Skip to main content

Requiem for old west Knoxville

I had heard about it, read about it in Property Scope, but I hadn't seen it myself until last night. One of the vestiges of a west Knoxville long forgotten except by those who grew up there from the 40's to the 60's (harder to find than you'd think), fell victim to the bulldozer. It's going to be a Chick-fil-a. The building was unloved, forgotten, and largely ignored by all of those BMW's and Escalades zipping by on the pike. It was the kind of place that polite society might want to pretend didn't exist next to the Starbucks and posh boutiques. It contained Opal's lounge, a sort of rowdy, blue collar place with impossibly cheap beer. There were rusting Oldsmobiles on jack stands and a tarped roof. You had to look pretty hard through the overgrown bush to see all of that, but it was there. I didn't think anyone else would notice, but I was wrong. Making my way through the impersonal, robotic, self-checkout lane at Kroger, I heard a woman of a certain age, who was wearing a fur coat and a fur, leopard print hat, exclaim that "they wouldn't be satisfied until they had paved over everything." This, of course, piqued my interest. She was talking about the Biltmore Court Motel and ranting about the trees. She couldn't believe that they had torn it down and then bulldozed all of the trees. I couldn't either and I couldn't believe that a person in Kroger, west of Sequoyah, shared my concerns. But she was right, the Biltmore, despite its recent history, had been a lovely place.

The bulldozer making its final passes over the former site of the Biltmore Court
Once the site of Bill's Drive-In. That is the original sign, note the neon star. It has survived all of these years and is likely headed to the landfill. 
The Biltmore Court as it appeared a couple of years ago
That great neon-sign was removed in March 2011. I wonder what happened to it.

The Biltmore was a "motor court" built in the 1940's, some say 1949, during a time when Kingston Pike, US 11/70, was the main east/west thoroughfare in these parts. Kingston Pike was lined with these sort of places, places that ushered in the glory days of American motoring. There were service stations, restaurants, and a stretching line of motels. Most of them are now gone, some of them have been re-purposed. There was the Colonial Tourist Court, next door to the Biltmore, it's now a parking lot and a Starbucks. The Colony Tourist Court with its gas lamp inspired lighting, served for many years disguised as Colony Square, a shopping center/office building. It's now home to a shopping center that contains Vibe, @Home, and the former WokHay. Another old strip motel exists next to the 37919 post office. I haven't been able to determine what it was called. It houses offices and a paper shop. Further west, there was the Terrace View Motor Lodge. It looked like the kind of place a James Bond villain might have stayed with its super crisp, modern lines. It was bulldozed in the late 90's to become the Nature's Pantry and Well Nutrition (across from Calhoun's on Bearden Hill). The Mount Vernon, onward west, is now a Mattress store. Out near Gallaher View Rd, there is the Time Out Deli. It is located in the front portion of what was once Sharp's Motel and Grill.

Aside from the motels, there were roadhouses, eating establishments geared to the motoring public. One success story, against all odds, is the Highlands Grill. Heading west on Kingston Pike, just past Western Plaza, Old Kingston pike shoots off to the left at Bearden Beer Market (another successfully re-purposed building). Just behind the shopping center containing Long's Drug Store, the road shifts back to the right, and cuts over the railroad tracks to rejoin Kingston Pike. This was once the alignment of Kingston Pike and in that curve over the tracks, was located the Highlands, one of the first roadhouses. It operated from the 30's until the 60's but was then preserved as Andrew Morton's Gift Shop. It has recently been renovated and returned to restaurant service and it is an excellent experience if you haven't been there yet, The Grille at Highlands Row. Next to the Biltmore, was Bill's drive-in. It was a drive in restaurant that also had a dining room with a very western feel. Bill's was torn down years ago, but the platforms for the drive-in portion remained. They were bulldozed along with the Biltmore last week. Across from the Biltmore was the Dixieland. Some will remember it as Pero's Italian restaurant. Most younger folks will remember it as where McKay's bookstore used to be. It was bulldozed and is now a bank. There were many, many more.

Bill's Drive-In. There wasn't much left except for the sign and some foundation pads. I wonder if the "Save our signs" campaign has looked at saving this one. It might be there a few more days.

While all of these places were predecessors to what is now replacing them (Chick-fil-a's, Courtyard Hotels, Walgreens) they had something that none of these new places possess, individuality. These were Knoxville establishments, uniquely so. Sure, other towns had drive-in restaurants, but only Knoxville has the Pizza Palace. Every town has a Starbucks and each time a place like the Biltmore is bulldozed to become another chain restaurant or big box store, Knoxville loses another piece of its distinctiveness. The Homberg neighborhood, a unique part of Knoxville, now looks a little more like Cedar Bluff. It's a march toward becoming Anytown, USA. The woman in Kroger was right though, the Biltmore really was once a very lovely place.




