Photo Post 25: (from 2008) Dead Mall in Corncob – The Belmont Hills Story

(This post is a reprint of one that I had shared at my old semi-private Livejournal in 2008 and documents the last days of a once-popular enormous shopping center in Smyrna GA.)

The bulldozers will be moving into Belmont Hills later this summer. The venerable strip mall, which opened in 1950, is said to have been the first shopping center of its kind in the region, attracting tour buses from miles and miles away. The area has been decaying for years, and it will soon be bulldozed and replaced with a development of about a thousand condos and townhomes, shops and offices. So before it went, my older son and I went there for one last look at this dying Georgia landmark.

Continue reading “Photo Post 25: (from 2008) Dead Mall in Corncob – The Belmont Hills Story” →

Photo Post 24: Wayne-o-Rama, Chattanooga TN

Artist Wayne Wright has a small but delightful space in Chattanooga’s Southside Historic District. Through September, you can tour this quirky and beautiful gallery of offbeat sculptures and maybe catch a live show. Continue reading “Photo Post 24: Wayne-o-Rama, Chattanooga TN” →

Photo Post 23: Sir Goony’s in Knoxville

It’s been far too long since I last ran around a mini-golf course taking some snapshots. Goony Golf was a just-this-shy-of-trademark-infringement imitation of Goofy Golf, and the name was later changed to Sir Goony’s, probably when somebody’s lawyers started clearing their throats. In late 2013, we visited the Sir Goony’s in Chattanooga, and finally made time to visit its sister location in Knoxville a couple of months ago. Continue reading “Photo Post 23: Sir Goony’s in Knoxville” →

Photo Post 22: Repurposed Shrimp Boats in Smyrna GA

A couple of months ago, I spent two hours on a Sunday morning driving around some well-worn corridors in Cobb County, taking some photos for Not Fooling Anybody – all of you should do that – and I was reminded that I had been intending to come by on a Sunday and get some more pics of Dupsie’s, a clothing store on South Cobb that had once been a Shrimp Boats. The building was erected in 1970. Continue reading “Photo Post 22: Repurposed Shrimp Boats in Smyrna GA” →

Photo Post 21: Dinosaur World, Cave City KY

I try not to type much when we make one of these sporadic photo posts, but here’s the deal. Normally, we’d have thought about something closer to home rather than making two long trips to western Kentucky in one year, but back in June, I drove past Dinosaur World and figured that our four year-old might enjoy that. Then I had a couple of very promising meals in the region and started putting money in the breadbox for a return trip. This turned out to be a really, really good idea. Sadly, the girlchild missed out on the fun – we said goodbye to her in the parking lot – but her younger brother had more fun than you thought possible on this trip, with several kid-friendly stops punctuating the restaurants. We even got to see a dimetrodon! (Although not, sadly, a fire-breathing one.) Continue reading “Photo Post 21: Dinosaur World, Cave City KY” →

Photo Post 20: Repurposed Shrimp Boats in Florida

A couple of years ago, one of our readers let us know that there had been a Shrimp Boats restaurant on US-19 in Florida, on the stretch north of Tampa between the towns of Hollywood and Tarpon Springs. Well, I said, that sounds like a stretch of a road that we will never visit. Well, never say never, because, as you’ll see in the next chapter, we went to visit Tarpon Springs, and so I looked up that business. It’s currently the home of Sunray Auto Sales, and the somewhat bemused proprietors did not object to me wandering around their property taking pictures. Continue reading “Photo Post 20: Repurposed Shrimp Boats in Florida” →

Photo Post 19: Repurposed Shrimp Boats in Decatur GA

I’ve been telling myself for a really long time to get over to this former Shrimp Boats at 2139 Lawrenceville Highway in Decatur and take some pictures of it. The one that accompanied our first story (linked above) was contributed by a reader. Last month, I stopped by to see it in person. Continue reading “Photo Post 19: Repurposed Shrimp Boats in Decatur GA” →