Friday, January 22, 2010
Lost Memphis The Silver Horseshoe Motel - Summer Avenue
Posted by Vance Lauderdale on Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 10:04 PM
- Silver Horseshoe Motel
A few miles to the west, an older tourist court was already standing on the north side of Summer, just west of Perkins. It had gone by many names since it opened in the 1940s, but most Memphians remember it as the Silver Horseshoe. I'm not sure how it got such a distinctive name, since no part of it was painted silver, and the rows of cottages nestled under the old trees were (as far as I can tell) not arranged in a horseshoe shape. It was just a basic little motel, which managed to stay in business for four decades or more, until the bulldozers finally pushed it all down in the late 1980s to make way for a shopping center.
What WAS distinctive about the whole complex was the oddly designed little diner that stood next door to the Silver Horseshoe office. Called — what else? — the Horseshoe Diner, this tiny cafe was all jutting rooflines and weird struts, painted a nice green and white.
I managed to take a few photos of the Silver Horseshoe and Horseshoe Diner just days before they came tumbling down, so here you go. Enjoy.
- Horseshoe Diner
- Silver Horseshoe Motel
- Silver Horseshoe Motel
Comments (3)
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It is funny to have that kind of name but not related to the silver color, but I like the hotel and landcape of memphis' it's very beautiful to visit.
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I read this today (Sunday) and a dear old friend of mine and I cruised by there just last night reliving hilarious memories of our high school days from the 70's! Never stayed there (kinda scary then), but it has always intrigued me for some reason. Thanks, Vance! :)
Please forgive this stroll down memory lane ... but I have such wonderful memories of Summer Ave. from the '70s. My brother and I used to help our grandmother throw the Shopper's News when we were very young. Couldn't have been over 8 years old, maybe younger. We hit the neighborhood South of Summer Ave. between Graham and Berclair. My grandmother lived near Walnut Grove and Graham for 32 years and we actually walked the route while my grandmother sat in her car.
My brother and I quickly learned if we cut through the yard of the nice lady that gave us lemonade every Wednesday when we walked up and hand-delivered the paper to her while she was in the backyard sunning (it was like she looked forward to us coming and had lemonade made every Wed.) we would come out of the bushes that butted up to the Baskin Robbins where we hand-delivered the paper to the manager and got a free ice cream cone. The peanut shop never gave anything so skipped them. There was a bank on the same block and we would go in there with the same routine and be rewarded with a quarter. All I had to do for a quarter was let one of the bank employees lift me up and sit me on a desk and ohhh and ahhh over how cute and industrious I was. My brother totally pimped out my cuteness for his quarter.
But by far, our biggest prize was when an older cousin lived with my grandmother one summer. She was probably about 17 or 18. She tried to shake us but we wouldn't leave her alone so she said she was walking to Zayre (remember that?), thinking she would leave us behind. But we followed her. She couldn't shake us. And the thought of crossing Summer Ave. was too good to pass up. We were never allowed to do that. I think she thought we would turn back at that point and stop perstering her. No go. We followed her all the way up Summer Ave. to the Admiral Benbow Inn! Finally she conceded we weren't going to stop pestering her and she bought us a coke there and took us back home. Hart's Bakery was another pleasure. All those places are gone now except for the Baskin-Robbins/Peanut Shoppe.
But anyways, I remember this place. The horseshoe made me think there were horses there and the rooms were really stables.
