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The Morningside Strip (1983)

MLPA Newsletter, March 1983

The "Morningside Strip could boast eleven tenants" in 1929 according to an article in a 1947 issue of the magazine section of the Atlanta Constitution. Located on Piedmont Road near Ansley Mall, the property originally belonged to A.M. Brockman. Two years after Morningside was annexed to the city of Atlanta (1925), Mr. Albert Heery Bailey purchased this land and the following year began work on what was then called Morningside Shopping Center, the first of its kind in the city of Atlanta.

Mr. Bailey realized that adequate parking was necessary to the success of the shopping center. He tried to purchase the large corner lot owned by Wofford Oil Company (now Clarks Cleaners) and the land where Smith Park is located which was owned by the city. Both attempts were unsuccessful.

He designed the buildings with each tenant's purposes in mind. The first King Hardware (now Rogers Organ Company) complete with high tin ceilings was located in the new shopping center. Blair's Florist and Rhodes Bakery began here too. Gene and Gabe's was originally a five and ten cent store which later became Barnes Restaurant. Although he was not a member, Mr. Bailey built the second story (1582 1/2) as a Masonic Lodge, which the organization used for fifty years. This area now houses Gene and Gabe's "Upstairs" Cabaret, but some of the original theater chairs from the lodge are now in Shirley Fox's Studio.

Terrazzo floors, a soda fountain and small tables with bentwood chairs were part of the decor of Gower's Pharmacy. Although this is now Margaret's Florist, the owners have retained some of the original counters and pharmacy fixtures.

J.S. Broyles ran a successful grocery store in the small center and delivered fresh meats and produce throughout the city. His daughter, Charlotte Broyles Heinz, remembers that all the produce came from Cernigilia Produce Company, which was the first in the city to grade tomatoes by size. She also recalls that George Schuman was the butcher who provided fresh meats and a family named Cefalu rented space in the grocery and made the best fresh horseradish she's ever tasted.

Two grocery stores were located where Shirley Fox Studio is now. 1590 was Rogers Grocery Store, an old Atlanta firm who eventually sold to Big Star/Colonial. 1586 was a Piggly-Wiggly store which was bought by Kroger. The Piggly-Wiggly store had red and black tiles on the outside, two large skylights to provide a well-lighted atmosphere and high venting windows for air conditioning.

For many years, angle parking was allowed in front of the shops. Then only parallel parking was permitted. Finally, the city banned parking completely on Piedmont prompting fear among the tenants that their business would suffer. It was imperative that additional parking be found.

In 1941, Mrs. M.G. Bailey, wife of the original builder, purchased property for parking behind the strip of shops. The deed shows that it was purchased from several owners and extended in a peculiar shape from Boulevard (now Monroe) to Wyndham Road.

Kroger wanted to buy the lot where the Hickory House is to build a free standing grocery store. It was owned jointly by J.C. Overstreet and L. Sachs, the latter of whom sold barbeque from a small frame building in the alley. The Baileys fought this plan because they wanted their own smaller grocery tenants protected from this kind of competition. They won but lost several tenants in the process.

History repeats itself- we're still faced with zoning battles, complicated by traffic patterns and paving problems in our neighborhood.

by Pat Taylor

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