“Back in da day” Johnson C. Smith University Student Hangouts
Do you remember Johnson’s Café, Veteran’s Grill, Club Ballet and the Excelsior Club? Harry T. Webb, freshman class 1953, sure does. He remembers card playing on the second floor and treating a young lady to ice cream on the first floor of Johnson Café. Webb loved the hot burgers, cold beer and live music at the Veteran’s Grill. According to Webb, Club Ballet and the Excelsior Club may have been located off Beatties Ford Rd but only the sophisticated people made it in the Excelsior Club. Where were your hangouts when you where at Smith?
2 Responses to ““Back in da day” Johnson C. Smith University Student Hangouts”
imabull67 says: My memories are from the mid-60s, highlighted by going to the movies on BF Rd…THE RITZ & THE GRAND…the latter was directly across the street. That’s where I saw “Lawrence of Arabia” and ” Cleopatra” with Liz Taylor. There were no mall theaters back then & even if there were, JCSU students couldn’t attend because of segregation…once Charlotte desegregated, we still couldn’t go frequently because our pockets were empty.
Pizza & delivery service food didn’t exist. When we were hungry after the cafeteria closed on campus, we’d walk down W. Trade to a metal hut named Mitch’s Kitchen…its chicken wasn’t killed…Smith students use to say that Mitch’s chicken just rolled over and died. But with a two piece dark with fried & alas selling for $1.29, not too many of us complained…plus we never knew anyone who died from that greasy, crusty gospel bird. Mitch’s was located where the Mosaic Village is being built.
There was no student union…that opened in my senior year…’67. We hung out in the canteen in the basement of Biddle Hall…play the jukebox, eat cheeseburgers, if Momma sent your monthly allowance, hang out on the block looking at “the chick” and lying about one thing or another.
Social outlets were few and far between…students with cars almost didn’t exist and there were definetly no BMWs, Benzeses, or Cadillacs cruising through the campus. Heck, a ’50s Chevy or Plymouth made the owner “King of the Hill!” A real good weekend consisted of packing into a jalopy and riding to Concord’s Barber-Scotia College for Friday Fun Night!
College days were the best days of my life…I was on a football scholarship…I had 3 hits and a cot…I used the payphone on the dormitory wall @ five cents a call…hat water and heat didn’t cost me a thing and when I wiped my mouth, my family was fed. That was “the good life”.
I’ll come back with more “back in da day” stories as my memory returns…I think it will return.
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gguffey says:
Thank you for your post. You are the first of what the committee hopes are many to share about memories from JCSU. It is great to hear about your Golden Bull Pride! All alumni are to be invited soon.
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My memories are from the mid-60s, highlighted by going to the movies on BF Rd…THE RITZ & THE GRAND…the latter was directly across the street. That’s where I saw “Lawrence of Arabia” and ” Cleopatra” with Liz Taylor. There were no mall theaters back then & even if there were, JCSU students couldn’t attend because of segregation…once Charlotte desegregated, we still couldn’t go frequently because our pockets were empty.
Pizza & delivery service food didn’t exist. When we were hungry after the cafeteria closed on campus, we’d walk down W. Trade to a metal hut named Mitch’s Kitchen…its chicken wasn’t killed…Smith students use to say that Mitch’s chicken just rolled over and died. But with a two piece dark with fried & alas selling for $1.29, not too many of us complained…plus we never knew anyone who died from that greasy, crusty gospel bird. Mitch’s was located where the Mosaic Village is being built.
There was no student union…that opened in my senior year…’67. We hung out in the canteen in the basement of Biddle Hall…play the jukebox, eat cheeseburgers, if Momma sent your monthly allowance, hang out on the block looking at “the chick” and lying about one thing or another.
Social outlets were few and far between…students with cars almost didn’t exist and there were definetly no BMWs, Benzeses, or Cadillacs cruising through the campus. Heck, a ’50s Chevy or Plymouth made the owner “King of the Hill!” A real good weekend consisted of packing into a jalopy and riding to Concord’s Barber-Scotia College for Friday Fun Night!
College days were the best days of my life…I was on a football scholarship…I had 3 hits and a cot…I used the payphone on the dormitory wall @ five cents a call…hat water and heat didn’t cost me a thing and when I wiped my mouth, my family was fed. That was “the good life”.
I’ll come back with more “back in da day” stories as my memory returns…I think it will return.
Thank you for your post. You are the first of what the committee hopes are many to share about memories from JCSU. It is great to hear about your Golden Bull Pride! All alumni are to be invited soon.