by Charly Mann

In January of 1952, Dr. Isaac Taylor left his job at Harvard Medical School in Boston to become an assistant professor at the UNC School of Medicine. Ike and his wife Trudy, along with their four children, moved to the outskirts of Carrboro to a two story farmhouse off Old Greensboro Road near University Lake. The family was made up of three boys and one girl each born one year apart from 1947 to 1950. In birth order their names were Alex, James, Katherine, and Livingston. (An additional son was born later at Duke Hospital in 1952 – his name was Hugh).

Alex, James, and Kate with Livingston on Ike Taylor's  lap - June 1952 - Carrboro

From anecdotal information it seems that all of the Taylor children loved music from an early age and were somewhat precocious in their talent. For two of the kids, James and  Livingston, there was one contributing factor that may have put them on the road to musical stardom. It was the fact that the first song each leaned was the commercial jingle for Tube Rose Snuff. Liv says "I sang along in my crib with the Tube Rose Snuff commercial which was popular on the radio in the South…." James, as the recording you can listen to here claims, it was he, and not Liv, that was indoctrinated by this song. We can not say where the truth in the contentious controversy lies, but speculate that without their exposure to the Tube Rose Snuff song it is very possible that James and Liv might have followed their Dad into a medical career instead of becoming professional musicians.

James and Livingston Taylor's Tube Rose Snuff 

Lest you think that the snuff commercial dispute has created a schism between the two brothers, the additional interview you can listen to here, as well as a duet Livingston and James performing City Lights at Martha's Vineyard in 1981, indicate the rift has been healed.

For you snuff commercial fans I can tell you that when I was young, (I am the same age as Kate Taylor), I recall hearing the Tube Rose Snuff jingle many times on the Arthur Smith Show which was broadcast on WFMY, Channel 2, in Greensboro during much of the 1950's. Arthur Smith and his band, the Crackerjacks, would perform the song at least once every show. As I recall, the Smith show was actually taped in Charlotte and re-broadcast on WFMY. In addition the show was recorded for radio and broadcast from Durham.

Arthur Smith and the Crackerjacks - The group that sang the Tube Rose Snuff jingle

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by Charly Mann

In 1818 there were only two stores and one tavern on Franklin Street along with about a dozen houses. The tavern was called Hilliard’s and the names of the businesses were Trice’s and Tom Taylor’s store. As late as 1898 much of what is now the central business district of downtown Chapel Hill was still farmland. From where the Carolina Coffee Shop is today to Columbia Street and south to where the Ackland Art Museum stands was a farm surrounded by a cornfield. It was not until 1907 that this land was divided up and sold into commercials lots.

This is Spencer Dorm facing the Chapel of the Cross  in 1926. This is the "new"  larger chapel for the church and was built in 1926. Spencer was the first women's dormitory on the UNC campus and had just been built. It was not until the following year that it was named Spencer in honor of Cornelia Phillips Spencer. (This photo was taken from the lawn of the President's house.)

Before 1900 few people would venture out after dark in town. Not only were there no electric lights anywhere in Orange County, but also there was not even a single kerosene lantern on the streets or walkways of Chapel Hill. Finally in 1920 electric lampposts were installed around the UNC campus, and in 1927 twelve similar street lamps were placed from Raleigh Street to Columbia Street on the north side of Franklin Street. That same year the main part of Franklin Street was also paved.

Elm tree along path at the University of North Carolina in 1925 

One of the most beautiful sights in Chapel Hill in the 19th century was a row of elm trees that aligned Franklin Street, but by 1927 there were all dying and were removed and replaced with new trees spaced evenly between the new lampposts.

This is Phillips Hall on the UNC campus which was built in 1920. My father, William Robert Mann (1920 - 2007), was a mathamatics professor at the Univesity, and had his office and taught his classes in this building.This photo was taken in 1926. Behind Phillips in this picture is the original Memorial Hall which was built in 1885 and demolished in 1930 because it was unsafe.

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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

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by Charly Mann

What makes Chapel Hill great is the people, and great people usually come from incredible families. The Harry and Sybil Macklin family was one of these. Besides owning and running one of most quintessential Chapel Hill eateries, they produced three remarkable children: Ralph, Arlene, and Rosalie.

