The Pickle Palace - S. Perry Street and Felder Ave.

1962

1962

Opened in 1966

Dexter Avenue looking east

This was a three-alarm fire on July 28, 1958 that started on the second floor of 38 N. Court Street. At that time, there was a business there called, “Old Barn.”

Seven firemen were sent to the hospital after being overcome by the fumes and smoke. Businesses that were heat and smoke damaged were: Tatum’s Seafood Market, owned by Gus Tatum; Tom’s Ready to Wear, owned by T. J. Clark; American Hat Company, owned by Zack N. Azar; and the Montgomery Cash Store, owned by Nathan Kartus.

The H Grill - Owned by Harold and James Hepburn - 1942

1908 Interview with Warren Brown, founder of Brown Printing Company ~

WARREN D. BROWN TALKS ON “BEFORE WAR TIMES”

Interview With The Man Who Was City Editor of The Advertiser in Ante-Bellum Days – Now Hale and Hearty

Warren D. Brown, before the war, City Editor of the Advertiser, now one of Montgomery’s most honored citizens has just celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday. Mr. Brown having left the newspaper profession in middle life accumulated a handsome fortune and is spending the evening of his life restfully and peacefully.

“I quit active business fifteen years ago,” said Mr. Brown to one of the many friends who congratulated him upon his birthday and upon his rugged health at that age. “I quit business fifteen years go and to that I attribute my good health and strength. I have had ‘no petty’ cares to harass and worry me and free from business, I intend to enjoy life.”

Mr. Brown came to Montgomery in 1848. He remembers distinctly how the Montgomery county court house looked when it sat in the middle of Court Square in that year. He has a vivid memory of the appearance of the first Capitol building that surmounted Capitol Hill until it was destroyed by fire in 1849. Mr. Brown was not a witness to the burning of the Capitol because in that year he had gone to Rome, Ga., to work on The Rome Herald.

Mr. Brown went to Rome a short while after he moved to Montgomery in 1848. He remained there only until 1851 when he returned to Montgomery. Since that he has been an active and prominent figure in the life of the city.

On returning to the city he became city editor of the Advertiser, then published by Cloud and Walker. He was in charge of that department of the paper in the stirring and troublous times that witnessed the birth of “the storm cradled nation that fell.”

A story he wrote in 1861, as part of his daily duties on the paper, has since become a historical document of the greatest value. It describes the coming and welcome to President Jefferson Davis when he came to Montgomery to assume charge of the Confederate government in 1861. A special committee from the Alabama Legislature, with a number of prominent citizens of Montgomery went to West Point to welcome Mr. Davis as soon as he reached Alabama soil and to accompany him to Montgomery, the capitol of the new nation.

All the stories dealing with the secession of the States, the meeting of the Confederate Congress, the inauguration exercises and the formation and muster in of the various military companies were written by Mr. Brown. No newspaperman in Alabama, perhaps, ever handled larger stories than he while the Nation was being formed and defended.

Mr. Brown was a personal friend and associate of such famous writers as Matt Blue and John J. Hooper, the noted humorist, who wrote “Simon Suggs.” He was a witness of the fight between Mr. Blue and Mr. Hooper over rival publications, a fight in which neither was seriously injured. Some years after the war, Mr. Brown quit the newspaper business for good and all.

“At that time,” he said, “I was Marshall and Liberian of the Supreme Court and I was employed by The Montgomery Mail to write its local news at $25 a week. For my Capitol work I was receiving a salary of $1,000 a year. That was good money in those troublous times and I thought if I could continue to draw those two salaries I would get rich. I saw, though, that the time would come when I would have to give up my Capitol duties and when Mr. Barrett, who afterward became my partner, offered me a chance in the job printing business I resigned.”

That was the foundation of the well-known printing house of the Brown Printing Company, which is prosperous to this day and from which Mr. Brown has made a handsome fortune.

