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Chapel Hill in the Era of Sex, Drugs, and Rock N' Roll
by Charly Mann
Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex playing at the Varsity Theater in 1973
The post Vietnam era of the 1970s was probably the least stressful time to live in Chapel Hill. It was the time of sex, drugs, and rock n roll. UNC students had little worry in those days about finding a good job after graduating. Most young people were carefree about sex, and there was no need for men to use condoms since every girl seemed to be on the pill and there was no AIDS .Chapel Hill even had a "massage" parlor on West Franklin street where men could pay to have sex for less than $50. Marijuana was plentiful and cheap, and for those with a little money cocaine was the drug of choice around town.
UNC students personifying the Sex, Drugs, and Rock N' Roll Era of the 1970s
The polyester Saturday Night Fever look did not take hold in Chapel Hill, but Disco music did in almost every bar and throughout campus. Lots of people danced, and though disco dancing really had little structure, everyone I knew, except for myself, was at least a good disco dancer.
Feet touching feet - 1970's UNC love
I remember girls wore less make up in the 1970s, but for some reason many wore flavored lip gloss.
David Honigmann's Leather Shop was one of the most popular Franklin Street businesses in the 1970s.
Though I have loved every decade I have lived in, the 1970s was the time I became an adult, bought a home, started a business, and got married. It was also a time everyone I knew in Chapel Hill seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Looking back at it I am sure we, and most of all our children, wonder how we ever had fun when there were no cell phones, texting, computers, iPods, or even video games. The big advancement in music in those days was that you could actually play your own music in your car with an 8 track or cassette player. Those wanting music on the go could buy a SONY WALKMAN - about the size and weight of a medium sized paperback book - which was simply a small portable cassette player you could strap on your arm or belt.
Michele Hurysz, UNC Class of 1979, known now as Mickey Mann, had a long career in marketing and sales at IBM, and now owns her own accounting firm in Austin, Texas.
On the minus side gas in the late 1970s did briefly reach a dollar a gallon in Chapel Hill, and that made many of us begin to think maybe there was something to worry about.
Troy's Stereo was a high end electronics store located in the center of Franklin Street in the 1970s. They were also the first business in Chapel Hill to sell pre-recorded cassettes.
Comments:
Neil Russell
6:18 PM Wed 3/30/2011
I shopped Troy's in the late 60s and early 70s. I had a crush on Ann Troy. I think the guy who ran the Chapel Hill location (they also had one in Durham) was Jim. First they were on W. Franklin, then on Columbia, across the alley behind the Bacchae Room. They and Vicker's were the only places to go.
Ed Funk
3:38 PM Tue 8/24/2010
FYI_I ran into David the Leathershop guy just a couple of weeks ago at Lowes so he's still around town somewhere. I spoke to him for just a bit about his shop and the New Establishment. He used to run a little booth at U. Mall at Christmas.
Clare Woolley Martin
10:25 PM Sat 8/14/2010
I love this site!!!!!!!! Thanks for doing it! What DID ever become of Dave Honigman???
A. Noble
1:22 PM Fri 8/13/2010
Was it sex, drugs, or rock and roll that made the people of Chapel Hill the happiest in the 1970s? I have always thought it was the fact that we were not fighting in any wars, and despite high inflation the economy was pretty good.
Stan Cable
5:06 PM Wed 8/11/2010
I do not think we need a Chapel Hill Museum as long as there is a Chapel Hill Memories. It has so much more content, depth, and variety than the museum ever had.
j byrd
6:45 AM Wed 8/11/2010
There is a guy that runs a kiosk inside University Mall. He looks just like the sandal maker. Next time I see him, I'll try to learn more and tell him about this website. Perhaps you could contact him thru the mall manager?
Charly Mann
9:26 PM Tue 8/10/2010
In answer to some of these comments:
I think it was Jim Steele who worked at and managed TROYS. As I recall he was from Statesville and later managed the independent movie theater in Durham, and I think Varsity for awhile too.
I have had dozens of e-mails om people asking about David Honigmann, and would love to hear from him, or someone could update me on his life. I know a little about of family and Chapel Hill upbringing, but not enough to write an article.
Ronnie (Ronald) Batson was the Chapel Hill psychiatrist I was talking to. He first laid eyes on his future wife at this party.Dale Krantz continues to be a wonderful person, and I am happy with all the success she has had with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Her sister, Maddie, is also a wonderful person and use to make incredible chicken-salad sandwiches.
Neil Russell
4:19 PM Tue 8/10/2010
Troy's was originally on Franklin, but about 1971, moved to Columbia St, across the alley behind the Zoom Zoom. There was a pretty blond woman who worked there, who, if memory serves me correctly, was Anne Troy. There was also a tall, slender bearded man working there. I want to say Jim, but I'm not sure. I loved spending time there, and at Vicker's.
Jack Graham
2:32 PM Tue 8/10/2010
As I recall in the late 1970s downtown Chapel Hill had at least five record stores, four head shops, and even a message parlor on West Franklin where sex was not free, but very inexpensive. So truly it was the time of Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll, and boy do I remember how well the three went together.
