Gone but not forgotten: Knoxville area restaurants and retailers we miss.

#2,702
#2,702
I’d go to The Strip for Moe’s. But are there any places left to park a car down there?

I believe that the Sunspot is a hold out. I hope they hang on. They even pulled down the building just to the west of Sunspot that shares the lot line.
 
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#2,703
#2,703
Coug said:
Does anyone remember either a Chinese or Japanese restaurant where when you walked in they had this little garden area with a tiny water feature/river and you walked over a bridge above the water to get to the host stand?
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Yes, I ate there in the late 70's.
 
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#2,704
#2,704
Ted said:
Indya Kincannon has been a disaster for Knoxville, with her and the current City Council allowing this crazed land-grabbing and demolition and construction go on under their watch. All of you in Knoxville need to consider voting against all the incumbents when the time comes, and letting them know that you are not happy with any of this. I intend to.

They have raised the property taxes in Knoxville by a considerable amount and let all this development go unchecked. It's time to get some people in office who are more fiscally responsible and who can stand up to these developers.
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General life rule….ALWAYS vote against incumbents, no matter what party. Political office was meant to be a temporary act of community service, not a long term avocation 😉
 
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#2,705
#2,705
Ted said:
I just saw the piece about Copper Cellar closing today, on the WBIR site.

This is a sad day for all of us.
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Alas… I worked there in the ‘70s, during its original configuration - a sign at the door on the strip, and a basement restaurant. That staff, Charles as a FMOD, Lala, Betsy, Double A, and Ellie waiting tables, John at the bar, Eli at the window, and us denizens of the tiny kitchen. There was nothing like it.
 
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#2,707
#2,707
Tin Man said:
Alas… I worked there in the ‘70s, during its original configuration - a sign at the door on the strip, and a basement restaurant. That staff, Charles as a FMOD, Lala, Betsy, Double A, and Ellie waiting tables, John at the bar, Eli at the window, and us denizens of the tiny kitchen. There was nothing like it.
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Made many visits to Cellar with my parents on trips home during that period. Not sure if I've dined there since.
University Club became the place they enjoyed most.
 
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#2,712
#2,712
RDU VOL#14 said:
I was a big fan of Charlie Peppers and a myriad of other places .
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Charlie peppers was awesome. My wife worked at Copper Cellar when we were first dating as freshmen. She asked off well in advance for the bama game and they wouldn't let her off so she quit, true vfl! She then went to work at the butcher shop at worlds fair park. It's been closed for a long time but was awesome as well.
 
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#2,713
#2,713
2EastTnVols said:
Charlie peppers was awesome. My wife worked at Copper Cellar when we were first dating as freshmen. She asked off well in advance for the bama game and they wouldn't let her off so she quit, true vfl! She then went to work at the butcher shop at worlds fair park. It's been closed for a long time but was awesome as well.
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We used to hit burger night a bunch and crush some Vellas Helles. I worked at West Town mall so I could never be asked to work game weekends in the service industry even though I had waited tables quite a bit and knew some people were making good $$ on the weekends. The Butcher Shop was a nice place. Had a couple of good dates there.
 
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#2,714
#2,714
2EastTnVols said:
Charlie peppers was awesome. My wife worked at Copper Cellar when we were first dating as freshmen. She asked off well in advance for the bama game and they wouldn't let her off so she quit, true vfl! She then went to work at the butcher shop at worlds fair park. It's been closed for a long time but was awesome as well.
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I loved the Butcher Shop. When I was in school ('94 grad)we had some friends who worked there.
 
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#2,715
#2,715
Let's do some dates. When did Charlie Pepper's on the Strip close to move out to Morrell Rd.? They moved where Drake's is now on Morrell Rd. but only lasted a couple years there before they closed for good.

The other date is the Butcher Shop. When did it close?
 
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#2,717
#2,717
Ted said:
Let's do some dates. When did Charlie Pepper's on the Strip close to move out to Morrell Rd.? They moved where Drake's is now on Morrell Rd. but only lasted a couple years there before they closed for good.

The other date is the Butcher Shop. When did it close?
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I remember hearing Cowboy by Kid Rock (summer of 1999 or later) on the balcony of the Strip location and going to Morrell Road in the summer of 2000 (I think it was still CP’s). But did it move or were there 2 locations at the same time?
 
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#2,718
#2,718
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I remember hearing Cowboy by Kid Rock (summer of 1999 or later) on the balcony of the Strip location and going to Morrell Road in the summer of 2000 (I think it was still CP’s). But did it move or were there 2 locations at the same time?
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TGO, now that you mention it, it does seem that they had the two locations for at least a brief time.
 
#2,719
#2,719
Did some online digging, and found this archived article from the News-Sentinel. The Butcher Shop opened in the summer of 1983 and closed in September, 2010. Here is the picture from that article:

image.jpg

"For nearly three decades, The Butcher Shop was a World's Fair Park destination for those hungry for steak and a desire to cook it themselves, if they wanted."
 
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#2,720
#2,720
Ted said:
Did some online digging, and found this archived article from the News-Sentinel. The Butcher Shop opened in the summer of 1983 and closed in September, 2010. Here is the picture from that article:

View attachment 556303

"For nearly three decades, The Butcher Shop was a World's Fair Park destination for those hungry for steak and a desire to cook it themselves, if they wanted."
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When my wife worked there they had one hell of a Christmas party. Closed early and open bar for employees and guests, got pretty wild!
 
#2,721
#2,721
I also discovered that Charlie Pepper's original location on the former Strip, 716 S. 20th Street, opened in 1995. No word on when either location closed. There was nothing in the Knoxnews archive like there was for The Butcher Shop.

The 20th St. location did have a void LBD (Liquor By the Drink) notice in the Knoxnews Business Journal Records for Dec. 17, 2007. I assume that those probably lapse within a year after the location closes, meaning Pepper's on the Strip closed sometime in 2007.

I did see that Drake's opened in the 242 Morrell Rd. location in 2016, but there had been a mexi place there called Puelo's, in between Charlie Pepper's and Drake's. I'm guessing Puelo's lasted no more than a year or two, so we could ballpark CP's closing around 2013.

The Charlie of Charlie Pepper's was Charlie Erickson, who's listed as the owner and/or manager in several places online. He also owned Hawkeye's before he sold it in 2000.
 
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#2,723
#2,723
I dropped by Lunsford's Musical Instruments last Friday to see what they had left, and got to talk to the owner, Sonja Rogers, for a while. She said they opened in the 80's across Western Avenue in the strip mall that's still there. They were in that space for several years before the move across the avenue. The old space has a mexi restaurant in it now. She said the current building was the Methodist Holston Conference offices on the right side and a Cokesbury bookstore on the left, where Lunsford's has been.

This is the last week they will be open, or until they sell everything they have left that will sell. The property has sold, and no doubt the building will be demolished.

Screenshot 2023-06-21 100541.jpg

Screenshot 2023-06-21 101524.jpg
 
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#2,725
#2,725
DrRosenRosen said:
AMC theater near East Towne Mall is shutting down after this weekend.
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AMC Classic East Towne 10 theater in Knoxville closing

From the article: "AMC Classic East Towne 10 employees said AMC is downsizing its operations and they were given just days' notice. They say the building will be demolished to make room for apartments."

Of course it will! Pretty soon Knoxville will be nothing but apartments, new subdivision developments, and overcrowded highways. Hell, overcrowded everything.

Try to imagine an apartment complex here being torn down to put in a new movie theatre. Talk about ludicrous!
 
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