The historical images on this post were borrowed from www.swankpad.org

Comments

Andrea said…
I wrote a blog about this the day it happened. It contains my brief, yet infuriating conversation with the Homburg Chik-fil-a on Facebook. You might be interested: click here
DRS said…
I cant believe they tore those buildings down. That community just lost some of it unique great structures with great historical presence. That is horrible.
Anonymous said…
And now a stinking $hit-fil-a sits there!
Anonymous said…
As a child/teen in the 1940s and 1950s the most important establishments along that part of Kingston Pike were the Dixieland Drive-in and the Pike Theater. The Pike Theater building still stands. I couldn't find the Dixieland. They made the best hamburgers.

There was a drive-in movie theater along there, too, across the Pike from the Long's Drug Store shopping center.
Anonymous said…
Alhambra Court was the one you couldn't locate/identify, there at the Bearden P.O. I remember it as where Olan Mills was located in a converted building, where we kids were dragged for photos!
I don't know. The Alhambra was a collection of separate buildings, this place (now housing Archer's BBQ) is more of a row. I want to say it was called the Cherokee Motel, but I am not committing to that.
Swanky said…
https://www.swankpad.org/site/knoxville-then-and-now/

Several of these places documented a bit here.
Anonymous said…
It is steadily accumulating person engagement, as players consider it safer, more fun, and more accessible. In reality, video poker games 1xbet are a prototype of slots, with only a small distinction - the motion takes place with cards. The primary aim is to get a higher poker hand, is ready to} reward you with a more satisfying profit.

Popular posts from this blog

5709 Lyons View Pike - Westcliff

There has been a lot of discussion in the local property blogs about the proposal of a new shopping development located at the intersection of Cumberland Ave. and Alcoa Hwy. Anyone who has played or follows rugby in Knoxville knows this place very well. It's called Fulton bottoms and the reason it is called Fulton bottoms is that just across third creek was once the principal factory of the Fulton Company.  The Fulton Bellows factory as it appeared in the 1930's. This is looking from the Southeast. Note the train tracks which still exist and Cumberland Ave./Kingston Pk. looking very rural. Most of the background in this picture is taken up by the Alcoa Hwy/Kingston Pike interchange.  Roughly the same view today. The factory is gone. The foundation pads are all that remain. The story of the Fulton Co. is an interesting but long one. It's probably a subject for another entry, however if you'd like to read the whole story you can find it here , as told by Ja

322 S. Gay St. - The Terminal Building - The Gaps of Gay Street Part 1

If you have lived in Knoxville for any length of time, or if you've just eaten at the Downtown Grill and Brewery, then you have without a doubt heard of the "Million Dollar Fire of 1897." That fire destroyed much of the east side of the 300 and 400 blocks of Gay Street. Firefighters came from as far away as Chattanooga to battle the blaze, which threatened to burn down the entire city. With the ruins smoldering, city leaders declared it the greatest loss the city had ever suffered. However, times were optimistic and the business community vowed the next day to rebuild the structures better than before. Most of them were rebuilt, bigger and better, within five years. Fighting the fire of 1897. To the right, the Cowan McClung & Co. (now H.T. Hackney and The Market). Almost everything decimated. (Century Building at left, still standing)   From the ashes of the fire, rose many of the iconic structures we see today on the 300 and 400 blocks. Identifying them b

The 500 Block of Gay Street, West Side - Krutch Park Extension - The Gaps of Gay Street Part 6

As we continue our tour south down Gay Street, we walk past the 400 block without stopping. The 400 block is one of the few (two) truly unbroken blocks on Knoxville's most important street. 400 Block West then.  400 Block now, they're all accounted for. So Bravo 400 Block, though you may look a little different you've weathered the years better than most. No surface parking lots here, so we're uninterested!!! Let's cross Union Avenue and set foot on the 500 block, under the large porch of the Park National Bank Building (Conley Building, First American Bank Building, 507 S. Gay Tower, Embassy Suites , what have you...). This block has something in common with the 300 block in that it resembles a 7/10 split (for you non-bowlers that means it's missing its middle teeth). The 500 block is probably best known for its two giant bookends, the Park National Bank Building (1974) and the Holston Bank Building (1912). Between the two lies what we now know as &