In early 1960s, 662 Memorial Drive was the home of Cole’s Grill. A neighborhood place where the Cabbagetown kids would go, it served hamburgers for 10¢ and a Coke and a hot dog for 5¢.
Next door was Immanuel Baptist Church, built in 1902. The building still stands, although there’s no longer an active congregation. On the other side to the east, across Powell Street, was a car dealership. In 1964, they sold the Shelby Mustang for $1,964.00.
Across the street at 657 Memorial Drive was the Fairview Theatre also called The Memorial at times, which the kids were allowed to cross Memorial Drive (originally Fair Street) to go to. According to the web site “Cinema Treasures,” the theatre was in operation from around 1932 to 1954 or so (http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/11846). In 1950, the theatre held a fund raiser to bring a new elephant to the zoo. The current brown brick building was on the site by the mid-1960s.
Next door, at 663 Memorial, was a laundry service, and next to it at the corner of Cameron Street was a gas station.
Across Cameron St. from the gas station, however, was Hale’s Beer Hall (as remembered by one local who kindly stopped by when we were under construction), which the Cabbagetown kids were NOT allowed to go anywhere near. Its full proper name was Roy Hale’s Supper Club, although it may have been also called “Roy Hell’s” because it apparently attracted a dicey crowd in its later years.
A brief history of Cabbagetown may be found on the National Park Service’s web site https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/atlanta/cab.htm
When Petit Chou was The Cube, an art gallery, the curator invited numerous graffiti artists to grace the premises. Two pieces remain on the building – one is part of ‘Boom Boom for Real’ (affectionately known as “The Woman”) by Hebru Brantley and the other is a friendly garden critter ensemble by Olive47. Hebru executed a number of murals in Atlanta during his tenure here, he now resides in Chicago (http://hebrubrantley.com/about/). Olive47 has since returned to Los Angles, after leaving a wide swath of colorful paint across intown Atlanta (http://olive47.com/olea/about/).