Suncoast Video, Spencer's, Old Fashion Claxton Fruit Cake, Stuckey's, Holiday Inn, holiday movie houses and more!
Highlights from my road trip and other roadside news from The Retrologist!
Merry Christmas! I’ll begin today’s newsletter by sharing more finds from my road trip through the Southeast, followed by some seasonal goodies!
I loved this amazing storefront for the Hills of Snow in Smithfield, North Carolina. [MAP] From ourstate.com:
“In 1984, Tom Hill — a convenient last name in the snow business — cracked the code. The confection he created was different from the product more commonly referred to as snow cones, the ones that sit atop pointy-bottomed paper cups.
With the help of her husband, Everette, has been running the place since Hill’s death in 2011. “It’s just like real snow. It’s soft; it’s not chunky at all.”
The snowballs were, and are, far creamier than the icy, rainbow-hued version most of us think of when we hear the term snow cone, and they can be licked, spooned, or sucked through a straw as they melt.”
Right next door is a glam location of the Glam-O-Rama coin laundry chain!
I then took a long detour to one of three Suncoast Video locations left in the nation! This is at the Jacksonville Mall at Jacksonville, North Carolina. [MAP]
And, sticking with the vintage mall theme, I headed to the Spencer’s Gifts at the Independence Mall in Wilmington, North Carolina. [MAP]
This is the late 1990s through mid 2000s look that replaced the design shown in the photo below, which survives at the Livingston Mall in New Jersey.
Some other spots I hit while in Wilmington included:
I’m a sucker for old-school bakery thrift shops, and this one did not disappoint. The Sunbeam Bread girl makes the sign! [MAP]
The White Front Breakfast House [MAP] … check out some of the photos inside, as snapped through the window.
The White Front Breakfast House [MAP] … check out some of the photos inside, as snapped through the window.
And the Hughes Brothers Firestone tire shop. Epic! [MAP]
More highlights from my road trip coming in a future newsletter!
Holiday Spotlight: Claxton Fruit Cake Factory
When I told my friend Stephanie Stuckey, the CEO of the iconic Stuckey’s Corp., that I was planning to stop in Santa Claus, Georgia, she asked me if Claxton Fruit Cake in Claxton was on my list. Well, it shot right to the top, let me assure you.
I figured visiting a fruitcake factory was the perfect prelude to visiting a city named after Santa Claus, and both stops, back to back, put me in a holly jolly mood indeed.
The minute I stepped into the Claxton Fruit Cake shop, I was given the warmest of greetings, as though I was part of the family, This is not a surprise, as Claxton Fruit Cake is a family affair, run by the Parker family for generations.
If you’ve ever had fruitcake, or given it as a gift, there’s a good chance it came from Claxton Bakery. Or perhaps, back in the day, you sold Claxton Fruit Cake as part of a fundraiser. Claxton can be found on the aisles of supermarkets around the country, and even on Amazon, but there was something so special about visiting the place where the business began.
Savino Tos started it all in 1910, an Italian immigrant who’d toiled as a master baker at a Brooklyn, New York, hotel before moving South. After a detour as an ice cream maker in Macon, Georgia, he settled in Claxton, sensing opportunity here because this community lacked a bakery store.
In 1927, Albert Parker sensed an opportunity here, too. Which is amazing, because he was still a school boy, just 11 years old. He made the bakery his life, and when Tos was ready to move on to other things in 1945, he turned the business over to Parker. And Parker, realizing that bakery products were increasingly becoming a commodity, for sale at supermarkets, he pivoted his business to focus on one thing: fruitcake.
The rest is history.
I left with a bag full of fruitcake, including some that comes in a clever bit of packaging, ClaxSnax, which are to-go slices of fruitcake, which I enjoyed as I drove to visit Santa Claus 30 miles away.
What a nice stop! You can visit Claxton Fruit Cake’s website here. And here they are on TikTok.
Welcome to Santa Claus, Georgia!
In case you missed it on my Instagram, I had the good fortune (and timing) of visiting Santa Claus, Georgia, a few days ago. Here’s my writeup, below, along with a Reel I put together with highlights!
Greetings from Santa Claus, Georgia! I had the good fortune (and timing) of stopping by here a few days ago, and oh by gosh, by jingle, I was taken by the “Southern home” of Kris Kringle.
This city – population about 200, if you don’t count Santa and his helpers – was incorporated in 1941, the brainchild of a pecan farmer who wanted to sell more pecans, so he figured calling it Santa Claus might do just that. The farmer, Calvin Greene, even served as its first mayor, but World War II hit this city like Santa’s sleigh running into fog on Christmas Eve, with no Rudolph to guide this town out of trouble. A grinchy reporter from the Associated Press put it thusly about this city’s difficult first years. “A charter was granted. Came the war. No gas, no tires, and now no Santa.”
Ouch.
But Santa is all about faith, and Farmer Greene kept believing.
