that for service?”

Amalie and Dolph Proskauer remembered the double features at the Ritz Theatre for 15 cents and an ice cream parlor on Third Street called Cheeseman’s.

“You could get a double dip for a nickel,” Amalie said. “On Mulberry Street was Mark’s Cellar. They made the very best charcoal burger, plus French fries and a pickle for under a dollar.”

Many other readers also remembered Mark’s Cellar, along with the Checkered Apron restaurant, Artic Circle, the Shrimp Boat, Hadden’s, the Polar Bear, the M&H, the Saratoga, Po-Boy, Leo’s, Shoney’s and Shakey’s.

Among the nightspots added to the list were the One Up on Riverside, Larry G’s, Nashville South, the Black Cat Tavern, Uncle Sam’s and Xanadu.

Dan Jaskula requested that I not forget Charlie Wood Sporting Goods on Second Street. “It was a store for the ages and something I wish today’s younger generation could have shared,” he said.

Dick George, one of Macon’s most prolific nostalgia buffs, remembered Burton’s Shoe Shop on Cherry Street. “It had a since-banned X-ray machine to make sure the shoe fit,” he said. “You would watch the bones in your toes wiggle in an eerie, green glow. Next door, fathers took their sons to get their first suit from Mr. Zeigler at SchwoBilt.” (“SchwoBilt Suits the South.”)

Further up Cherry Street, Dick remembered Tanner’s for its orange and grape sodas. “But the chief attraction was the doughnut machine in the front window,” he said. “It plunked out round globs onto a circular track of hot grease.”

Keep ‘em coming, folks. Many more memories are on the way.

Reach Gris at 744-4275 or gris@macon.com.