Last week we uncrated the time capsule of the 1976 Bicentennial Year Dalton Phone Book. We looked at how “quaint” using the phone was back then, with such historical things like “1+” dialing and calling the operator so she (and it was always a she) could help us place a call.
And may you have a brother-in-law who’s a good defense lawyer if you said anything “vulgar” to a woman of good standing on the phone. Shame on you, that’s not what phones are for.
Treasure trove
This week let’s look at the treasure trove of info we can find in an old, local phone book, especially in the Yellow Pages where businesses then are remembered now.
Putting things in perspective, in the Yellow Pages then there wasn’t a category for computers at all. It went from compressors to concrete blocks. There were computers back then but you had to find them listed under data processing service. If that name had stuck around we’d all have laptop data processing service machines instead of laptop computers.
The data processing field was still new, so there were only three businesses listed: Dalton Computer Service, First South Data Processing Computer Center and Honeywell Information Systems. In the ad on the page for one of them, their services included payroll, accounts receivable, inventory control, sales analysis and job cost. In other words, what they had was a variety of spreadsheets for different jobs. No internet, no web pages, no shopping carts or checkouts online, just organized rows of numbers.
Probably the bookkeeper or accountant at the business was worried they were going to lose their job to a computer but it turned out somebody had to learn the system and type in the numbers, so they not only kept their job but also became the one person the boss couldn’t fire, because they were the only one that knew how that computer thingy worked.
While we’re in the D listings, it’s interesting to note that there were just as many dairies listed as computer companies. There were Dempsy Brothers Dairy, Happy Valley Dairies (in Rossville) and North Georgia Dairies, which had the Meadow Gold Milk that I remember drinking here at school. The Meadow Gold building is still there on Glenwood and the sign stayed up for decades after they stopped selling milk, but I think it’s a dye house now. North Georgia Dairies advertised “Farm Fresh Daily” and “Wholesome Milk & Ice Cream Locally Produced.. I think there’s only one dairy farmer left in Whitfield County now.
Dance isn’t just for kids
D is for “dance” and it seems the Dalton area then was just large enough to allow three businesses of each category to be going. For dancing instruction the three listings were the Creative Arts Guild, which had ballet and dance lessons all the way back in the 1960s; the Sandra Lee School of Dance, which included adult classes for ballet and jazz, because dance isn’t just for kids; and the Linda Ray Academy of Dance.
Apart from teaching so many of our locals dance, Linda Ray was also Dalton’s first movie star as far as I know. She had a quick cameo in the surprise hit “Walking Tall” (the original, not the recent “Rock” remake). Linda Ray’s daughter Ryan has continued to teach dance in the area, teaching students of students.
One thing all kids have is teeth, so while in the D’s I took a look at the dentists. I remember most of the names even if I didn’t go to them all.
Scary enough and overdoing it
1976 was more than 40 years ago so I’m not sure any of these dentists are still practicing. Here’s the list, so see if your dentist is on there: Burnside, Clark, Conger, DeArmas, Falls, Felker, Grant, Gregory, Harder, Holweger, Hunnicut, James, Kaufman, Patterson, Steele, Turner and Zimbrick.
I remember one or two of the dentists had offices downtown on the second floor of some of the buildings. As a kid I thought it was scary enough going to the dentist, but to have to climb those dark stairs up toward that door at the top was overdoing it as far as I was concerned.
Most now are gone
Still in the D’s we next have department stores. Some were national chains and some were local downtown. Some moved to Walnut Square Mall in the ’80s as anchor stores, and most now are gone.
In 1976 there were Belk, Big K, Bill’s Dollar Store, Cannon’s Department Store (Cannon’s on the corner!, which dates back to the 1800s), Chatsworth Bargain Store, Economy Dept. Store (“Clothing for the Entire Family”), Family Dollar Stores, Garmany’s (mainly menswear), Gibson’s, Lay’s (I had forgotten about them), Penney’s (including catalog shopping), Sears Roebuck and Co. (yes, Virginia, there used to be a Roebuck), Thomason & Co. (featuring Star Brand Shoes) and, for fancy-schmancy clothes, Rich’s telephone shopping for Atlanta with a toll-free 800 number to call.