John Frank
5:49 PM Mon 8/9/2010
I think I was born a little late (1985) to enjoy this carefree time. Drugs are now expensive, good paying jobs in Chapel Hill are hard to find, and my tiny apartment rent is $760 a month.
MIke Jenner
4:28 PM Mon 8/9/2010
I have been curious about what became of David Honigmann for years. Do you or any of your readers have any information on him, and does he still make sandals?
Jessica Holmes
2:35 PM Mon 8/9/2010
Hello Charly,
You may not remember me, but I attended a party at your house in 1978 or 79. It was one of the most memorable evenings of my life. I was dating a guy who worked at the Record Bar, and he said he wanted to take me to a party at some rich's guy's bachelor pad. I'm not sure your place could be called a pad, but you seemed to have it all. I remember we got there well after dark and the place was way out in the country (in those days), but it was all lit up because you had a lighted tennis court where people were playing. We first went into a huge room that turned out to be an in-door swimming pool where several people were skinny dipping, and it contained a large jukebox that was blaring music. We then went into the main part of the house where I met you for the first time, and recall you were talking to a guy who later became a Chapel Hill psychiatrist. Your house really blew me away. I recall you had a huge room that was surrounded by shelves of records, and it also contained pinball machines and a pool table. In another part of the house I think you had a movie theater where a lot of people were watching a movie.
I also met your girlfriend, Dale Krantz, at the party. I think you had just produced an album she sang on. I was surprised that a couple of years later she married Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd , still one of my favorite bands. I think Dale (Rossington) has been the chick singer for Skynyrd now for over 25 years.
Check out our other website:
Investment strategies and advice about Apple Inc. and related technology companies by Charly Mann. www.appleinvesting.com
Investment strategies and advice about Apple Inc. and related technology companies by Charly Mann. www.appleinvesting.com
Chapel Hill is located on a hill whose only distinguishing feature in the 18th century was a small chapel on top called New Hope Chapel. This church was built in 1752 and is currently the location of The Carolina Inn. The town was founded in 1819, and chartered in 1851.
What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. or the crisp October nights. No, our love for this place is based upon the fact that it is as it was meant to be, The University of the People.
-- Charles Kuralt
Dark Side of the Hill -- Pink Floyd, the creators of the most popular album in history, Dark Side of the Moon, took the second half of their name from Floyd Council, a Chapel Hill native, and great blues singer and guitarist. He once belonged to a group called "The Chapel Hillbillies".
Check out Charly Mann's other website:
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
There would probably be no Chapel Hill if the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees in 1793 had not chosen land across from New Hope Chapel for the location of the university. By 1800 there were about 100 people living in thirty houses surrounding the campus.
The University North Carolina's first student was Hinton James, who enrolled in February, 1795. There is now a dormitory on the campus named in his honor.
The University of North Carolina was closed from 1870 to 1875 because of lack of state funding.
William Ackland left his art collection and $1.25 million to Duke University in 1940 on the condition that he would be buried in the art museum that the University was to build with his bequest. Duke rejected this condition even though members of the Duke Family are buried in Duke Chapel. What followed was a long and acrimonious legal battle between Ackland relatives who now wanted the inheritance, Rollins College, and the University of North Carolina, each attempting to receive the funds. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and in 1949 UNC was awarded the money for the museum. Ackland is buried near the museum's entrance. When the museum first opened, in the early sixties, there were rumors that his remains were leaking out of the mausoleum.
The official name of the Arboretum on the University of North Carolina campus is the Coker Arboretum. It is named after Dr. William Cocker, the University's first botany professor. It occupies a little more than five acres. It was founded in 1903.
Chapel Hill's main street has always been called Franklin Street. It was named after Benjamin Franklin in the early 1790s.
Chapel Hill High School and Chapel Hill Junior High were on Franklin Street in the same location as University Square until the mid 1960s.
The Colonial Drug Store at 450 West Franklin Street was owned and operated by John Carswell. It was famous for a fresh-squeezed carbonated orange beverage called a "Big O". In the early 1970s, I managed the Record and Tape Center next door, and must have had over 100 of those drinks. The Colonial Drug Store closed in 1996.
Sutton's Drugstore, which opened in 1923, has one of the last soda fountains in the South. It is one of the few businesses remaining on Franklin Street that was in operation when I was growing up in the 1950s.
Future President Gerald Ford lived in Chapel Hill twice. First when he was 24, in 1938, he took a law couse in summer school at UNC. He lived in the Carr Building, which was a law school dormitory. At the same time, Richard Nixon, the man he served under as Vice President, was attending law school at Duke. In 1942, Ford returned to Chapel Hill to attend the U.S. Navy's Pre-Flight School training program. He lived in a rental house on Hidden Hills Drive.
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Thank you for the article. I've never been to Chapel Hill but met David Honigman in the late 60-ties in a very different part of the world. An e-mail address will be welcome, just to know how he is doing after so many years.