Any Threads about Memphis in the 80's and early 90's? (Millington: apartments, neighborhood)

[Bamaman1]

Originally Posted by latunafish

Did you ever go to Justine’s?

Heck, no. That place was too expensive for my taste.

We'd go to the original Huey's on Madison where the original burger cooker was Bob McKirnan (MSU Basketball player.)

And we'd go to Poor and Hungry (P&H) on Madison where "This Ain't Burger King, and you get it our way or no way at all."

[Bamaman1]

Anyone fortunate enough to catch The Killer come into Hernando's Hideaway late nights with a big bottle of Jack Daniels?

He'd sing awhile, and cry awhile--all night long.

Later, Jason D. Williams would play the lobby bar in the Peabody--and he was/is great at Jerry Lee music. He filled the place up nightly.

[latunafish]

I did catch Jason D at the Peabody one night. The guy is very talented and very entertaining.

[readingandwriting]

Were the neighborhoods like Southwind and Collierville around in the early to mid-1970s? If so, does anyone remember them? If not, what were neighborhoods that were maybe similar. Also what were they like in the 1990s if anyone knows.

Researching for a book!

Thanks!

[JoeCartpath]

Most of those somewhat newer neighborhoods (post-1980 or so) were just farmland back then.

[Nick2019EGstory]

Anybody remember which blues clubs were best back in the 80s/90s?

Also, anyone remember the Gales Brothers music? Eric, Eugene, Little Jimmy King? Eric was a child prodigy on guitar - winning many battle of the bands at age 11. I want to get some background information about Memphis during this time period if you have any information. It would be greatly appreciated.

[Jardine8]

Originally Posted by JoeCartpath

Most of those somewhat newer neighborhoods (post-1980 or so) were just farmland back then.

Hey Joe, I think I am correct from reading your past posts that you've been around Memphis for a long time, so I wanted to ask your opinion and get some historical perspective. What did High Point Terrace look like in the 80s and early 90s? Worse than today? Better than today? Was crime worse or better in the area compared to today? Just curious, as I've been in Memphis since early 2015 and live in the High Point Terrace area. My assumption is that it has always been considered a nice, attractive neighborhood.

[JoeCartpath]

Originally Posted by Jardine8

Hey Joe, I think I am correct from reading your past posts that you've been around Memphis for a long time, so I wanted to ask your opinion and get some historical perspective. What did High Point Terrace look like in the 80s and early 90s? Worse than today? Better than today? Was crime worse or better in the area compared to today? Just curious, as I've been in Memphis since early 2015 and live in the High Point Terrace area. My assumption is that it has always been considered a nice, attractive neighborhood.

Yes, I've lived here my entire life except for 9 months spent in Chattanooga in 1971/72 - and I'm 71, so that IS a long time. I never lived in High Point but I did work nearby (near Summer and National) for 28 years. i lived near the corner of Holmes and Walnut Grove when I first got married in 1971. My wife's cousin lived on Waynoka east of High Point from the 60s to the 80s. I've also played about a zillion rounds of golf at Galloway, so I've spent quite a bit of time in the area.

The High Point area was always a very nice area of town. I don't recall it looking much different in the 80s or 90s. Obviously some homes were better kept then than they are now, but that's true of most neighborhoods over time. That's probably balanced out by the fact that quite a few homes have been renovated and improved since it is a sought after neighborhood.

I haven't heard that much about crime in High Point but I doubt it's much different than the 80s and 90s. It's probably somewhat worse than in the 60s and 70s primarily because the nearby area north of Summer has undergone a decline in recent decades...and it was never as nice as High Point.

That's the way Memphis is...for the most part the further north or south you go from Walnut Grove, the areas are less expensive...and don't fare as well over time.

These are just my own opinions based on my own observations....and are very much generalizations....

[Jardine8]

Originally Posted by JoeCartpath

Yes, I've lived here my entire life except for 9 months spent in Chattanooga in 1971/72 - and I'm 71, so that IS a long time. I never lived in High Point but I did work nearby (near Summer and National) for 28 years. i lived near the corner of Holmes and Walnut Grove when I first got married in 1971. My wife's cousin lived on Waynoka east of High Point from the 60s to the 80s. I've also played about a zillion rounds of golf at Galloway, so I've spent quite a bit of time in the area.

The High Point area was always a very nice area of town. I don't recall it looking much different in the 80s or 90s. Obviously some homes were better kept then than they are now, but that's true of most neighborhoods over time. That's probably balanced out by the fact that quite a few homes have been renovated and improved since it is a sought after neighborhood.

I haven't heard that much about crime in High Point but I doubt it's much different than the 80s and 90s. It's probably somewhat worse than in the 60s and 70s primarily because the nearby area north of Summer has undergone a decline in recent decades...and it was never as nice as High Point.

That's the way Memphis is...for the most part the further north or south you go from Walnut Grove, the areas are less expensive...and don't fare as well over time.

These are just my own opinions based on my own observations....and are very much generalizations....

Thanks for your feedback. Am I allowed to ask another one? If so, I would love to hear some historical thoughts on the Highland Heights area that you mentioned - the National Ave/Highland St./Holmes St. area just north of Summer Ave. My assumption is that it was a pretty decent working class neighborhood with low-to-moderate levels of crime at some point, I would assume in the 1950s and 1960s. If so, when did it start to slide - the 1970s? When did the full-scale dive off the cliff happen for that area? It's pretty much been really rough since I first saw it around 2008 with lots of abandoned houses, boarded up houses, overgrown lots and rough-looking people wandering the sidewalks and streets.

[JoeCartpath]

I think your assessment of that area is pretty much correct. Back in the 50s and 60s there were a lot of decent paying blue collar jobs nearby on Jackson Avenue west of National (Plough Inc, etc.). As those companies began to cut back and shut down, it affected the nearby neighborhoods. The same thing happened in North Memphis and Frayser when places like Firestone and International Harvester closed. Those were relatively high paying blue collar jobs and those displaced workers couldn't find jobs with comparable pay, so they ended up earning much less than before. Those who could afford it eventually moved into the newer areas in an expanding Memphis (Raleigh, Bartlett, Cordova) which, IMHO, led to a further decline in the older, less expensive areas inside "the loop."

I would imagine that the percentage of home ownership declined considerably. Many of the landlords bought the property cheap and cared little about the quality of life in the neighborhoods or the appearance of the property. That led to even further decline. As more and more homes in an area are neglected it becomes like a cancer. Those who care about their property leave, and the cancer spreads. I suppose it's sort of the reverse of gentrification.