by Charly Mann

During the first 16 years of my life The Goody Shop was a Chapel Hill institution, yet I must confess I do not think I was aware of it during those years. Since starting Chapel Hill Memories ten months ago more than two dozen readers have suggested I write about this long forgotten restaurant. On every occasions I confessed my lack of knowledge, and suggested they were better qualified to write a piece on it, but sadly no one accepted my offer and I have now taken on the task of preserving the memory of this place.

Pete and Spero Dotron on The Goody Shop of Chapel Hill logo

Spero Dorton opened the Goody Shop in 1948 and it was located on the south side of Franklin Street near the Carolina Theater. During the 1950’s it was the most popular place on Franklin Street to hang out at. It sold more beer than any restaurant or bar in town, had incredible cheeseburgers, and almost the only subject for conversation there was UNC Sports. Spero had passion for Carolina basketball and football, and both teams had their dinners there before all home games.

Smoking and enjoying a beer and two beautiful UNC coeds at the Goody Shop in Chapel Hill in 1962

The head waiter at the Goody Shop was large black man named Bozo. He would flip you double or nothing for your bill. If you lost you paid double, if you won he paid your bill. Spero's father, Pete, was the main cook at the restaurant and often dripped ashes from the cigars he smoked into the food. In those days students did not have credit cards, and Spero would allow them to sign a little I.O.U. note called a chit. Many students left UNC owing Spero hundreds of dollars.

UNC students enjoying beer at the Goody Shop in 1955. Note typical student attire of the time and girl to boy ratio.

Tar Heel athletes and coaches were regulars at the Goody Shop. Legendary basketball coaches Frank McGuire and Dean Smith were friends of Spero's and ate there often. A former UNC student, Hal Kushner who is now an ophthalmologist in Florida, remembers Spero was talented at writing comic poetry and that Sports Illustrated even published a couplet he sent in after they did a feature on UNC basketball star Lenny Rosenbluth saying he was overrated. Spero wrote the magazine: “come on Sports Illustrated tell the truth/what have you got against Rosenbluth?”

UNC Basketball coach Frank McGuire in 1953. He was a regular at The Goody Shop.

From the  time The Goody Shop first opened in 1948 and throughout its first decade 75% of its sales were in beer, and by far the most popular beer was Pabst Blue Ribbon. Beer was served in bottles which students delighted in peeling the labels off of as they became more intoxicated. By the mid 1960s this trend was reversed and food sales were 80% of their sales and beer only 20%. In the 1950s many students formed drinking clubs that would meet at the Goody Shop after classes to drink beer. Spero said students simply drank more beer in those days because many of them were older and veterans of World War II or the Korean War. The Goody Shop closed every evening at 11 PM, but they had a back room where a poker game was usually played until the wee hours of morning.

We believe this is Bozo who worked at The Goody Shop driving this car in a parade in front of the Tin Can at UNC in 1949 

The Goody Shop like many other Chapel Hill cultural landmarks was a causality of the high rents on Franklin Street and the changes of time. By the late 60s when the Goody Shop closed "beer" bars had sprouted up all over downtown, and a restaurant where you could have a beer with fries and a cheeseburger seemed antiquated. After the Goody Shop closed Spero Dorton went into the real estate business in Durham, and Bozo got a job at UNC's Memorial Hospital.

This is a rare 1921 photo of Franklin Street. Note the name of this business is The Goody Shop. I assume Spero Dorton bought this establishment in 1948 and made it into a restaurant.

by Charly Mann

In 1969 Hector's restaurant opened at the corner of Henderson and Franklin Street, across from the Chapel Hill Post Office. It served a unique variety of high quality fast food at great prices and was huge success the first few years it was open. Lines of people waiting to order often stretched far out their doors.

Less than forty years ago dogs ran free in downtown Chapel Hill and Hector's was the most popular fast food restaurant in town. This photo was taken at Harry's and the downtown Post Office and a Hector's sign is in the distance.

The people who owned Hector's were Greek, as well as many of the people who worked there. It was originally owned and managed by Pete Galifinakis. Though many refer to it as a Greek restaurant, it was actually more American. They had by far the best hot dogs, fries, and cheeseburgers ever served in Chapel Hill. They were also open 24 hours a day during most of their existence (the only Franklin Street business to do so during most of the 1970s).