“How does Montgomery of 1848 compare with Montgomery of 1908?” said Mr. Brown, “Why, there is no comparison. There is the same difference as there is between a village and a city. Court Square has changed completely, as has the entire business section of he city. The old Madison House was, however, standing on the corner of Perry and Dexter Avenue when I came to Montgomery. I sopped there my first night in Montgomery. I had been born in Jacksonville, Ala., and as a boy of 15 came to this city to make my fortune. Judge Samuel F. Rice happened to be on the stage with me, the stage that came in from Talladega. When we came from Wetumpka on what is now the Lower Wetumpka Road. It was then known as the Plank Road by reason of the fact that it was poorly paved with plank. That used to be a theory of those days – that a road could be built of plank. When we got to Montgomery Judge Rice showed me the Madison House and advised me to top there. From then until now I have lived in Montgomery, except the short while I was at Rome.”

Asked as to how newspaper work was done in ante-bellum days, Mr. Brown said

“I was not only the city editor of The Advertiser, I was the whole reportorial force. I not only located all city news, but I wrote it up myself. If I wrote a whole column I thought I had done a good day’s work. I hardly suppose a good reporter in these days would not consider a column any big day’s work, but I was satisfied with it in those days.

“Then I was telegraphic editor too. Oh yes, we had telegraphic news in those days. But there were no messenger boys. The telegraph office as over Levystein’s store, overlooking Court Square, the same place from which the order was sent to ‘fire on Fort Sumter. I had to go down every night to wait for the telegraph news to come in. It came in slowly too. We had only a few telegrams and each night I would catch my sleep on the table while waiting for our items over the wire.”

Few men who reach the age of 75 are heartier that Mr. Brown. He spends nearly the entire year in Montgomery, but he takes time to make an annual visit to Saratoga Springs, a custom which he has kept up for many years.

Brown Printing Company is an outgrowth of the Barrett & Brown Company formed on Commerce Street by Milo Barrett and Warren D. Brown when they came home from the disbanded Confederate Army in the fall of 1865. They were located on Commerce next to the Exchange Hotel.

Barrett sold his interest in the firm to James H. Armstrong in September 1887 and the following month Armstrong, Warren D. Brown, William R. Hale and James H. Crenshaw formed a corporation and changed the name to Brown Printing Company.

Crenshaw, who was one of the first employees of the original company, and his family acquired all outstanding stock on May 25, 1907. In 1912, the Crenshaw’s moved Brown Printing into a three-story, 19,000-square-foot building at 255 Dexter Avenue. Crenshaw left his mark on the building with the letter ‘C’ in the top right and left corners.

David Fleming

DAVID FLEMING was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, July 9, 1849. He immigrated to Montgomery, Ala. in 1859. In 1869 he was employed by John Yung as manager of Yung’s restaurant. On the death of Mr. Yung in 1873, David Fleming became proprietor of the business. 

In 1890 he opened Fleming’s which became one of Montgomery’s most elegant restaurants. It was located on Monroe Street, about where the back entrance to Kress is now located. The posh Victorian, drapery and gas chandeliered establishment, catered to the well-to-do from the city and prosperous planters from all over the area. Mr. Fleming is credited by many with having imported the first oysters to the city. Fleming’s later moved around to Court Street and changed ownership several times before closing shortly before World War I.

Fleming's was a favorite spot for actors from the Montgomery Theater. For years a favorite story was told about the night that John Wilkes Booth shocked himself and his friends into soberness by reciting the Lord's Prayer.

Lee's Grill - 12 Commerce Street

Lee’s Grill was on the east side of the street between Alabama National Bank and “The Union.” Not so very wide, but seeming to reach nearly through the block to North Court, Lee’s was owned and operated by Lee Pake. The food was OK, the service fast, but its real appeal was it convivial, yet cosmopolitan aura that catered to coffee cliques of railroad men, bankers, investment brokers, businessmen, shopkeepers and politicians. It was big enough to accommodate them all at one time, giving the place the flavor of a livestock auction and the New York Stock Exchange combined. In the years right after World War II, there were few places other than downtown for gatherings of such diverse groups, and for several decades Lee’s drew coffee drinkers and diners from all over town. – Remember When by Tom Connor

Chester's Restaurant

Danny's Diner

Danny's Diner - Danny Long was a promising young catcher in the Montreal Royals when a play at home plate resulted in a bad shoulder injury. It was a grim day for Danny when the doctors gave him the bad news that his baseball days were probably over.

