I’ve been thinking a lot about Little Rock’s past. As mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve spent the past week reading Jay Jennings’ excellent new book, “Carry The Rock,” which takes the reader from 1927 through 1987 in the state’s largest city.
For those who want to take a trip back into the Pulaski County of the 1950s, I strongly recommend a website created for graduates of Mabelvale High School, a school that existed from 1881 until 1966. I somehow stumbled upon it while doing Arkansas history research. You can find plenty of strange things on the web, wasting time in the process. But occasionally you’ll find a treasure. This is a treasure, the work of Raymond Merritt, Mabelvale High School class of 1960.
It’s at www.rrmerritt.com/mabelvale.
He writes, “I had this website on my business server in 2006, and when I retired and closed the business I had to take it all down. I tried to put the site on my free Comcast pages, but Comcast is slow. I am now hosted by godaddy.com, and I’ll stay here as long as I can afford to keep up the payments. … This is a work constantly in progress. There are no pop-ups, no advertisements, no link to porn or nude women or cell phone companies or mortgage services. Nothing here but memories.”
As someone who writes often about food, I particularly enjoyed the memories of the food that was eaten in those years and the restaurants that served Pulaski County residents.
“We predated fast-food restaurants,” Merritt writes. “The first fast-food chain I remember was McDonald’s on University across from UALR. It was an original-style McDonald’s with the two huge 60-foot yellow arches that could be seen from Meadowcliff. And McDonald’s didn’t have a Big Mac until 1968, and the quarter-pounder didn’t show up until 1971. … When I ate my first 15-cent McDonald’s hamburger, I discovered they put ketchup on them and they wouldn’t leave it off whether you liked it or not, so it was off to Roach’s for me.”
Roach’s was at Geyer Springs and Mabelvale Pike. According to Merritt, the foot-long chili dog there was second only to Perciful’s Drive-In. The original Perciful’s was at Eighth and Arch. It opened in 1942. A second location was opened next to the state fairgrounds on West Roosevelt. There’s now a Perciful’s way out at 20400 Arch St.
“Before there were fast-food restaurants there were lunch counters, which served the same purpose: a quick meal at a reasonable cost,” Merritt writes. “Walgreen’s and Lane drugstores at Fifth and Main both had lunch counters. Woolworth’s lunch counter on Main made the best club sandwich in town. Baseline Pharmacy on Baseline Road made the best malts. If you went to the lunch counter in the Village Drugstore in the Village Shopping Center at Asher and University, the pharmacist, Eli Wolf, might personally make you a chocolate soda, but you had to watch that he didn’t drop cigar ashes in it.”
He continues, “At a lunch counter, you really could get a vanilla Coke, or a cherry Coke or the nectar of the gods, a cherry lime. Or a shake or malted (just called a malt). Or a float (root beer or Coke). Or an ice cream soda, fizzed the old-fashioned way, an art this is most likely now lost. Or a Coke freeze (blended Coke and vanilla ice cream). All served in glass glasses. With whipped cream. With a maraschino cherry. And chances are good that anything creamy was made with Fortune’s Famous Ice Cream from the Fortune’s factory on Asher. When I went into the Navy, I was stationed in Boston. I couldn’t find shakes or malts, so I gave up. I was there over a year before I found out they have them there, but they call a shake a frappe. And if you ask them, they’ll add the malt. Stupid Yankees.”
Among the old restaurants mentioned on the website are the Canton Tea Garden at 211 Main, Granoff’s at 10th and Main, Peck’s on Markham, Peck’s Barbecue on Asher, Howard Johnson’s at Asher and University, Old King Cole at Capitol and Broadway, Sandy’s on Markham, Hammon’s Dairy Bar on Chicot Road, Cloverdale Dairy Bar at 8025 New Benton Highway, Frosty House on the New Benton Highway at the entrance to Meadowcliff, the Satellite Burger Barn on Asher, Miller’s Coffee Shop on Main, the Little Rock Inn at 14th and Main, the Sweden Creme at 15th and Main, Beasley’s at the intersection of Stagecoach and Colonel Glenn, Winkler’s at Seventh and Johnson across from Lamar Porter Field, Tom & Andrew’s on Capitol between Louisiana and Center, Shakey’s on Rebasmen Park Road, SOB on Markham at Stifft Station, Wes Hall’s Minute Man at 407 Broadway, Franke’s on Capitol, Harry’s Fried Chicken on West Roosevelt and Bruno’s Little Italy in Levy and then on West Roosevelt from 1949-78.
Do you have memories of any of these restaurants? Please share them in the Comments section if you do.
