Gone but not forgotten: Knoxville area restaurants and retailers we miss.

#651
#651
I really loved Chops Grill in Downtown West. It was the Chop House menu, but like half the price.
Also, Dead End BBQ in Maryville was really close to my house. We went there about once a month and now it's gone. That one still hurts.
 
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#653
#653
Boca Vol said:
Didn't the Funny Bone move to Park West Blvd? There was also a Soup Kitchen (or something like that) in that spot. That place was great.

I also remember a comedy club in the Holiday Inn (which is now a La Quinta) off Paper Mill.
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I remember going to Funny Bone a few times. The one that comes to mind is seeing Judy Tenuta. At the time I think she was married to Emo Phillips but she was hilarious.

I went to that club in Holiday Inn and saw Pinkard and Bowden
 
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#654
#654
Boca Vol said:
That place was great!

Wasn't there also a Greenback Stamps redemption store near Hill's at Betarden Hill?
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S&H Green Stamps were given out by White Stores. My first job was bagboy at a White Store.
Green Stamp redemption center was in shopping center on Kingston Pike near to where Bruce Pearl’s ex-wife’s had /has a salon.
Food City bought out White Stores.
 
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#655
#655
Ace said:
S&H Green Stamps were given out by White Stores. My first job was bagboy at a White Store.
Green Stamp redemption center was in shopping center on Kingston Pike near to where Bruce Pearl’s ex-wife’s had /has a salon.
Food City bought out White Stores.
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I thought that S&H Green stamps was in the corner of Bearden Center and Top Value stamps was in the Pet Supplies Plus building just east of Office Depot.
 
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#656
#656
Ace said:
S&H Green Stamps were given out by White Stores. My first job was bagboy at a White Store.
Green Stamp redemption center was in shopping center on Kingston Pike near to where Bruce Pearl’s ex-wife’s had /has a salon.
Food City bought out White Stores.
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We had a White Stores in LC when I was growing up.

When I moved to Charleston in '97 Piggly Wiggly still issued Greenback Stamps...in the books. I was working in the marketing dept. for a shopping mall developer and we ran a promotion with Piggly Wiggly where customers could exchange Greenbacks Stamps for mall certificates. It was so successful we won an industry award.
 
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#657
#657
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I have a vague recollection of it once being branded as a Howard Johnson, but it was a Ramada for most of my memory of it. I can't believe how long it's been empty and how large it is. Like I said in the first post, it's possibly not economically feasible to save at this point. It's not the easiest property to access anymore.

Edit: and it might have even been branded as Howard Johnson AFTER Ramada.
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I have lived less than 8 miles from West Town for 37 years. Originally from a few miles east of Kingston.

The Ramada was built as a Ramada Inn. Their original dining room was good,... not great, but ok for local familys to drive up after church, eat there, shop a little, then see a movie on The Fox Theater's curved screen.

The Hojo was always west of the Ramada, and may have predated it.
I never remember the Ramada, which went through several reincarnations as inferior hotels, being a Hojo. Ever.
 
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#658
#658
Orangedogsrule said:
I have lived less than 8 miles from West Town for 37 years. Originally from a few miles east of Kingston.

The Ramada was built as a Ramada Inn. Their original dining room was good,... not great, but ok for local familys to drive up after church, eat there, shop a little, then see a movie on The Fox Theater's curved screen.

The Hojo was always west of the Ramada, and may have predated it.
I never remember the Ramada, which went through several reincarnations as inferior hotels, being a Hojo. Ever.
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Google search indicates that this building (7621 Kingston Pike, 37919) was a Howard Johnson brand at some point before it closed.

Built in 1969
89,000 Square Feet
Sold in Aug 2015
Sold in April 2011
 
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#659
#659
Thunder Good-Oil said:
No, that's the Ramada Inn that I've been posting about. It's in the lower, right hand corner of the picture of West Town Mall. The old Howard Johnson motel was located just out of the picture to the west. It was demolished before the 2 restaurants that went in, Macaroni Grill and I forget the name of the other one (Mexican). The torn down Howard Johnson had the traditional orange A-frame entrance and their front door faced west.
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I thought the Ramada was at Montvue and Kingston Pike.