Harry (and later Ralph) Macklin House on Noble Street in downtown Chapel Hill

Ralph has made his mark on Chapel Hill in a variety of ways from restaurateur and top-notch poker player, to one of the most lighthearted souls to inhabit the Southern Part of Heaven. I also know several very bright people who knew him well who say he is incredibly smart. Ralph graduated from UNC with a degree in Industrial Relations.

Ralph Macklin, Chapel Hill High School 1957 Senior picture

His sister Arlene is also very bright, but my impression is that she is much more practical and focused than her brother. I started noticing Arlene when I was in the 7th grade at Chapel Hill Junior High School and she was an 11th grader at the High School next door. She made an indelible impression because she had a maturity and seriousness that was years beyond her actual age. She also was one of the best-dressed and most attractive young women in Chapel Hill. These attributes swept a Durham boy named Barrie Bergman off his feet, and they were married just a few months after she graduated from Chapel Hill High School in 1963.

Arlene Sharon Macklin, at 17 in 1962 - Junior Year Photo

Arlene and Barrie opened the Record Bar on Henderson Street in 1963, which was the first of more than one hundred record stores that Barrie would go on to open all over the United States. Arlene and Barrie now live in Santa Barbara.

FRONT ROW: Arlene Macklin - Senior Class Treasurer, Gale Green - Secretary, Eva Blaine - Associate Justice
BACK ROW: George Thompson - Vice-President, David McConnell - President

Arlene Sharon Macklin and other members of 1963 Chapel Hill High School Senior Class. The quote under her name says, "A little word in kindness spoken, a motion or a tear, has often healed the heart that's broken, and made a friend sincere,"  which is from A Little Word by Daniel Clement Colesworthy

Arlene and Barrie Bergman House - 612 Greenwood Road (This house was on my paper route before the Bergman's owned it)

Barrie Bergman – Mr. Arlene Macklin

Barrie Bergman, Arlene’s husband, lived in Chapel Hill most of his adult life. Barrie also long ago switched allegiance to UNC over his alma mater Duke.

Barrie is deservedly a legendary figure in the music business. His vision and hard work created a chain of more than 200 stores, The Record Bar and Tracks, that has never been rivaled in quality, selection, or customer service. Many of my contemporaries incorrectly believe Barrie lucked into the music business because his Dad owned the Record Bar in Durham in the early 1960s. The truth is that it was Barrie's uncle who owned that store, and that Barrie learned the music business from working with him, starting as I recall, at about the age of twelve. Barrie's Dad, Mr. B, as he was known, was a wonderful man who really cared about his customers, but it was Barrie who knew music. When Barrie's Dad took over the record store in Durham, it was already Barrie's intention to make his mark in the music business. I have heard from several people who knew Barrie that he planned to go to New York City in the early 60's and get a job in the music business.  I am confident he would have been very successful at starting a record label that would have rivaled the likes of Atlantic, Electra, and A&M Records. After all he had a passion and an early background in the music business, and certainly had better connections to southern soul, rock, and folk than anyone else in the industry.

As luck would have it Barrie agreed to work for his Dad for a few years to expand the Record Bar, first in Chapel Hill, then to Raleigh, followed by a second store in Durham. Under Barrie’s leadership the company doubled its size almost every year until 1989 when the chain was sold to the Dutch company Superclub for, as I recall, about 200 million dollars. It is true that Barrie got his start in the record business at the best possible time, just as he sold out as the decline of the music business began, but no one else could do what Barrie did so well, and that was running well stocked record stores, primarily in malls, run by people who loved music and loved selling it to others. A unique trait of Barrie’s is his ability to learn and not repeat mistakes. He candidly admits several terrible senior personnel choices he made, but throughout his career he has gained from those experiences and become one of the best judges of business character on the planet. 

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by Charly Mann

Friday July 30th 1965 was a beautiful day to be alive in Chapel Hill. At 12:30 that afternoon the skies were clear, and it was 77; mild for mid-summer, and an attractive twenty-one year old coed named Suellen Evans was walking back to her room at Cobb dormitory. She was enrolled in summer school and had attended classes that morning in education and sociology. Like many other coeds she felt safe walking through the Arboretum in the middle of day to get to the nearby cluster of women dorms. Suellen had a beautiful voice and loved to sing. The most popular song among UNC students that week was the Four Tops song “I Can’t Help Myself” which she loved to sing along with.