The website has additional information on several Little Rock restaurants from those days. Here are a few of the listings:
— “Snappy Service, affectionately known as just Snappy’s, at Seventh and Broadway. Before you drove into Snappy’s, you stopped a couple of blocks away and detached the vacuum line to your carburetor. Then your engine would lope as you drove through. All the parking was covered, and the cover acted like a megaphone so a loping engine echoed and shook the ground. I don’t even remember if Snappy’s had inside seating. If they did, nobody ever went there. You couldn’t see and be seen if you were inside. Snappy’s had the first carhops in Arkansas, and before long every drive-in followed suit. Snappy Service was a chain based in Indiana. It went out of business in 1983. Closest thing now is Sonic. According to Sandra Mizumoto Posey, who holds a doctorate in folklore from UCLA, the word “carhop” dates back to the early 1920s when servers at the Pig Stand Drive-In (on U.S. 80 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area) would hop onto an automobile’s running board to deliver food. Running boards disappeared after World War II, but the carhop lives on.”
— “Lido: There were three Lidos in the early 1950s, owned by the same people. Lido Cafeteria at 615 Main, Lido Inn at 103 Roosevelt and Lido Minute Man at 407 Broadway. Wes Hall bought the Broadway location and turned it into Wes Hall’s Minute Man, the Main Street cafeteria closed and by 1959 the Lido Inn at Main and Roosevelt was the only one remaining.”
— “Hank’s Dog House at two locations, 1714 Main in North Little Rock and 3614 Roosevelt in Little Rock, for after-the-prom impressions. Despite the name, Hank’s was upscale and featured steaks served by suited waiters on white tablecloths and fine china. For many years, it had the only oyster bar in Arkansas.”
— “Herb’s Barbecue started out at Markham and Van Buren and later moved to Fair Park Boulevard on the first curve north of Asher. Not as good as The Shack (Herb’s sauce was less tomato, contained mustard, wasn’t as spicy). Herb’s was closer than The Shack, though, and they had bulk takeout with a family pack that included everything you needed to make your own sandwiches. So lots of families, including mine, often went to Herb’s after church to buy the makings to take home.”
We’ll end with Browning’s. We’ve written about Browning’s a couple of times recently and are still hoping for that promised reopening later this fall.
Merritt writes, “After the movie, three steaming soft corn tortillas, a pat of butter and hot sauce. Ten cents. When I get to heaven, I’ll know I’m there because that will be on the menu, and I’ll have a pocket full of dimes.”
I do love those hot tortillas with butter. My south Texas wife used to tell me it was a “gringo thing” to put butter on tortillas. Then, she tried it and liked it. And we’ve never claimed Brownings was a Mexican restaurant. It wasn’t even Tex-Mex. It was Ark-Mex, and we miss it.
i well remember hank’s dog house on roosevelt, the poshest place i could think of to take a woman who later became my wife. i had lobster tails, and we brown-bagged a bottle of wine. that was the night of one of the concerts by the philadelphia orchestra, led by eugene ormandy, that marvell poet and plantation owner lily peter paid for.
possibly my memory is in error, but i seem to recall that franke’s was actually on louisiana, at least in 1970-71 — within half a block south of capitol. it was a quality place, as illustrated by the fact they used eggs in their macaroni-and-cheese recipe (a possibility that had never occurred to me, so i didn’t think twice, as someone violently allergic to eggs, of getting two helpings of mac-and-cheese one day at lunch, before i went to interview the then-brand-new director of the state highway department, henry gray, later known as King Henry. i had to call off the interview about 15 minutes into it because i was sneezing uncontrollably and had broken out all over in welts. risked my life driving home from AHD to house in levy, and scared my wife (of hank’s dog house company) to death when she saw my face was so swollen that i couldn’t see. real quality mac-and-cheese.
What about “The Shack” Bar-B-Que over by the state capitol bldg. When did it open? When I worked in the capitol complex, going across the street to “The Shack” was a real lunch time treat!
Spent many hours at Shakey’s on Rebsamen Park as well at the one in NLR. Loved it when Bob Hays played there. What about The Spot in NLR? Great burgers and footlongs.
Tom: I know it was not funny at the time, but that story about interviewing King Henry is a classic. It’s one I will long remember — Rex
Tom, you are right, Franke’s was on Louisiana but it was also on Capitol
Avenue at the same time. There were two entrys. There was a balcony
through which you could go from one side to the other. Franke’s on
Louisiana had a nice way to seat people who had children with them.
There was a side room with mirrors for “families.” You could buy a whole pie to go for very little. You made a $1 deposit on the pie tin, with Franke’s stamped on the bottom. Each time you bought another, you just turned in your other tin. I still have our tin!
My God. It surprises me that anyone (besides me) would care enough about these long-gone places to have a webpage devoted to it, but I’m awfully glad you do. I lived in Little Rock from infancy (1954) until 1965, after which time I was there on and off for several more years visiting relatives. My memories are a little hazy, but I recall clearly Browning’s, Franke’s, Sandy’s, Bruno’s, Hank’s, and Wes Hall’s. I recall the drive-in on Markham (whose name I forget) with the giant revolving mug of root beer on the roof. I recall the Black Angus, somewhere across the street. Wes Hall’s charcoal-grilled burgers and Radar Pies were heavenly (for years afterward, when I ran across a Minute Man fan, we always agreed on this immutable fact: a No. 5 was the greatest burger ever devised!). I would rather have eaten at Browning’s — anytime — than have Christmas every day. I recall a nightclubby sort of place called The Embers at Markham and University which used to be where that “old mill” restaurant building still stands. There were cone-shaped torches with a red glow and smoke coming out of them along the edge of the roof! I recall Sandy’s, early on, with the sign depicting a lass doing a Highland fling. But here’s the mystery question, the restaurant I recall only from billboards: it was called Island X, and from the billboard art (a palm tree and a sleeping Mexican) I assumed it was Tex-Mex (or plain “Mexican” to me as a child). I wish someone could fill me in on that situation — I’ve always wondered about it.