Google Maps
 
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#662
#662
Boca Vol said:
I thought the Ramada was at Montvue and Kingston Pike.

Google Maps
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There's still a hotel right by the interstate in that area. It was either renovated or built for the 1982 World's Fair. Jake Butcher's accountant, David Crabtree iirc, was a partner... possibly the General Partner. It was maybe branded as a Quality Inn. The parking lot was attached to the lot for the original HoJo. There was a swimming pool across both parking lots... closer to Kingston Pike.
 
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#665
#665
Boca Vol said:
Gotcha. The add from my attachment was from a 1980 UT game program.
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That HoJo was apparently demolished before the Cozymel's and Macaroni Grill were built.

The area code in that advertisement is 615. It was briefly 423 and soon after that went to 865 (VOL). Good times for the Knoxville printing industry and sign makers.
 
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#666
#666
Thunder Good-Oil said:
That HoJo was apparently demolished before the Cozymel's and Macaroni Grill were built.

The area code in that advertisement is 615. It was briefly 423 and soon after that went to 865 (VOL). Good times for the Knoxville printing industry and sign makers.
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No kidding!
 
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#669
#669
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I thought that S&H Green stamps was in the corner of Bearden Center and Top Value stamps was in the Pet Supplies Plus building just east of Office Depot.
Click to expand...

I think there were several redemption centers around town. A&P gave stamps along with White Store. I am pretty sure other stores also gave them. My mom’s friend worked at the one I mentioned on Kingston Pike.

Now I am not 100% on the location, I was very young and we are talking about 45-50 years ago
 
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#670
#670
It is not Knoxville, but does anyone remember Woody’s Golf Course which was located north of Oak Ridge going toward Oliver Springs.
Woody had a 9 hole course and an old school concrete water slide. Some of you remember those slides that would leave you bloodied, black and blue.
Woody also had a snack bar and they sold the one pound patty Woody Burger. Around 1986, you could get a Woody Burger, a large order of fries and a 32 oz coke for either $4 or $4.50.
We would go there after work and for about $10 you could play 9 holes with a cart and have dinner. The good old days!!!
BTW, I never tried the slide
 
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#671
#671
Boca Vol said:
Didn't the Funny Bone move to Park West Blvd? There was also a Soup Kitchen (or something like that) in that spot. That place was great.

I also remember a comedy club in the Holiday Inn (which is now a La Quinta) off Paper Mill.
Click to expand...

I remember that one too, but I really don't remember much about it. Must not have impressed me too much I guess.
 
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#672
#672
Thunder Good-Oil said:
That HoJo was apparently demolished before the Cozymel's and Macaroni Grill were built.

The area code in that advertisement is 615. It was briefly 423 and soon after that went to 865 (VOL). Good times for the Knoxville printing industry and sign makers.
Click to expand...

I always resented the fact that we lost 615 and Nashville got to keep it.
 
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#673
#673
Boca Vol said:
Didn't the Funny Bone move to Park West Blvd? There was also a Soup Kitchen (or something like that) in that spot. That place was great.

I also remember a comedy club in the Holiday Inn (which is now a La Quinta) off Paper Mill.
Click to expand...

I believe the name of the comedy club in the Holiday Inn was The Comedy Zone. I went there a few times but had forgotten about it until reading this post.
 
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#674
#674
Never went to a comedy club at the Holiday Inn, but I have been to Swizzles.

I remember The Soup Kitchen being in that spot along time ago, next to Cracker Barrell and the crack motel. It was also a TexMex joint and I cannot for the life of me remember the name, but I went a lot because they had 2 buck import night a couple times a week.

Then it become Comedy Zone aka Funny Bone Or whatever else.
 
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