Memories of the Strip
More memories of good times on the Cumberland Avenue "Strip"
I haven't seen this one but it was common in the early 1950s. Many of us who lived in towns between Knoxville and Chattanooga would hitchhike home for weekend visits and save bus fare. I lived in Chattanooga (Signal Mountain) and made a cardboard sign which said "Chattanooga?" and never failed to get a prompt pick-up home. The front of the library area on Cumberland Avenue was a prime spot, and we dressed appropriately to reflect our student status. Now it would be considered dangerous. What a great era it was in the 1950s!
—Ken Beene ’52
I was a graduate of the class of 1954. Our freshman year, we were national football champs! I have just read all the contributions to “The Strip” and thought you needed some thoughts from us older alumni.
My sophomore, junior, and senior years, I lived at Polly McClung Hall. Our dorm closed around 9:45 weeknights and hunger set in around 11 p.m. We used to call in an order to the T-Room across Cumberland from us and someone would deliver it to a basket we would lower from our window. I can’t imagine college without Byerley’s Cafeteria where the Student Center is now. The hot chocolate, coffee, and doughnuts sustained us daily! Also, the Ellis and Ernest Drug Store on the corner was a favorite spot. Mr. Ernest (my friend Harold Ernest’s dad) willingly cashed checks for us when we ran short. Harold Ernest was an SAE who chaired the fabulous Nahheeyayli annual dances – always with an exciting big band!
Thanks for the walk down memory lane! When I moved from Chattanooga to Atlanta in 1961, John Smartt, director of alumni affairs for many, many years, helped me start the Atlanta chapter of UT alumni, which is now a gold medal chapter, and I am still an active member of the board!
—Martha Griffin Randolph ’54, business administration
I hope there are some out there to help with these memories from the early ’70s.
I remember one club on the right side of the Strip heading west that had three “theme” rooms? One was a “Star Trek” theme, another was a “Casablanca” theme, as in the Bogart film, and I do not remember the third. I remember they had a Harvey Wallbanger challenge—or that may have been another bar, but it was still on the Strip. If you could drink one of their Wallbangers and walk to the door, the rest of the drinks were free for the night (as though you needed any more).
I also remember pulling into the lot behind the Last Lap after a very painful trip from Morristown with 6 of us crammed into a 2-seater Opel GT. One of the guys had a can of mace and it went off as he was attempting to exit the car. Not a great night but must have looked like the Keystone Cops with us trying to get out of that tiny vehicle (especially with the coughing, tears, sinuses draining).
I remember a Steak and Eggs on the Strip for a great hangover breakfast and as always the Copper Cellar Prime Rib.
My greatest memory of all, being a Parrothead, was walking down the Strip, and it seems like it was across from the Last Lap, a small bar? The sign said Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band. There were four or five of us looking for a party. It sounded good. We paid a few bucks cover, $7, I think? Jimmy came out and played a few acoustic songs, do not remember the tunes, but he was good. We wanted to see the Coral Reefer Band! When he introduced the band, all that came out was Greg “Fingers” Taylor with his harmonicas. We started to leave, ticked off...no band! It was a small crowd, anyway.
Well, we stayed and I will never regret it. I am a musician as well, but we talked with and bought beers for the “band,” and it is one of my greatest memories of the Strip! Breaks with Jimmy and Fingers! I've met JB and Greg and the rest of the latest band several times since and over 100 concerts.
Jimmy was back a few years later in a leg cast from a ball game injury for a concert at the Coliseum, I believe, and it wasn't midnight, but he was on his way to being famous. Hmm, also saw Steve Martin around the same time… not on the Strip, but at the Coliseum. Wow! Festival seating! I was kissed by Chaka Kahn on the mouth when Rufus played the Coliseum and I was leaning on the stage… but, alas, the Coliseum is another story. “Tell me something good….”
Hope someone else remembers some of these as I would certainly love to fill in the blanks, especially the bar Jimmy was playing and the club with the theme rooms. I know JB played at Oak Ridge High School around the same time.
Also saw the original Tams (minus one) at the Lap and still have an autographed LP from the event.
OCI—Old College Inn—always a classic. Sam and Andy’s… and does anyone remember ordering a “Rooster with cheese”? And I think I ate my first Subway sandwich just off the Strip?