Suellen Evans

As Suellen was about to complete her journey through the Arboretum a man suddenly grabbed her, and holding a five-inch knife in his hand tried to rape her near the exit on Raleigh Street across from McIver dormitory. Suellen screamed for help and fought off her assailant with all her might. As they struggled the man first stabbed her in the neck, and then in the chest right through her heart. The man then fled as two groups of women ran up to the scene after hearing Suellen’s cries for help. Suellen said to the women “he tried to rape me … I believe I’m going to faint”. Those were her last words.

Police search for clues at crime scene in Arboretum

Suellen Evans was loved by all her knew her. Her longtime friend and roommate at UNC that summer, Caroline Kay Seawell, described her as the most wonderful person she ever knew. More than 800 people attended her funeral in her hometown of Mooresville.

Suellen Evans was the first UNC student to be murdered in cold-blood, and the first reported even attempted rape victim, and it all happened in broad daylight in an area where hundreds of students walked, picnicked, sunbathed, or studied everyday.

The murder was commited in the Arboretum near the exit across from McIver Dormitory

Chapel Hill was shocked at the crime. More than 200 male UNC students walked shoulder to shoulder through every inch of the five acre Coker Arboretum looking for the long blade knife used in the slaying. Chapel Hill citizens colleted money for a reward fund that grew to $1285.

The University Police, The State Bureau of Investigation, and the Chapel Hill Police force combined to try to find the murderer. The Chapel Hill Board of Alderman even voted an extra $500 for the Police Department for use in their investigation. The first suspect was a black janitor who worked at Phillips Hall, and had been positively identified as coming out of the Arboretum around the time of the murder. After four hours of questioning he was released, primarily because he had no cuts or scratches, and the crime scene and lab tests indicated Suellen had forcibly tried to fight off her assailant.

The best lead was a red headed white man with freckles that two witnesses saw emerge from the Arboretum at the time of the slaying with blood on his hands, shirt, and neck, and get into a 1961 or 62 Rambler parked in front of the Chapel of The Cross in the Sundial parking area which adjoins the arboretum. The man was described as being about 50.

This is my mockup of the August 8, 1965 issue of my newspaper detailing the murder of Suellen Evans

Sadly the Suellen Evans case remains unsolved. I started doing a twice weekly Chapel Hill newspaper for my friends and family when I was fouteen in 1964 called The News of Chapel Hill. For several weeks in 1965 I focused much my coveage on the Evans case. I have always been cerain it was the blood splatteed red-headed man who was the murderer. Eerily his description and age at the time match the same person who I suspect killed Rachel Crook in another brutal crirme fouteen years earlier. See my article on the Crook murder case at: http://www.chapelhillmemories.com/cat/3/59

Could it be that the same man who killed Rachel Crook also killled Suellen Evans and both times escaped justice?

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by Charly Mann

This is a campus map from 1881. Through almost half of UNC's history there were less than a dozen buildings on campus.

In 1952 John Williams Canada came back to Chapel Hill for a visit. He had graduated from UNC in 1896 and was now in his eighties. When he was student in Chapel Hill Carolina’s enrollment was less than 600, and the town was just a tiny village of 1000. He was saddened to see the growth that had come to his beloved town which now had a population of just over 9000. Of that number almost 6000 were students. In his day he said “Every boy on the campus knew each other, and professors took a personal interest in their students”. He said, “no one in 1896 could have dreamed of Chapel Hill ever being as large at it was now” (1952). When Canada was at UNC he recalled that in winter students had to go out into the surrounding forests to cut wood for the fireplaces in their dorm rooms. In 1893 he said no one could have imagined a building with central heat.

This map and index below lists every building in Chapel Hill from 1875 to 1885, and the names of the family who occupied each house in town.

In 1934 a group of older Chapel Hill residents were asked to describe the Chapel Hill they remembered in their youth some fifty to sixty years earlier. The map above describes the location and occupants of each building in town between 1875 and 1885. Sadly there are many houses whose locations have been recalled that no one could remember who lived there. I hope that readers of Chapel Hill Memories who grew up in town will send us maps of the locations of the houses in their neighborhoods, and who lived in them.

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