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26 APR 04: DENNY'S DENIAL
The sign for the restaurant was missing, showing only the fluorescent lights inside it. But I didn't think anything was wrong. After all, this was Victory Drive -- so maybe Fort Benning sniper school students were using it for target practice.
But a closer look showed this was no mistake. The "Denny's" restaurant sign was missing on Victory Drive, east of Fort Benning Road. Perhaps a modern sign was going up, like the one on Macon Road? You know, "modern" as in retro-1950's looking?
Alas, my thoughts were wrong. Your blog confirmed Sunday Denny's is gone from Victory Drive for good! What makes this surprising is I've heard nothing about a new one opening near Columbus Park Crossing.
An employee of the former Denny's told me the restaurant chain sold out last Tuesday to a new set of managers. That's why the sign is gone, and a new name is atop the Victory Drive building: "Grits -n- Sweet Tea." Yes sir, the staples of the
Southern diet -- well, maybe along with country ham.
The attendant at Grits 'n Sweet Tea didn't know much more about the sudden change. "All I know is, I'm still getting a paycheck," she told me. For all she cared, Tony Soprano could be running the place.
So what about the other Denny's in Columbus? We called the restaurant near Cross-Country Plaza Sunday night, and were assured it WILL remain open under that name. Since it's on the north side of Macon Road, we officially can put this chain on the "abandoned the Southside" list.
This change on Victory Drive has to be a blow to the "Columbus South Revitalization Task Force." Denny's was the best-known sit-down restaurant name on that road. Now the best-known name left on Victory Drive is Pizza Hut - and with the right coupon, you save money with carryout.
Not even "Ritmo Latino Restaurant" stayed open long on Victory Drive - the one owned by the operators of Ritmo Latino Radio. They abandoned it for a nightclub on North Lumpkin Road, where "Benson's Jam Zone" used to be. This may explain why the radio station seems to play more Spanish rap on weekends now.
And if that's not enough, have you noticed Victory Drive doesn't have a Waffle House near Interstate 185? Isn't there a federal law of some sort, which says there has to be one at every exit ramp across the South?
There's another noteworthy thing about the decision to sell out on Victory Drive. Columbus is now a one-Denny's town - which I guess some African-American people will consider good news. It means one less restaurant to give them bad service.
Columbus used to have about three Shoney's restaurants - and now it has one. (I'm not counting the one in Phenix City.) Columbus used to have two Denny's restaurants, and now it has one. If you're a big Wal-Mart shopper, you might visit the store on Buena Vista Road while you can....
BLOG UPDATE: After debating it much of the weekend, I decided to try to sell my debut CD Sunday near Riverfest. My goal was to reach visitors before they went inside the gate - because they'd probably leave with a lot less money than they took in.
But where should I set up my sales position? I decided on the corner where I expected the most traffic: 9th and Broadway. After all, people were urged to park in the RiverCenter's parking garage -- though as I mentioned in Sunday's blog, not that many people did.
Since Riverfest opened at 12:00 noon, I drove to 9th and Broadway about 11:55 a.m. - and amazingly, I was able to park right on the northwest corner. That way my sales table would face pedestrians directly. The table you'd probably know
better as my trunk....
Several Columbus police officers passed by me during my two-hour stand selling CD's from my trunk. But none of them bothered me about it. They were too busy heading to Quizno's Subs, which apparently was the official "cop-food" supplier of Riverfest.
With about two hours allotted to stand by my car selling CD's, I noticed all sorts of unusual things:
+ A skateboarder in bare feet seemed to trip over the paint in the 9th Street crosswalk, and fell flat on his face. If only my camera had been out at that moment - I could have sold the pictures to "Punk'd."
(Someone driving by honked a car horn at the sight - and the flattened boarded scrambled up to say, "If my family wasn't here, I'd moon you're a*s!" As far as I was concerned, his bare feet were enough....)
+ A railroad runs down the middle of 9th Street - and the crosswalks are very bumpy around the tracks. Several families struggled to roll baby carriages over them. And it's a wonder Tour de Georgia cyclists didn't have a big spill the other day.
+ Countless Riverfest visitors crossed 9th Street at Broadway AGAINST the obvious traffic light. It looks like we've found Elizabeth White's next big investigative project - "Big Red: Pedestrian Edition."
BLOGGER'S NOTE: We'll probably be too busy to blog for the next few days - but we'll have plenty to celebrate toward the end of the week, once we're through....
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