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

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Nope. I don’t know much about that area. I ate at the Pizza Hut a couple of times. I looked at some used cars around there. One was a white Porsche 924 with red and blue stripes. Got thrown out of that country bar around O’Charley’s with the balcony over the dance floor. Met up with a crazy woman at O’Charley’s about 20 years ago. Bought a sweater at TJ MAXX. Drove past Robbie’s a few hundred times but never ate there. Went to a bachelor party at the Family Inn (I think that 3rd Rate Romance was written about that one rather than the one at KP and Northshore). Ate dinner at Doodle’s once with Dad but it might not have been called Doodle’s yet - or maybe it was. It was a fairly fancy Knoxville restaurant before becoming the disco bar. I remember when the shopping center west of the DTW Mr Gattis was a gravel parking lot. I never ate at Swenson’s. I did do donuts in the gravel parking lot.

I forgot to include the tiny store with the drive up window. Buying beer as a 16 year old was easy. I forget the store name. It was just west of the Family Inn.

 

[loggervol]

Darryl’s was one and the China Inn, plus Casa Ga Artas Mexican restaurant (spelling). I really liked those three restaurants.

 

[EricStratton]

Darryl’s was one and the China Inn, plus Casa Ga Artas Mexican restaurant (spelling). I really liked those three restaurants.

Are you talking about the Mexicali Rose or Casa Gallardo?

 

[EricStratton]

“Family Inn”

When they left the bar they got in his car and they drove away
He drove to the family inn She didnt even have to pretend she
Didnt know what for
And then he went to the desk and made his request while she
Waited outside
He came back with the key and she said give it to me and I'll
Unlock the door
She kept saying I've never really done this kind of thing before
Have you

Ken had not organized as “Family Inn” yet.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Ken had not organized as “Family Inn” yet.

Perhaps Ken Seaton’s motel footprint hadn’t reached Downtown West in the early 1970s and was only in the Sevierville area.

 

[EricStratton]

Perhaps Ken Seaton’s motel footprint hadn’t reached Downtown West in the early 1970s and was only in the Sevierville area.

Certainly a possibility. But he wasn’t wearing Earth Shoes.

 

[MAD]

Certainly a possibility. But he wasn’t wearing Earth Shoes.

I remember the store on the strip. Those were some weird looking shoes.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I remember the store on the strip. Those were some weird looking shoes.

i miss the Odyssey.

 

[loggervol]

Are you talking about the Mexicali Rose or Casa Gallardo?

Yes, I couldn’t remember how it was spelled. Thank you.

 

[EricStratton]

Yes, I couldn’t remember how it was spelled. Thank you.

would you be upset if I said I had to google the spelling? And it took a beat to find it!

 

[EricStratton]

i miss the Odyssey.

I miss the Roman Room.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I miss the Roman Room.

I miss the Sheraton bar.

 

[EricStratton]

I miss the Sheraton bar.

Isn’t that where the one man band would play before games?

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Isn’t that where the one man band would play before games?

Yes. Bill Jenkins. Seems like he played an actual bass guitar with his feet.

 

[GreveHaller]

I miss the Sheraton bar.

One of first places I drank on campus. Great memories

 

[MAD]

Yes. Bill Jenkins. Seems like he played an actual bass guitar with his feet.

Is this the same guy?

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Is this the same guy?

10-4

 

[EricStratton]

I remember there was a radio station that had an RV as a mobile studio. Seems they would broadcast from there before the games, too. Anyone remember?

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I remember there was a radio station that had an RV as a mobile studio. Seems they would broadcast from there before the games, too. Anyone remember?

There are just a handful of 100,000 watt transmitters in Knoxville.

103.5 has been rock for 45 years. Not likely to be them.

107.7 has been the flag ship for the Vol Network. They would have been too busy and had their resources tied up with the game broadcasts.

91.9 is UT/NPR/classical music. Not really in their wheelhouse.

100.3 is a possibility. They might have had a post game show in yhe 1980s with Mike Hammond, Joe Thompson, and Bobby Scott. Maybe that was 990. If 990 they probably didn’t have the production and promo budget.

102.1 is my guess. They carried the Coach Billy Joe Tom Bob Parker remotes. Jarnigan was there as were CP & Walker and Jeff Jacoby. Curtis P performed Coach BJTB Parker. Walker J played the straight man.

 

[FLVOL_79]

Disc Exchange. I miss that place.

 

[TNVOLNAVY]

There was a driving range and par 3 golf course near the intersection of Cedar Bluff and Kingston Pike. I believe it was called the Orange Tee. At one time they also had a bar and I recall Pat Ryan was involved with the place.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

There was a driving range and par 3 golf course near the intersection of Cedar Bluff and Kingston Pike. I believe it was called the Orange Tee. At one time they also had a bar and I recall Pat Ryan was involved with the place.

It seems to be gone in 1985. The previous aerial pics are way back in 1969. It was the Orange Tee. I don’t remember a par 3 course, but maybe a couple of par 3 holes. Seems like there was a green just north of the little building. Pat Ryan was born in 1955 and was on the Jets roster starting in 1978. I’d never heard that he was involved. The driving range was going strong around 1979/80ish. He would have been in his early 20s. I believe that the Hinds family was the owner or one of the partners of the driving range. Later there was a different driving range in the same area just to the NE (NW of the Pontiac dealer (Howard and then Grayson)).

I thought that the Orange Tee was just across from Ebenezer but looking at the aerials it might have been slightly farther east on one side or the other of Ten Mile Creek. The property was about the same elevation with Kingston Pike. Town and Country shopping center (east side of Peters Road) and the Krystal seem to be a bit too elevated for it to have been directly across from Ebenezer.

Some of the poles that held the nets might still be on the right hand side of the property. There is still a lot of open, undeveloped space in that area. Lots of long time property owners as well so the driving range owners probably were leasing the ground.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

It’s also possible that instead of the Orange Tee being across from Ebenezer that it was across from South Peters. In which case it would have been about were Peters Road north of Kingston Pike is today. But I don’t remember the Baker-Peters House being directly across Kingston Pike from the location.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Farther east:

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

.