In their early years Hector's could do no wrong. The restaurant was well-managed, service was great, prices were incredible, it was clean, and most of the food was amazing. It seemed that their concept was so good that a chain of Hector's could have been launched that would have been as successful as Subway or Starbucks. Alas Hector's stumbled, and quality and cleanliness declined by the mid-seventies. At the same time an array of sub and sandwich shops, as well as other all day eateries sprang up downtown. Hector's eventually got back in its groove in the late 1980s and a new generation of UNC students became enamored by its food and charm. Gyros and Souvlaki became the most poplular fare among their customers. They also gained a reputation for their great Greek grilled cheese wraps and extra sweet iced tea.

The best of all possible worlds - late Spring on the lawn at McCorkle Place on the UNC campus with two of Chapel Hill's all time favorite restaurants, Hector's and the Dairy Bar, behind.  

About ten years ago Hector's moved from its original location at 201 E Franklin St. to the basement below Zogs Pool Hall on Henderson Street. A few years later Hector's closed, and the restaurant that had been famous since 1969 was no more. Hector's still has a rabid and loyal following who decry its passing as much as others bemoan the loss of the Ram's Head Rathskeller. Now that the Varsity Theater has been resurrected, perhaps the town of Chapel Hill will help some entrepreneurs bring back both of these landmarks.

Hector's sign and those of competing businesses on Franklin street 1973
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HECTOR'S RULES!  famous since 1969

1. Unless you are sleeping with the help, no free food.
2. No, the napkin holders are not yours to keep.
3. The tip jar is your friend.
4. No one here is actually called "Hector".
5. Do not hurl objects from the windows.
6. Do not hurl.
7. The Bathroom sinks and stalls are not removable.
8. The Gyro is seasoned lamb, not human thigh.
9. You breaks in line, we breaks you face.
10. 30 minutes in line is more than enough time to decide what you want.
11. Everything is better on pita.
12. Tradziki sauce (sod-zee-kee) - the white stuff - is good on absolutely everything!
13. No Coke ... Pepsi, Pepsi.
14. This is not a fat free restaurant.
15. If the employees look like they've been here all night, it's because they have been.
16. Only the best take it ALL THE WAY!
17. Regular is for the average, large is for the thirsty, and medium just plain doesn't exist.
18. Pitas, although not smooth in texture, still make excellent Frisbees.
19. Thou shall not steal someone else's food.
20. Why take TIME OUT for SUBS when HECTOR'S RULES!

by Charly Mann

The Rat in 1963 (burgundy was a popular color than year)

The Ram's Head Rathskeller, better known as “The Rat” opened in 1948 by Ted Danziger. For much of its history there were long lines in Amber Alley waiting for seating at peak lunch and dinner hours. The Rat had everything, a variety of great food, impecable service, and an atmosphere of romance, and Chapel Hill tradition.

The Rat was the first of at least four incredible restaurants owned and operated by Danziger, including The Ranch House, the Zoom Zoom, and the Villa Teo. The Rat was located in what was originally a dilapidated basement under a successful gift and candy store owned by Ted’s parents, called DANZIGER’S. That business was started in 1939, and occupied the location that had been Gooch's Restaurant. The Rat’s food was incredible. They were famous for an array of specialties including their chewy steak called The Gambler, which was served on a sizzling iron plate. They also had the first, and many say the best, pizza in Chapel Hill, as well as incredible lasagna. Their most popular drink was not beer, but the sweetest ice tea you can imagine, served in large pitchers. Their signature desert was  great apple pie which one could watch warming from a window in Amber Alley. It was usually served with cheese or vanilla ice cream.

The Rat in 1950, then only two years old

Ted oversaw The Rat and The Ranch House until he died in 1965. His wife Bibi continued and expanded the Danziger Empire, while maintaining the standards Ted had established. Unfortunately neither of their sons, Avery or Randy seemed to have restaurant genes, and after Bibi’s death the restaurant fortunes declined until it closed in 2008.

I started going to The Rat when I was about five, and continued doing so as often as I could during the next fifty plus years. I had my first date there when I was in the fourth grade with Brook Barnes, and in the sixth grade convinced Terry Boyce to go there with me. Remarkably the wait staff never seemed to change or age, and included great men like Kenny Mann Sr., Ulysses Cozart, and Jim Cotton. 
 

by Charly Mann

1926 saw the birth of famous Tarheel Andy Griffith, as well as Fidel Castro, Marilyn Monroe, and Hugh Hefner. Also in 1926, Chapel Hill welcomed the opening of the first restaurant that offered food that was not traditionally Southern. The name of the restaurant was HARRY’S, and the owner was Harry Stern. Though not an authentic deli or coffee shop, its culinary offerings had a combination bohemian and New York City flare.