While nursing his physical ills and wondering how he was going to earn a living, he met the owner of a diner in Trenton, New Jersey.
Lacking anything better to do, he began helping the counter whenever he could. That did it. A quick trip back to his home town of Montgomery, Alabama, proved two things. Montgomery did not have a modern diner, and Montgomery businessman was willing to lend Danny a hand financially.

Back North, Danny ordered a diner. While it was taking shape in a New Jersey factory- a process that usually takes about four months- he went about getting experience by taking odd jobs in various diners in the vicinity. When off duty, he hung around the factory and watched a diner grow from plans on a drawing board to completion.

“Danny’s Diner” packed them in at the corner of Bainbridge and Madison Avenues in downtown Montgomery. Among other things, it had the distinction of being the first modern restaurant-type diner to begin operations in Alabama.

Menu from The Red Bird Inn

The Red Bird Inn

The Red Bird Inn was on Seibels Rd. It opened in the 1920's and closed around 1983. After the first building burned, the second building was constructed from old Army barracks. 

The Golden Grill

The Golden Grill was located at 100 N. Perry Street

The Show Boat Restaurant and Lounge

The Show Boat was located at 159 Lee Street

"Show Place of the South"

The Sheridan Cafe

The Sheridan Cafe located at the corner of Madison and Perry - In 1936 the Sheridan Café was owned by John Syribeys who had previously owned the Splendid Café in Corinth, MS. Like the café sign in Mississippi, the sign at the Sheridan Café used the slogan, “We serve to serve again.”

In 1937, the café was owned by John Sideris and Petro “Pete” Syribeys. Also working at the café during that period was Gus Polizos.

In 1942, Gus’s brother-in-law, Gus Berdanis bought the Sheridan Café for $10,000. The Polizos brothers each gave $1,800 towards the purchase. In 1944, Gus Polizos moved into the Sheridan Café Rooms and lived there for free while he worked in the Café. He worked for six weeks and made $225. The Sheridan was open 24 hours a day.

In 1945, Gus became a partner of the Sheridan Café after the war by paying each of the existing partners, Gus Berdanis and John Sideris, a lump sum of $2,500. The partners rented the building which included the rooms upstairs, restaurant downstairs, and barber shop next door. They worked there for the next 11 years. It first opened as a hotel with 20 rooms and a soda fountain downstairs. It was named after Camp Sheridan, a WWI Army base located just north of Montgomery. The hotel was later split, and Pete Syribeys rented ten of the twenty rooms and converted the soda fountain into a restaurant. The furniture was bought from the Splendid Café in Corinth, MS. When Gus became a partner, the rental fee for the ten rooms and the restaurant was $275 per month. The barber shop next door brought in $35 per month in rent.

(photo courtesy of Patsy Thrailkill-Persons. Patsy's mother was a waitress at the Sheridan and can be see standing near the back. Info on the cafe from Gus Polizos web page)

The Green Lantern Restaurant

A popular Montgomery family, the Greens, built the Green Lantern in the early-thirties. They were responsible for placing the handsome lantern and called it “Green’s Lantern.” There were several cabins in the back that could be rented out.

Several families owned it over the years. The Walton Hill Estate came into possession of the building and the corner land located at Fisk and McGehee Roads. In 1945, Dewey Edward Davis leased the Green Lantern from the Walton Hill Estate for his sister-in-law, Mary, to operate. She did so for many years.

In 1968, the Hill Estate decided to tear down the Green Lantern and build a branch bank, the Green Lantern Branch of the Union Bank and Trust. At that point, the old lantern was taken off the front of the building, was bronzed, and it now hangs in the pylon beside the present bank. The lantern still shines green at night with green bulbs being replaced often as when it was hanging on the front of the old building. Regions Bank now owns the building and it is still known as the Green Lantern Branch. The lantern is still there.

On the floor of the restaurant were glass moons that had been there for more than thirty years. There was one full moon and three crescents, which had colored light bulbs. Some say the moons “blinked.” The Montgomery County Historical Society now has the full moon. – This info was taken from the June 2011 issue of the Herald, the quarterly newsletter that comes free with a membership in the Montgomery County Historical Society. There are great stories and photos with every issue! Please support MCHS by becoming a member today!

