Les Jones: Swank Pad's Knoxville Then and Now

July 26, 2005

East Tennessee > Swank Pad's Knoxville Then and Now

Swank Pad's Knoxville Then and Now is a collection of old postcards and brochures, with pictures of the sites today. Click on the postcards for more information about each place.

Especially check out the Biltmore Tourist Court, Sharp's Motel, and Colonial Tourist Court. They were all Kingston Pike motels, and all but Sharp's were clustered on the Sequoia Hills end. The Colony Tourist Court became Colony Square. Sharp's Motel and Grill is now Ali Baba's Time Out Deli. Is the Biltmore Court sign still there?

Swank Pad also has pictures of the Terrace View motel that used to sit near the top of Bearden Hill. The hotel wasn't much, but the location was fairly dramatic. I had a dream once that combined that location with an old court-style motel and diner, with a tree-lined drive that went up the hill and wrapped around like the UT hill. In the dream it was just some place I went to eat on my lunchbreak.

I remember when McKay's Used Books was Pero's, but I don't remember the Dixieland. Bill's Drive-In would have been right across the street. It sure looked interesting.

Vanishing 1950s America has tidbits from all over Tennessee. Hwy 11 covers the section from Knoxville to Bristol. I remember Helma's restaurant. My family made a special trip to eat there in the '70s. Good stuff.

Posted by lesjones

Comments

The remains of the Bill's Drive-In bldg was there until at least the late 80's, if memory is serving me correctly. That half mile or so stretch of Kingston Pike around Opals had great ruins when I was growing up.

Btw -- Swank Pad is Tim Glasner's site. Dunno if you know him off the top of your head, but I suspect you've met him numerous times, that being Knoxville and all. He's a real character.

Posted by: Steve K. at July 26, 2005

The Terrace View...isn't that near where the old Mexicali Rose used to be? I always wanted to try that place...

I saw on their site the photo of the Pioneer House - it's still wasting away on Alcoa Highway, I pass it all the time...

Posted by: Barry at July 26, 2005

Steve: I figured you knew that area pretty well. I may have met Tim, but didn't know his last name. Who would I have known him through?

Barry: Thank you, I was trying to remember the name of that restaurant. Steve and I spent a summer in Carrizozo, New Mexico studying spiders for a UT professor. The woman who cooked for (owned?) the Mexicali Rose was supposedly from Carrizozo. The restaurant moved down to Papermill for a while, next to the old Quarterback Pizza.

Posted by: Les Jones at July 26, 2005

That's right..I remember seeing it there a couple of times. It still looked like a dive, even on Papermill. I haven't driven by there lately, but I think I remember hearing it's out of bizness.

And who can blame it when there are so many other more authentic Mexican restaurants around like, you know, Cozymel. And Taco Bell...

Posted by: Barry at July 27, 2005

Heh.

You know, I'm surprised no one has bought the Pioneer House property. It's been sitting idle for a couple of decades, and Motor Mile real estate has to be worth a pretty penny. A few months ago they bulldozed a perfectly good brick bank practically across the street from the Pioneer House to make way for something else.

Posted by: Les Jones at July 27, 2005

It does seem strange. I wonder who owns the property?

And it's hard to believe that a restaurant there couldn't make it, with that kind of decor, yet RJ's is still going strong at perpetual half-emptiness.

Posted by: Barry at July 27, 2005

This is the way the world should be. If I had a time machine...

Posted by: Chris Range at August 02, 2005