HARRY'S ad from 1936 when it was owned by original owner Harry Stern

The first location of HARRY'S was across the street from where Four Corners restaurant is now located. In 1927 it moved down Franklin Street next to the Carolina Theater (now the location of The Gap). Harry Stern's brother-in-law Harry Macklin bought the restaurant in 1939, and conveniently its name still fit. This was a challenging time to get into the restaurant business with the Depression in full swing and most males leaving Chapel Hill after 1942 to serve in World War II. Macklin sold the restaurant in 1944, and it had one more owner after that until it finally closed in 1952.

HARRY's ad from 1943 just before Harry Macklin sold  the business in 1944

In 1954 Harry Macklin reopened HARRY'S on the north side of Franklin Street just a few doors west of the Post Office. In 1960 it moved just a few doors east to the location most of us remember as HARRY'S at 175 East Franklin Street next to the downtown Post Office. Throughout the sixties HARRY’S was the intellectual and radical hub of Chapel Hill. It was at its booths that protest leaders planned demonstrations against segregation, the war in Vietnam, and the Speaker Ban Law which forbid anyone to speak at UNC who had a connection to any left wing organization that was deemed subversive.

HARRY'S in 1957, then in the location that became the Fireside in 1960  

I started eating at HARRY'S when I was eleven in 1960. It was the favorite restaurant of my Godfather, Bob Pace, and had one of the least expensive menus in town. I recall my first meal there being a disappointment though. I saw on the menu something called Salisbury steak which I wrongly assumed was similar to T-Bone steak. Sadly, as I learned, Salisbury steak is much more like plain hamburger. Over the next ten years I was involved in civil rights marches, sit-ins, and even became a UNC campus leader of the anti-war movement. HARRY'S is the only place I ever recall going for a meal with like-minded individuals in those days.

As the 1960's came to a close Harry Macklin's son, Ralph Macklin, became co-manager of the restaurant. Ralph has an effusive personality and a had great gift for culinary creativity. Under his guidance the food at HARRY'S got significantly better and  the sandwiches rivaled those of the best New York City Delis. During this time the patrons became more upscale, and  the long-haired-types began to be replaced by sorority girls, especially from the nearby Alpha Chi Omega house, as well as local architects, and students and faculty from the UNC Department of City and Regional planning.

HARRY'S from 1966

All good things come to an end, and HARRY’S closed its doors in April of 1972. If you want a small taste of HARRY'S make yourself a sandwich that Ralph invented called The High Rise. Just get five slices of your favorite bread and place a slice of ham, a slice of corned beef, and a slice of American cheese on one layer, then place some hot pastrami, chicken salad, and a slice of chopped liver on another. Finally place some tuna salad and a slice of Swiss American cheese on the last level.

See the following article for a profile of the Harry Macklin family:  http://www.chapelhillmemories.com/cat/2/75

For Chapel Hill residents and UNC students of the1960s and 70s no other bar in town was as quintessential as The Shack on Rosemary Street. It literally was an old shack that seemed to just barely be standing.

1966 Advertisement for The Shack

The Shack, Rosemary Street Chapel Hill

Jeff Seaton, who submitted this photo, was there the night The Shack closed in the late spring of 1979. He recalls seeing the owner/bartender, Wheaties, selling the last beer that night from the cooler. According to Seaton The Shack was especially popular with the frat and sorority crowd in the evenings. The afternoon crowd at the Shack   was much more local characters. Thel Jernigan who owned the bakery on Franklin known as Thel’s was a regular. People usually stood at the Shack but there were a few booths. Their shuffle board bowling machine was the most popular game and always utilized. Jeff said he often went to the Shack with fellow Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity brothers, and Chapel Hill residents, Jon Barrett (also known as Johnny) and Lennie Jernigan, Thel’s son.

The Shack was one of about a dozen Chapel Hill businesses that stayed segregated until the Civil Rights Act of July 2nd, 1964 became law

The Shack was one of the main locations for the sexploitation film, Three in the Attic, which was filmed in Chapel Hill in 1968.