Ponte Rouge Menu

The Ponte Rouge

The Ponte Rouge – Back during the 60’s, when Jackson Hospital expanded and the passageway over Pine Street was built, the new third floor restaurant was appropriately called the Ponte Rouge, complete with red carpet and lavish furnishings.

It was owned and operated by Jackson Hospital and Clinic and served superb food at unbelievably low prices since it was operated on a completely non-profit basis.

The clientele was an unusual combination of the general public and hospital patients in gowns, pajamas and robes.

It operated under the direction of Martha Eagerton who was director of dietary services. Florence Royal was the popular hostess, “Reuben” was the chef, Willy Calhoun was one of the best-remembered waiters and Spencer Carter was the headwaiter that most customers knew on a first-name basis.

The Ponte Rouge (Red Bridge) is a delightful part of the fascinating history of a diversity of Montgomery eating establishments. It closed in the early 80’s. – Tom Conner

Edmund McCurdy Hastings Home - 202 S. Lawrence Street

This home was built by Edmund McCurdy Hastings (my great, great grandfather) in the mid 1850's.  It was located at 202 South Lawrence Street (directly across the street from the Gerald home).The home remained in the Hastings family until 1923 when it became the second  YWCA in Montgomery; the first YWCA was the Baldwin home on South Perry.  I remember this home as a child, but I believe it was torn down in the 1960's and a law firm was built on this corner.  A new building was constructed on Perry Street to house the YWCO. (photo and caption courtesy of Millie Thomas)

317 Clayton Street

317 Clayton Street was a classic old Victorian house located at Five Points in Cottage Hills sitting several houses east of the wonderful old Farley Home at the intersection of Clayton and Goldwaithe. At some point during the early twentieth century the house was divided into apartments and rooms which were rented to Military and Civil Service personnel at Maxwell. Mrs. Mae Williamson Blackwell purchased the house from Dr.Tuttle and lived in a large apartment on the first floor for approximately fifty years. George Griffith, a local antique dealer, bought the house in the mid 1970's and converted the house into his antique shop. Later the house was sold to Tracy Larkin; he used the house as a nightclub. After that, the house was vacant for a while, then destroyed by fire. The entrance to the backyard of this house was on Caroline Street next to the the Caroline Courts Apartments.

 

The Candlelight Restaurant was directly across the street from 317 Clayton.

 

The original brick wall with niche is all that is left. At one time there was an iron gate at the street entrance along with an iron hitching post.

(photo and caption courtesy of Sue Bell)

 

The Candlelight Restaurant

The Candlelight Restaurant was directly across from 317 Clayton Street. It was owned by Charles Z. Capanzes (1894-1942) who was from Thebes Greece.

1914 Past and Present in the Cradle of Dixie

This is a silent movie made in Montgomery in 1914 by the Chamber of Commerce. It features many local citizens of the day with shots of Union Station, Court Square, the Capitol with concrete steps, S, Perry Street, The Confederate White House at its original site on Bibb and Morningview.

The original deteriorated film was discovered in the Treasury vault during the Capitol restoration circa 1985.  The Archives sent the film off for restoration since it was very poor quality. I don't know how long the original movie was, but this is all that could be salvaged. The restoration was pretty badly done with some clips being reversed and part of another story being inserted in the middle of the first one. The restored movie is in two parts. The first part is the story of wedding couple celebrating at Morningview. The second part is a recreation of Jefferson Davis inauguration.

The movie starts with a wedding party arriving at Union Station. They then proceed down Commerce, down S. Perry Street then to Morningview. In the middle of the story about the wedding party, the story of Jefferson Davis inauguration is inserted, and then the movie goes back and finishes the story about the wedding party. It is a remarkable film and I am so glad I can present it to you. Thanks so much to Sue Bell for sharing her video with me.

Ready to Spread My Wings

My intent is to make this a continuation of the Times Gone By fan page on Facebook. I want to make the photos and stories available to people who aren't on Facebook and this seems the easiest way. As I add a new post to the Facebook page I will also add it here. I would like to encourage everyone who isn't on Facebook to please consider joining. The Times Gone By page there has thousands of photos and stories about Montgomery history. It is worth joining Facebook to become a fan of TGB! This is my first try at a blog so be patient!