Tag: smyrna

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” →

If I Only Had a TARDIS

So here’s a silly April Fool’s Day look at what I’d do if I could traverse time and space for a few meals. Here are some real places, sadly lost to time, that I either genuinely miss or never got the opportunity to try, and I could perhaps revisit with the assistance of a good time machine. I’ll take a stolen Type 40 that answers to the name “Sexy,” please. Continue reading “If I Only Had a TARDIS” →

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” →

Chef La’s Fish Fry, Smyrna GA

Last month, I dropped by Chef La’s Fish Fry in Smyrna for lunch. It’s on South Cobb Drive between the East-West Connector and 285 in a below-street level strip mall that also houses one of the region’s many Monterrey restaurants. I believe they opened last summer, and the “meet cute” story (as the late, great Roger Ebert would have called it) about how the happy couple who own this business got together is so darn cute that it is printed in great detail on one of the interior walls. Since the fish is fried to order, guests will have time to read the wall while waiting for their meal. Continue reading “Chef La’s Fish Fry, Smyrna GA” →

Photo Post 16: South Cobb Drive

There used to be a great site called Not Fooling Anybody. It’s been stuck on this “Please Stand By” page for years, but some of its backmatter still exists if you play on the Wayback Machine. Our friend David recently reminded us of this hobby that we love – spotting and documenting conversions of old restaurants and businesses – when he found a newer, similar site, Used to Be a Pizza Hut. I figured there were a couple of converted Pizza Huts that I could shoot for these guys. Then I figured that a few more things stood out in my memory, and they’re all on the same stretch of road. Well, almost. Continue reading “Photo Post 16: South Cobb Drive” →

Umezono, Smyrna GA (CLOSED)

There’s a strip mall at the intersection of US-41 and Windy Hill in Smyrna that’s been there forever. It’s been home to many things over the years, including at least one strip club, a venerable country-western bar called The Buckboard, and the Lionel Play World which, one fine day in 1982, received a gigantic truckload of three year-old French-Canadian Mego superhero dolls and priced ’em for $1.89 apiece (happy days!). Continue reading “Umezono, Smyrna GA (CLOSED)” →