Just remembered sticking straw papers and wet napkins on the ceiling of Krystal on the Strip—mid-70s.
Those were the days (if one could remember all the details).
—Chip Blackburn, Morristown, Tenn.
I remember Sam & Andy's—the sandwich shop, the meat, the cheese, the steam. Then there was Munchies pizza, which also had a good steamed sandwich. I can never find a modern day deli that steams—only microwaves, yuck. The strip had Ireland's, a Baskin Robbins, KFC, McDonald's, and a Burger King. I was on the five-day meal plan at the dorm, which meant unless you had a couple of nickels to rub together you starved till Monday. Because, one was snacking during the week late at night having some steamed heaven called Sam & Andy's. One might recall that they appealed to the basic Vol—great food and a Vol football schedule with the results of each game posted in the store.
—Wayne G. Paul ’76
Breakfast at the Varsity with Gus. Always happy to see you, what a great businessman.
Sam & Andy’s. The first time I went in there in the spring of 1973, Sam Captain with his long handlebar mustache was working the cash register. What a happy and warm human being, how well he treated and loved the students and locals who came in.
The Roman Room. Who can ever forget the All-American pictures behind the bar and the attachment of bounced checks with the names of the offenders so close to those AA? George made you feel like family. You did not dare tell him you wanted the small beer; he always offered the tall boy. “You wanta fries with that?”—the original suggestive seller.
The Cumberland Tap Room. Who can forget the great moments with Leo Curtain, the former sailor bartender that ruled the roost during the day? Having some old-time football heroes show up representing Mr. Tipton and Budweiser like Bobby Scott and Joe Thompson. Floyd Hubbs coming by later in the afternoon on Fridays to check the till.
Ollies Trolley. Best burger on the planet to this day and great fries.
The Place, the Tunnel, the Icehouse, the Bowery, and all those other places that had ten-cent beer and a live band on Fridays.
The original Ruby’s, the best one ever. Old house, great food and booze.
The snow in January of 1977 that pulled me from the library as I was doing my usual last minute work to finish a paper. A large crowd with a large snowball fight had broken out. By the time we finished, it was 11 so… time to head for the Strip. The Lap and the Taproom were both packed that day, early on.
The Steak and Eggs across the street from the Lap. How did those folks ever make any money?
Enjoying Brownies for lunch, and then later on enjoying the Old College Inn in the same location.
And now the kids have franchises. No Squeegie, no Stump, no characters that used to harass us for change. Times have certainly changed for the boring.
—Alan Casey ’77 Naperville, Illinois
Sam & Andy's was my favorite.
When Ernie and Bernie were on the basketball team, I remember going into Sam & Andy's and looking at the sign on the wall that tracked the basketball record that year. Kentucky had recently built or named their arena Rupp after Adolph Rupp. The media were always referring to it as “Beautiful Rupp Arena.”
When UT beat Kentucky that year, someone, while probably waiting for one of those sandwiches to be steamed, penciled in by the score showing UT over UK, “At Beautiful Rupp Arena.” That stayed there all season, and I always got a laugh out of that graffiti.
—David Cobb ’80, marketing
My fondest memories were from Antonio’s, the Last Lap and best from the U-Club, which a friend of mine owned until being run out on a rail. I also remember spending a lot of time at Quarters. I can remember walking there in about 5 inches of snow for a Super Bowl party—good times!
—Brad Hailey ’88
My memories are still pretty fresh seeing as how I graduated only a little over a year ago. I worked as a cocktail waitress at Chili’s on the Strip my last two years at UT. I remember working out on the patio the night before many home games, when the entire restaurant would erupt into an impromptu pep rally. Visiting fans walking by were heckled and those who dared to venture into the bar were often times deafened by never-ending rounds of “Rocky Top.”
After work I would walk across the street to The Beer Sellar and have one, many times more than one, of the forty beers on tap. It was sad to see The Beer Sellar fall to the Cumberland Curse and close after only a year or so. I have so many great memories during their Wednesday night $5 pitcher parties, including meeting the man who is now my husband. And no night out on the Strip is complete without a last call stop at Cool Beans. When my husband and I visit Knoxville now, we always stop by “The Bean” for an order of wings, a game of darts, and a pitcher of beer.
—Haley Gautreaux ’05, Chattanooga
