My first experience with the fountain or lunch counter was at Fountain Square Pharmacy. Dr Chalmers Harper was the pharmacist and he had a very bright store with a clean and friendly lunch counter. They had pimento cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, sodas, coca colas in those little waxed paper cups and ice cream, either in cones or little conical dishes. My cousin liked ice cream that way with a cup of black coffee. I never got a taste for that. Dr Harper also had the neatest toy rack that rotated , two comic book stands that rotated and a large selection of magazines.
Just a short distance away on East 8th Street was the Court House Pharmacy owned by D.O.
Hundley. I never ate there but it was a popular lunch spot for courthouse employees and workers around that area who didn’t want a larger meal down the the street at the Home Plate Cafeteria or German food at the Rathskeller on Cherry.
At the intersection of McCallie Avenue and Lindsey Street was Professional Arts Pharmacy owned by Walter Cochran. It was one of the few pharmacies opened on Sunday. In the 1950s, Sts. Peter and Paul, Centenary and First Methodist, Pilgrim Congregational, First Presbyterian, First Baptist, Central Church of Christ on Vine and First Cumberland Presbyterian on Oak, all were within about a block of the drug store making it a very popular location on Sunday mornings for coffee, cokes or ice cream and he had comic books too.
A block east on McCallie Avenue was the Medical Arts Pharmacy owned by John Spence in the Medical Arts Building. We could see my pediatrician, dentist, eye doctor and I could get a hair cut all in that one building. It was the pharmacy lunch counter that I liked best. While in college my future wife and I could get a meat and two, a banana pudding and coke for under a dollar each and it was delicious. I too wish this landmark would not be torn down for many reasons.
Also while in college, many of us would eat lunch at the Doctor’s Building. For under a dollar we could have a delicious barbecue sandwich and strawberry soda. A large group of us ate there frequently. On Central Avenue a few blocks away was Central Drug. Some of the professors ate there and recommended it to us. It was not in walking distance so we didn’t get out there as often but is was good and stayed with a student’s budget.
Continuing out McCallie in Highland Park, was the Pryor Pharmacy owned by Paul Pryor. Doc Pryor was the brother of Raymond Pryor a well known musician in the 1940s in Chattanooga and Dr Walter Pryor, chiropractor, and also a very well known musician in the 1950s and 60s here. I never ate at Doc Pryor’s lunch counter but I had a few cokes from his fountain.
The Ridgedale Pharmacy near the corner of Main and Dodds was owned by Dr Fred McWhorter. From the late 1950s through the 60s, it was one of my favorites. I
would often get one of their chocolate milkshakes and a tiny can of beef stew. Their sandwiches and sodas were great and they had two little booths as well as the counter. They also had comic books and a rotating stand of paper backs. I bought the James Bond series for 49 cents each with 2 cents sales tax. From the magazine stand, I bought the Famous Monsters of Filmland issue #4 which is very rare today. It’s too bad I don’t have it any more.
Just on the other side of the McCallie Tunnel was the Tunnel Drug. They had a lunch counter but I only ate there once when four of us slipped away from McCallie summer camp. Walking through the tunnel was somewhat scary but it all added to the adventure topped off by Dr Watt’s delicious burger and coke. We got back in time for our tribe to assemble and no one ever questioned us about it.
At the foot of Lookout Mountain was the very popular Incline Drug owned by the McDonough family. Dr Martin McDonough, Sr had apprenticed as a pharmacist with my uncle. When I think of the wonderful smell of a lunch counter at a pharmacy I think of Incline Pharmacy. I only visited it a couple of times with my dad but it made a very lasting impression on me.
Downtown at the corner of 8th and Market was the legendary Liggett’s Rexall Drugs. The manager was D.H. Hoffman when I was a child. I never ate at their popular lunch counter but I did buy a number of Archer toy space men as their toy display was the only place that had the entire set even with the little plastic helmets. The store had once been called the Live n’ Let Live Drugs but became Liggetts. The building was still known as the Live n’ Let Live Building and the corner was a major bus stop so there was always a crowd near their store.
I’m sure there were other drug stores or pharmacies with fountains and lunch counters in the Chattanooga area that some of the readers may remember. If you do please respond and share your memories.