The other day I decided to change the “In Memoriam” picture on the home page. In the past I dedicated it to brewers Arthur Guinness and Frederick Pabst, as well as Art Rooney, Sr., founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I thought about it for a while then decided on Horace McKennie, longtime bartender\waiter at Moe’s and Joe’s, a bar in Atlanta’s Virginia-Highlands area. The bar opened in 1947; Horace went to work there just a few days after it opened and worked there until he retired in the early 2000s. We went to Moe’s and Joe’s all the time in high school, not because they served us beer (in fact, we never even tried to get beer there), but because of the great food. You could get a “Moe-Joe Burger”, fries and a Coke in a glass bottle for less than $5 back then, plus we were always the “cool kids” that had to go to downtown Atlanta because just getting a burger somewhere near Gwinnett Place Mall just wasn’t “hip enough”. And it seems that Horance was always our waiter!
Anyway, while looking for a picture of Horace, I stumbled across a really cool site: the Atlanta Time Machine. The site’s circa-1997 web design isn’t all that great, but that’s not a problem. What’s cool there are the thousands of pictures of Atlanta from as early as 1900, as well as scans of ads for the original Underground Atlanta (which was actually worth going to) and the Clermont Lounge.
Check out some of these really cool pictures:
This is what Moe’s and Joe’s looked like back in 1949! The area really hasn’t changed that much, has it? One of the most interesting things about the ATM site is to see how much really hasn’t changed. Sure, most of the buildings in downtown have changed hands several times since the 30s and 40s, but you can look at the original pictures and ones taken in the past couple of years and see that the buildings haven’t really changed much. Sure, that high-rise was an insurance company in 1942 and is loft condos today… but the facade looks pretty much as it did it the 40s.
Here’s something really cool:
This is the very first Waffle House, located at 2719 East College Avenue in Decatur. This picture is from approximately 1965, which is ten years after this location opened on Labor Day in 1955. According to this page at the ATM site, as of 2005 the location was a run-down Chinese takeout place… however, according to this page at the Waffle House’s official website, it’s now the “Waffle House Museum”. I’ll have to check it out the next time I’m in the area!
Seriously, though… it’s an awesome site! I’ve kept a tab open in Firefox for the past few days and have found myself spending way too much time looking at the old photos!