Silver Slipper
Tallahassee, FL
Back in My Day!
You know you are getting old when you can remember places from your childhood that are pictured in black and white photos…..before black and white photography was “artistic.”
I’m a native of Tallahassee and people always seem amazed at that. Although I have traveled quite a bit, I always seem to be drawn back “home.” I have a history here, my famly has a history here. I’ve decided to post a few blogs about those folks.
I’ve got quite a few vivid memories, and I remember them because outings were a treat! We lived in “the country”, and a trip to town meant a “black cow” at Mutt and Jeff’s diner, or a hamburger at the very first McDonald’s
in town (right near FSU – tell me they didn’t have marketing figured out even back then!). After dinner.. we’d cross the street to a stand-alone, walk-up ice-cream stand called the “Dairy Queen,” (guess that answers the question about which came first, the king or the queen!), or perhaps we’d stop for a donut at the first Krispy Kreme. The drive up, or drive in was all the rage back in my early years!
Tallahassee Drive-In -4 Points
Movies were a real treat, and most native Tallahasseans remember the drive-in-movies on the “Jacksonville” highway (Apalachee Parkway). They were of course begun just after dark.. so my parents always made sure we were dressed for bed. They brought blankets and pillows and put us on top of the station wagon to watch the show. I’m sure it was just easier for packing us in the back of the wagon after the show.
Yep, I’m trying to get my parents into blogging.. writing some of their memories down now before they are gone. I’m a third generation Tallahassee, Florida native, and I am missing some details that my grandparents took with them as they left for a better place. I’m sure there are many I have missed.
Listening to my grandparents talk when i was a teen might not have been the most exciting thing in the world, but I was always intrigued and I do remember some of the stories passed down to me as a child. I liked sitting at my grandmother’s table at lunch hearing them again and again. She taught elementary school at Sealey Elementary, and seemed to know half the town.. from childhood on into adulthood!
I’ll try to write a few down in the next few blogs. One storyI do remember: I know that my great-grandfather used to walk to work. He walked over 4 miles actually, along Apalachee Parkway. Now a 4 lane highway, at the time was a narrow 2 lane road, dirt and he lived off Midyette Road. Now a 5 min. drive to the Capitol, but then an hour long walk, one way! Rumor has it he made it all the way to the capitol every day and left work early enough to sit on a lady friend’s front porch downtown near now historic Leon High school. I’m not sure what kind of “lady-friend” it was, but my dad made sure to go “around” the house so my mom wouldn’t see him there! He was however killed as he walked home along the highway just yards from his home by a dump truck.
There are many stories,.. will have to pull out the photos and continue later, and if you have some you’d like to share, just drop me a line!
Apalachee Parkway
I remember Tallahassee before everything changed forever, when sunny land neighbor hood was a nice place to live,we lived on proctor street and you could walk to sealey school. mrs Ferrell’s first grade class at sealey school,Mrs Roberts 6th grade before we went to Cobb jr high, Leon high school as a freshman in 1959,The San Can Dive Inn on south monroe,The Dixie Land and “phono chief” speakers there,Reds and Sams fishing tackle where Barnacal Bills is now.The watermelon patch behind Red and Sams also known as “Birds woods” Sears downtown,buying my first shot gun at Buddys Sporting goods downtown,The new sears at Parkway. Its late I will write more later.
Walter, You ARE old-school Tallahassee! ; ) Yes, I remember most of those things. My parents went to Leon High School and my grandmother taught at Sealey elementary school for 32 years! My father grew up in the Sunnyland neighborhood also.. you all probably know each other!
Tallahassee is still a small town feel.. and a great place to raises children. The recreation is even more accessible and culturally, we have so many different venues to attend! There truly is something for everyone from students, to families to retirees, don’t you think?
Thanks for sharing!
Where on South Monroe Street was the Original Silver Slipper located before it burned down?
It was about a mile South of the Capitol Kay. This is another great article about the Silver Slipper: http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/tallahassees-landmark-silver-slipper-restaurant-noted-for-backroom/993495