One of the worst movies ever made, but it was filmed in Chapel Hill with some great scenes inside The Shack

by Charly Mann

From left to right, Gooch's Ads from 1912, 1905, and 1913

Gooch's Ad from February 1928

Over the last one hundred and twenty years more than 500 businesses have come and gone in downtown Chapel Hill. Many of the most popular ones of the past are less than a footnote in our history. While the University has always faithfully recorded its past through dozens of histories, the annual year book (The Yackety-Yack), and The Daily Tar Heel, very little documentation and recollections have been left about the growth and changes of our town. There were over a hundred prominent businesses that existed on Franklin Street between 1890 and 1955 that I have tried to get information on, such as their exact location, who owned them, an inside or outside photograph of the store, and a little history on the business, only to find that in most cases virtually no record exists.

One of the businesses that has particularly fascinated me is Gooch's Café. When I was very young I lived on North Street and my playmate was Dianne Gooch. I also attended the Little Red School House with her, and my father often remarked what a bright person "Girlie Gooch" was. When I was eight or nine, Vic Huggins, the owner of Huggins Hardware once walked me out the back of his store which was located at 105 East Franklin Street near the intersection of Franklin and North Columbia. He began telling me about the colonial style building across the the street called the Carl Smith Building. He recounted a number of stores that had been there when it first opened in 1949 (the year I was born) including one called Gooch's Café. Immediately I knew this must have some connection to my friend Dianne.

Me (Charly Mann) and Dianne Gooch (James's granddaughter) in 1951 in front of my house on North Street

This is the Carl Smith building on south Columbia Street. It opened in the summer of 1949. The building cost $75,000 to build. Gooch's was one of the original tenants. It also included a men's clothing store called The Sports Shop and the Western Union office. Gooch's Cafe had been located in a building on this same location in the 1930s.

Gooch's Café first opened in 1903, and was started by James Emmitt Gooch. He was born in 1871 not far from Oxford, North Carolina in Granville County. He had come to Chapel Hill as a young man and operated Chapel Hill's telegraph system in the late 1890s, and in 1901 installed its first telephone line. James was 32 when the restaurant first opened upstairs in the building that now houses Schoolkid's Records and the Carolina Coffee Shop. James and his wife, Amelia, worked from dawn to late in the evening preparing home cooked meals, primarily for Carolina students.

 
Gooch with an "e" Groceries and Cafe 1910. Gooch's moved to the north side of Franklin Street in 1916 next to the original PickwickTheater

James Gooch was determined to succeed in Chapel Hill's highly competitive and ever-changing restaurant business. Over the course of thirty-three years Gooch's was located in at least five different buildings including the current location of the Carolina Coffee Shop, two locations on the north side of Franklin Street, and finally on north Columbia Street. In the beginning it was more like a home apartment where you could go anytime of the day to have a home-cooked meal prepared. By 1910 the business had moved to a street level location on the south side of Franklin Street where Gooch's had a small convenience store in the front that sold food, magazines, sodas, wine, beer, tobacco, and newspapers, and a small sit down café in the back. In 1916 Gooch moved across Franklin Street, Sutton's location today, and became known for a couple of years as Gooch's Lunch Room.

Gooch's Cafe 1927 Ad

Gooch's was located on North Columbia Street in the 1930s, where it was primarily a small grocery store that offered hand made sandwiches, like a Deli or Subway, in the evenings. By the middle of the 1930's the United States was in the depth of the Great Depression. As a university town, Chapel Hill's economy was doing better than most of the state. As many out-of-work people came to town to start new restaurants. Competition became fierce for diners. The prices restaurants charged for meals soon became less than half what they were ten years earlier. At the Carolina Inn, for example, then considered the best and most upscale dining facility in town, you could get a full course meal for 25 cents.

Find the misspelled word(s) and win tickets to Ramona, November 1936

At the end of 1936 the three Gooch brothers, Charles, Floyd and Leon, combined with the Brooks family to make one last attempt at keeping the restaurant open.

Celebrating 25 years of Gooch's Cafe in 1928

James Gooch handed over his restaurant to his sons to run about 1934, but not even their hard work could save the business. The restaurant closed during the summer of 1937. James Gooch died in 1940. In November 1949 Gooch's briefly came back to life in the same location it had been in during the 1930s – this time on the ground floor of the new Carl Smith Building on North Columbia Street. This was a terrible time to open a restaurant. The number of restaurants in Chapel Hill was at an all time historical peak in proportion to the population. The restaurant closed in 1950.

Gooch's in their final days (October 1936) now located on South Columbia Street.

October 1927, Gooch's was still offering home-cooked meals any time of the day