I last ate at Browning’s sometime in the ’90s, after not having been there for about thirty years. The Mexican décor was gone, and that wonderful, romantic dining room I recalled from my childhood was a tiny 16′-by-16′ room, unadorned and cheerless. But the food was exactly as I remembered it.
Do you remember TiaJuana out on Markham (when it was a dirt road)?
Also, do you have any old menus from places like Old King Cole or the Lido Inn? Another I remembered was Brier’s on Markham close to the Marion Hotel.
I recently came across 2 original paintings (in excellent condition) that were hanging at Granoff’s at the time it closed. I’d very much like to chat with someone who has memories if the resturant. I’ll be selling these paintings for the owner and would like to have as much history as I can find to pass along with them at the sale. Thanks so much.
My parents held their wedding breakfast at Granoff’s Restaurant in downtown Little Rock on January 14, 1956. I often wondered where this restaurant was located, now I know, 10th and Main. I suppose that is where the freeway sits now. I’d love to see a picture of it if there are any. I have photos of my parents and their wedding guests inside the place. Would love to see the outside. Thanks for this website, I love it!
HI TOM,
I STUMBLED ACROSS YOUR PAGE WHILE SEARCHING FOR PICTURES AND ARTICLES OF SWEDEN CREAM AND SNAPPY’S DRIVE IN—SOME OF OUR OLD HANG OUTS FROM THR 1950’S. I AM NOW IN CHARGE OF PICTURES AND ARTICLES FOR OUR 1959 CLASS REUNION, WOULD U KNOW WHERE I MIGHT OBTAIN THEM?? LOVED YOUR ARTICLE, U HELPED ME TO REMEMBER SO MANY MORE PLACES–PERCIFUL’S=USE TO BE A HOT TAMALE STAND CLOSE BUY, WE WOULD BUY AND TAKE THEM TO PERCIFULS FOR OUR DRINK’S–SEEM’S IT WAS SULLIVANS!!!!!! THANK U SO MUCH FOR YOUR KINDNESS
El Padio was a place I remember.
Enjoy Rex’s columns and that rrmerritt/Mabelvale site which is filled with local lore I enjoy as a LR native, living now in TN. A couple of items: It was the Tia-Wanna Club that once seemed so remote out Markham. I believe it stood east of where Natural Resources Drive later was built. That first Shack BBQ was not at 3d & Victory, the site most of us recall, but was an actual “shack” near 7th street, about where the state Justice Building now stands on the Capitol mall. That Island X Mexican Restaurant was an excellent, popular Hillcrest business. Owned by Bill Rogers, it once occupied a building usually referred to now as The Ice House. Rogers also owned and managed a popular Island X TV and Appliance business in the adjacent building on Kavanaugh Boulevard, the route that once was the old Pulaski Heights streetcar line better known as Prospect Avenue.
Responses to Rex’s excellent column raised some good questions, some unanswered. Much discussion about the old Tia-Wanna Club, spelled just that way. Stood on Markham west of Rodney Parham, but east of what’s now Natural Resources Drive. Very popular along with the Westwood and Cimarron. Granoff’s was an excellent restaurant at 10th & Main. Went to school with owners’ daughter, Jayne Granoff Jackson, who still lives in Little Rock. Also went to Hall the daughter of “Wild Bill” Rogers, who owned Island X TV/Appliance Store on Kavanaugh Blvd, near Walnut. Rogers also owned the adjacent Island X Mexican Restaurant in the building later known as the Icehouse. His daughter Billie now lives in California. Much written on The Shack BBQ which first occupied an actual shack where the state Justice Building later was built, near the Capitol, on W. 7th Street. Most of us recall that later Shack, NW corner of Third & Victory, near Ottenheimer Bros. factory and the Missouri Pacific (Union) Depot.
Does anyone else know the history of Island X? Ownership, years in business, anything else? I believe my grandfather owned it as well. There isn’t much on the web.
The description for Herb’s said that the sauce had less tomato and had mustard in it. FACT: the sauce did not have any tomato in it, and it DID NOT have any mustard in it. I know as I worked for Herb from the time I was 13 through my college years, and made thousands of gallons of the sauce. Herb and Bea Meuwly were like parents to me.
Loved the walk down memory lane!
I remember patronizing almost all of these Little Rock eateries. I was in the 1965 last graduating class of Mabelvale High School.
Great to hear of these places! Found your page searching for info on Herb’s BBQ. We would go there after spending Sunday at Fair Park (amusements). Go fish!