David Murdock Column: On the changing of the cityscape in Attalla
Not long back, a friend texted me to ask if I’d noticed that the old Pizza Hut building on Cleveland Avenue in Attalla had been torn down. Frankly, I hadn’t. I’d already driven by it twice that day and hadn’t noticed. So much for my powers of observation!
Granted, it was “finals week,” and I had other things on my mind. But that Pizza Hut had been there not quite as long as I could remember, but for the better part of my life. It was there when I was in high school in the 1980s and was quite the hang-out spot after football games. When it closed a few years back, I was saddened ― another part of the cityscape of my youth that’s gone.
That area in general used to be quite busy. Next to the Pizza Hut was a Shoney’s, which was a popular place to eat after church and on family excursions. I always loved Shoney’s — especially the breakfast bar ― and since the once over in Gadsden closed, there really isn’t one within 50 miles or so, according to the company website. After Shoney’s closed, a Krystal’s opened there in the 1990s. I went there quite a bit, too. Then, it closed.
Across the street was a Quincy’s Family Steakhouse. The building is still there, but it’s now a car lot. There probably aren’t too many people alive in the 1980s who don’t remember those great yeast rolls they had. I checked the internet ― there are only two Quincy’s left, one in North Carolina and one in South Carolina.
Don’t get me started about other places in Attalla that have changed. When I left for Auburn in 1999, the area where Walmart now is was a pine forest. On both sides of the road! On my monthly trips home, I watched that forest being cut down and that development grow, little-by-little.
Now, I don’t much remember details before about 1980 or so, just sort of snippets. That’s where my brother Greg and I have such fun sometimes. I just called and asked him what was where the Pizza Hut and Shoney’s were back in the 1970s. He told me that it was Smith’s Junkyard, all the way to the interstate. He mentioned several other things that I must have seen; I simply don’t remember them.
So much has changed in Attalla and Gadsden and Etowah County just in my lifetime. I’ll bet not too many folks remember the Green Stamp Store over on Forrest Avenue in Gadsden. Many probably don’t even remember Green Stamps.
That’s why I don’t really get too upset when my students don’t know any references I make. One of these days, their kids or grandkids are going to look them straight in the eyes and ask, without guile, “What was TikTok?” I hope I’m still around to see it!
The difference is that popular culture is ephemeral, but material culture ― buildings and roads, etc. ― just seems so permanent.
But they’re not.
I have never forgotten walking around downtown Attalla with a photograph of a building from the early 20th century trying to figure out which building it was. It eluded me for weeks until one day when I was coming out of the U.S. Post Office, glanced across the street, and saw it. The central doorway had been bricked up at some point, and the building divided into two stores — that’s what I hadn’t “seen” it.
That’s why I sometimes ask older people to name off the businesses on the streets for me. What was in this building? What was in that one? I still give directions by what was there in the 1980s myself – “about two doors north of where Southern Hardware used to be,” for example, or “Next door to the old Redford’s.” I’m not quite old enough to remember The Leader, though. I do think everyone in town knows the “old mule barn,” though. Or maybe not.
Dad had one that got to me. One day, he was trying to give me directions to someone’s house in Attalla. He said, “It’s three doors over from So-and-So’s house.”
I said, “Dad, I’ve never been to So-and-So’s house.”
“Yes, you have … in about 1965 when he still lived there.”
“Dad, that must’ve been Greg with you then. I wasn’t born until 1967.”
“Well, son, it doesn’t matter. It’s still the same house.”
I laughed myself stupid over that one. So did Dad, once he realized what he’d said.
However, the moment that I think I started really looking at Attalla was one night when I was taking a walk downtown and a man stopped me to ask me what business used to be in a particular building. I knew what was there in the 1970s and ‘80s, but not before, which is what he really wanted to know. So, I asked Dad the next time I went to see him and Mom, and that’s where my interest in the cityscape of Attalla originates.
So, I have some definite memories of what Attalla used to look like, and my memories are overwhelmingly pleasant. I do miss the Omelet Shoppe downtown, though, and Nick’s Greek Pizza, which replaced it. Both were good places to eat.
David Murdock is an English instructor at Gadsden State Community College. He can be contacted at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are his own.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: David Murdock on how the buildings in Attalla have changed over time
