Ask Vance Blog

A couple of days ago I expressed my befuddlement over a matchbook cover showing an establishment in Memphis called the Dempsey Motor Hotel. I had never heard of such a place here, so asked readers to help me on my quest.

And by "help me" I meant: do all the work entirely.

And they did. My pal critter42 (that's not his name, but that's what I call him here) took about 30 seconds, it seems, to discover that there was/is indeed a Dempsey Hotel, but it was/is in Macon, Georgia — not Memphis, Tennessee. In fact, he even turned up an old postcard of the place that almost exactly matches the illustration on the matchbook (see below).

So I took about 30 more seconds to determine that: 1) he's right, and 2) the fine-looking old building is still standing in downtown Macon, with a few modifications, as you can see (above). In fact, according to their website, "this grand building was reborn in 1981 when it was transformed into 194 apartments, to create a comfortable and affordable environment for the elderly and disabled residents of middle Georgia."

But when critter42 says the matchbook was a misprint, well that's one heckuva misprint. I guess the matchbook printers probably felt pretty bad about the whole thing. But I simply can't sympathize with such incompetence, since I have never ever made the tiniest mistake in my book, column, blog, calendar, syndicated radio show, ventriloquist act, oboe recitals, and sno-cone business. The Lauderdales simply don't do such things, you see.