Well-remembered eating spots
Apart from dental work and clothes, what else was important? Food! You’ve got homemade, which means you needed to get groceries somewhere, and then there was eating out, which meant going to a local restaurant.
There’s too many grocery stores to mention them all but I’ll hit a few that I remember myself, although one item of note … in 1976 there was still one grist mill listed: Ridley Bros. Grist Mill.
For the grocery stores, superettes and convenience stores we had A&S Super Market, Big Apple, Big Star Foods, Bryant Grocery and Service Station (you could get chili and gas there), and at that time we had Calfee’s Minute Markets, with their white and red color scheme, scattered around everywhere, with the highest number listed here being #20 on South Dixie Highway (Highway 41 south of town).
There was the Chek-Rite Super Market on Morris Street, the Country Shop south of town, Cox’s One-Stop, Dawnville Grocery and Hardware (still there), Deep Springs Grocery and four Four-Way Markets. There was Grant’s Stop Shop in Rocky Face and three Green Spots at that time. There was the original on Emery, #3 was on Fifth Avenue and is still a grocery store today, and Green Spot #2 was on Cleveland Highway and had the best magazine rack of the three stores.
There was Hillbilly Grocery and Pioneer Superette, King’s Market, Kroger was here then, and south of town was Lucille’s grocery where my grandfather had his bologna custom sliced to size from a giant bologna in the butcher cooler. Lucille also had a cheese wheel where you could get a wedge wrapped in butcher paper to take home. Chatsworth had a Piggly Wiggly and we had Midget’s Grocery Store and also Shorty’s (where you could get fish bait as well as people food), Pop’s Superette and S&W Food Lane. There were two 7-11 food stores and both of those buildings are still in use.
For restaurants when you got to eat out, there were some well-remembered eating spots in town. Many are gone now, but some of the chains are still around such as Hardee’s, Krystal, Burger King, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, one Waffle House (#95 out of 1,971 now!) and Cracker Barrel, although some are at different locations than then, and most have multiple locations now.
For the local places that are still around, we have The Oakwood, the Big V Drive-in and Village Cafeteria in Chatsworth, Curt’s and the Cremo Drive-In. I hope I didn’t leave out any old-timers.
Fast-food places that are gone now included Burger Chef (and Jeff!), Maryland Fried Chicken, Long John Silver’s and A&W Root Beer Drive-In. The Chat ’N Chew was still around, the Dari-Dip and up to five! Chili Dog Diners were around. For pizza there were two The Pizza House locations and of course there was Rudolph’s Pizza around then. We went Friday nights after local football games.
Another favorite I went to then was the US Cafe. One thing that seems missing now is the local motels had restaurants in them then, places like the Holiday Inn and The Scarlett Dining Room at the Ramada Inn Hilltop. At those places you would see businessmen eating and having meetings wearing suits.
There’s an ad for the one Mexican restaurant in 1976, Harold’s Taco Hacienda. Harold was a pioneer, but he couldn’t hold a candle to the places we have now. It’s a sign of those times; in the ad for Harold’s, the Mexican gentleman featured in the artwork is actually smoking a cigarette.
There was a Davis Bros. Cafeteria at the Davis Bros. Motel at Connector 3, and for a reasonably-priced steak there was the Bonanza Sirloin Pit Restaurant on Walnut. The fanciest dining experience was at the Cellar, in the cellar of the Hotel Dalton, aka as the Landmark Building, downtown. It was highly rated in travel magazines. And at some of the motels and restaurants there were cocktail bars and lounges. When I saw the sign “lounge” I figured that meant it was a cocktail bar with live music.
Our common-man histories
I’ve hit some of the high spots of the Yellow Pages in hopes of bringing back some memories for folks that were around back then. I will avoid the bulk of the Yellow Pages entries that had to do with … surprise, surprise … the carpet industry. The listings under carpet, rug and textile would fill a, well, a phone book!
Keep an eye out for old magazines, phone books and newspapers, they are our common-man histories.