Monday, November 29, 2010
Lost Memphis Lu Lynch's Orchid Shop
Posted by Vance Lauderdale on Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 9:23 PM
She opened the place in 1960, tucked in between the Trent Wood Record Shop and the Hi-Park Coin Laundry.
Lula (that was her full name) and her husband, Lester, a supervisor with the U.S. Postal Service, were founding members of the Memphis Orchid Society, and according to an old Memphis Press-Scimitar newspaper account, they grew more than 15,000 flowers — most of them orchids, of course — in a nice pair of greenhouses they built behind their home at 851 Brower.
I know what you're thinking. So yes, I used Bing and Google to "fly" over their old house, and it looks like those big greenhouses are still there, though I don't know if any orchids are still growing in them.
"The orchids are like a family," Lu told a reporter in 1967. "We have a special feeding program for them. We watch the temperamental ones. We make sure we do not pamper them, but develop strength, sturdiness, and dependability." Just as Mother and Father did with me, and look at me today!
Lu Lynch's Orchid Shop remained in business until 1975, when the Lynches retired. For many years, the store operated as a pawn shop. I don't know what's there today.
"Orchids are a real therapy," Lu once told the Press-Scimitar. "If I am tired, I go into the greenhouse, and suddenly I am serene again." Perhaps we should all try to grow some. A little serenity would go a long way these days.
PHOTO COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS LIBRARIES
Comments (3)
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I don't really have a comment about the orchid shop but I have a question for you. I just recently purchased one of the double doors from the old Casual Corner that was on Main St. I have read your posting before about the Gerbers at Union and Belvedere and I thought that was where the Casual Corner store stood. Do you know when that store opened, closed and the exact address? I love my vintage door and thinking about all the people who entered through it. Thanks, Mary O
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The Casual Corner on Union was in a building next to where the KFC is now. The KFC is actually right on the corner of Union and Belvedere, and Casual Corner was next door to the east. I believe that spot is a bank now.
I don't recall Gerbers ever being on Union. There was Julius Lewis a little further west, in the building where Office Max is now, and the Helen Shop further east, where the Rite Aid is now. But no Gerbers.
