Friday Fave: Sky City - Southern Retail Then and Now

Hi all!

I'm on the run today, but wanted to send a super quick Friday Fave.  Sky City: Southern Retail Then and Now is a really fun site.  If you lived in the south during retro years, you are sure to find some old shopping memories here - with lots and lots of photos!

For instance, there are links to a couple of malls I loved to visit growing up.  North DeKalb Mall was the little mall where we usually shopped.  There are even pictures of my beloved neighborhood Rich's store at this site.

Lenox Square was "the" mall in Atlanta during my childhood.  It was in Buckhead (across town for us) and going there was an event.  It was big and they had a great toy store, as well as Rich's and Davison's department stores.

I love to list old mall and store postcards in my shop when I can find them.  I have a little stack of them that I need to add soon.  You'll find a few at this link: vintage store postcards at Birdhouse Books.   The picture above is a postcard from Clearwater, Florida, featuring a Maas Brothers department store on the waterfront.

Would love to hear about your retro mall memories in the comments section, below.

Have a great weekend!

Return to Rich's Exhibit at the Breman Museum, Atlanta - Rich's Department Store

I had a wonderful time yesterday at the Return to Rich's exhibit.  This exhibit at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta celebrates the history of Rich's Department Store.   The exhibit closes May 27, 2014, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Atlanta history.

One of my dear friends from high school and her mother hosted a private tour and luncheon.  I'll share a few photos with you, so you can enjoy the exhibit too.

Rich's department store was founded in the 1870's, and the downtown store was built in 1924.  It was an Atlanta institution until it closed in 1991.   There were also stores at malls all over the Atlanta area.  The mall stores were bought by the Federated department store chain.  They were renamed Rich's-Macy's, and eventually became Macy's stores.

When I was little, we used to go downtown to ride the Pink Pig (photos follow!) and see the Great Tree (giant Christmas tree).  The big downtown Rich's store had an amazing book department, and they had a restaurant called the Magnolia Room.

My Mom and I used to go to fashion shows at Rich's North DeKalb (a small local mall) and we would buy Polly Flinders dresses and Buffy dresses (inspired by Anissa Jones from the television show Family Affair) at that store.  I am pretty sure that all my Easter dresses came from Rich's.

I worked at Rich's North DeKalb in high school in the Juniors department.  At that point I was clothes crazy, so I loved that!   Later, in college, I became really interested in cooking and worked a couple of years at Christmas (seasonal employee) at the same small store in Housewares - Kitchenware.  

On to the exhibit! 

Here are a couple of postcards from Lenox Square mall, including Rich's.  I would love to find some of these!

 The Rich's clock is a famous Atlanta symbol ("meet you at the clock").

Another photo of Rich's at Lenox Square Mall.  I loved going to Lenox Square when I was a little girl.  It was an open air mall at that time, and they had giant, colorful balls in the parking lot to help you remember where you had parked.   The mall design was very Mid-Century Modern.

This vintage mural shows fashion through the years, with some photos of Rich's fashions.  I love that 1960's sleeveless dress with plaid skirt.  I would wear that today!

This is a 1960's photo from Rich's Fashionata.  This was an annual fashion show event held at the Fox Theatre downtown Atlanta.  Note that one of the models on the right is holding a cigarette.  Thankfully, times have changed!

These photos depict the Magnolia Room restaurant at Rich's downtown.

These items also are from the Magnolia Room.  I remember the children's menu.  I loved to go there to eat.  It felt like such an event!

Atlanta Journal-Constitution author Celestine Sibley wrote a wonderful book about Rich's called Dear Store.  It is hard to find, but worth a search.

 Another Rich's clock:

I loved Priscilla the Pink Pig!   This monorail ran through the toy department at Rich's downtown.  There was a reindeer petting zoo, Secret Santa shopping (where children could shop, supervised, for their parents), and photos with Santa.  The third photo down (with pink wire) shows a close-up of the Pink Pig interior.  The little seats inside the Pink Pig were tiny.

Here are some Rich's Christmas themed items on display:

And there are more Pink Pig items as well.  I have a copy of the book I Rode the Pink Pig.  It is really cute and brings back lots of happy memories.

This is a tribute to the Great Tree, a giant Christmas tree displayed yearly at Rich's downtown.  The lighting of the Great Tree was an annual event.

After the tour, we had a luncheon with dishes inspired by the Magnolia Room menu.  My friend and her mother have an amazing collection of Rich's memorabilia, and they displayed it in the room where our luncheon was held.

I hope you enjoyed traveling back in time to Rich's with me. 

Music Monday: "It's Gonna Be Alright" by Gerry And The Pacemakers

"It's Gonna Be Alright" by Gerry and the Pacemakers is musical comfort food for me.  This is such a great oldies song!  It was popular in America in 1965.  Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British invasion band.  Like the Beatles, they were from Liverpool, managed by Brian Epstein and recorded by George Martin.  Here's this goodie - enjoy!  

Tucker, Georgia: Mayberry Lives

Last weekend I spent some time walking around Tucker, Georgia.  Although my family is from Savannah, we lived in Tucker most of my childhood, and I consider it my hometown.  Tucker is a small town on the outskirts of Atlanta.  It has always reminded me of Mayberry from The Andy Griffith Show (one of my all-time favorites).   I'll take you on a little tour here.

This is The Tucker Fountain, an old fashioned soda fountain:

The Masonic Hall is next door:

Matthews Cafeteria is an old fashioned "Meat and Three" Southern restaurant.  When I was little I always preferred the veggie plate (4 veggies with cornbread or a biscuit).  I haven't eaten there in years;  I'm not sure if the veggies are vegetarian friendly (cooked without meat).

Across the street, there is Cofer Brothers hardware.  They sponsored me when I was a contestant in Miss Georgia National Teenager.

Here is another view of Main Street, with Tucker High School at the end of the road.

There is an old fashioned train train depot by the railroad tracks.  It is still in use.

 Local 7 is a little pub that is very casual and comfortable.  They have some delicious vegetarian and vegan options!

If you're in the mood for a homemade cookie, Sweet Dee's bakery is just a couple of doors down:

 E&B Jewelry Repair has been around from my childhood.  It looks exactly the same.

 Carr's Drugs is an old fashioned compounding pharmacy.

 A couple of blocks away you'll find the old Tucker Library.  They've moved to a new location, and the library I grew up with is now owned by a local church.  I love the Mid-Century Modern design of the old library.  This is where I fell in love with reading, and first read the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace.  It makes me happy just to see this photo.

Thanks for joining me on a little mini-tour of Tucker.  Have you ever been there?  I would love to hear your Tucker memories in the comments section, below.

Blog Break

Hi all!  

I've missed chatting with you here.  I am taking a short blogging break until early May.   Looking forward to catching up with you then!

Trish