And so in the 1960s, the town’s second mayor, developer Bill Salem, turned out to be a true believer, too. He picked up the farmer’s Santa bag, and filled it with gifts. Salem turned this place into the tidy little city you see today, which has homes sitting on streets with names like Noel, Candy Cane and Dancer; a community center; a chapel and garden; and even a gas station and convenience store named after jolly St. Nick.
Got Christmas cards? You can drop them in the Believe mailbox and they’ll get a special Santa Claus, Georgia, stamp on them! You can stop in at City Hall, located at 25 December Drive, of course, or check out the museum and gift shop across the street to find something special for the nice folks on your list.
Yes, Virginia – well, Georgia in this case – there is a Santa Claus!
Stuckey’s mural!
I love this glorious mural for Stuckey’s in Eastman, Georgia, where the first Stuckey’s opened in 1937! In a future newsletter, I’ll share my visit to the photogenic Stuckey’s in Summerton, South Carolina, another great tip from Stephanie Stuckey (follow her adventures on Instagram here)
Holiday Inn, 1976!
My friend Anne Riepma (find her on Instagram here) sent along this photo of a Holiday Inn from July 9, 1976! The hotel was saluting Anne and Martin on their wedding day, but the letter person struggled with the spelling of the word congratulations! Maybe they thought it was a graduation celebration, not a wedding?
In case you missed it! A visit to the ‘A Christmas Story House’
On this Christmas Day, I thought you might enjoy my visit to the house from “A Christmas Story.” Post is below:
And since we’re talking about Hollywood Christmas houses …
Here are two more I’ve visited over the years!
The first is the “Home Alone” house in Winnetka, Illinois, which I visited in November 2018. [MAP]
And the home from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” which is not in suburban Chicago - unlike the “Home Alone” house — but at the Warner Ranch in Burbank, which I explored back in June 2018. Fans of the movie (which I watched again last night) will definitely recognize it. The ranch is not open to the public, so I promise to do an in-depth tour in a future newsletter!
Notes From the Road
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, when the Hotel Bethlehem in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, would turn off the word HOTEL from its rooftop sign, leaving only the word BETHLEHEM for all to see. This Christmas tradition, begun when the late Bethlehem Steel owned the hotel, ended and was forgotten. A former hotel employee did not forgot, and in 2018 reached out to the hotel’s current owners, who decided to bring the subtle but sweet tradition back. [Easton Express-Times]
Trader Vic’s may soon be closing in London, its remarkable interior destroyed. I have such wonderful memories of visiting the one in Los Angeles, long closed alas. The one in London has been there since 1963, and there is an effort afoot to save it. [Londonist]
And I somehow missed during my recent trip through Georgia that there is a Trader Vic’s in Atlanta!
There are just two more left in the United States, in Emeryville, California, and another at the airport in San Jose.
Back in the day, Twins, an Irish pub on Ninth Avenue between 33rd and 34th streets, was one of my go-tos, where colleagues at amNewYork would decompress after putting the paper to bed. Sadly, it’s closing at the end of the month, after 52 years, disappearing along with another row of old-schools stores. The towers of Hudson Yards no doubt are encroaching east. [W42nd Street]
Winterwood, a Christmas store on the Wildwood Boardwalk, will not be returning for summer 2023. The sign caught my attention and I snapped it back in September 2020, [WPG Talk Radio]
Whenever I think of Gilroy, California, I think of garlic. And the reason I’m even thinking about Gilroy is Don Christopher, who helped put this California agricultural town on the map, and influenced choices at the supermarket for many who never heard of Gilroy or Christopher. Clay Risen, whose writing I quite enjoy, tells this farmer’s story in Don Christopher’s obituary. Below are some photos (and a fun story in the caption) about a roadside stand in Gilroy. [New York Times]
Philadelphia’s Broad Street Diner will be demolished and the site developed into a five-story apartment building. [Philly Voice]
Here are San Diego’s most endangered buildings. [Union-Tribune]
An update on a story I brought you earlier: “To destroy the Trost building that is located on the former Las Cruces golf course is to erase our history.” [Sun News]
A look at London’s oldest restaurants. Of these, I have been to an F. Cooke location, an experience I will soon not forget. I explain in my Instagram post below.
John Mull’s Meats is now listed on the Las Vegas Historic Property Register. [Eater]
The former Crowley milk factory in Binghamton, New York, will be transformed into lofts. [Press]
A nice profile of the Mel-O-Dee family restaurant in Dayton, Ohio. I’ve never been, but this place is on my list! [Daily News]
And finally, the new Domino Sign is finally lit and shining in the Brooklyn skyline. The original sign has been saved and the developer is looking for a new home for it, according to Greg Mocker’s report. [PIX11]
I’ll be checking out the sign soon and will be sharing photos! In the meantime, below is a photo I took of the new Domino sugar sign in Yonkers!
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