Had business out in Beechmont and some time to kill. Drove past this mural in progress and snapped a photo right before a torrential downpour. I’d look up the artist a few days later and see the finished result on their Instagram: @natepaints — Lovely work by Nate Frizzell.
So many memories swirl around when I’m back in the area. This mural is located at what was formerly called Cherry Grove Plaza. There was a McAlpin’s department store on the back corner (now a Kroger). In fact, my mom’s water broke with me while she was there with my grandmother. We used to joke this might be the reason why I like shopping so much.
Some nice day I’d like to drive back out and take snapshots of places that once were: What used to be a Service Merchandise, Chi-Chi’s, Po’ Folks, the White Castle that’s now a Tide Cleaners right across from what was The Ground Round — they’d project old movies on the walls of that restaurant and you could throw peanut shells on the ground, which felt wrong.
All of these things existed before the internet and Google maps…
I get a kick wandering around street view and click the “See more dates” link (in the blue circle below) to go back in time.
I just wished it went farther!
