Episode 3835

- [Announcer] "Tennessee Crossroads" is made possible in part by:

- [Narrator] Some of our biggest checks have also made the biggest difference. The Tennessee Lottery, proud to have raised more than $7.5 billion for education. Now that's some game-changing, life-changing fun.

- [Announcer] Discover Tennessee Trails and Byways, where adventure, cuisine, history come together. With 16 scenic driving trails, you can discover why Tennessee sounds perfect. Trips can be planned at TNTrailsAndByways.com.

- [Narrator] The Co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently owned Co-ops, driven to serve farmer-owners, rural lifestyle customers, and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states. More at ourcoop.com.

- [Announcer] Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds, enrich lives, and earn a living. More at MTSU.edu/CLA.

- This time on "Tennessee Crossroads," we'll dive into some Southern delicacies, visit a world-class hotel, find a great place for a good old-fashioned soda pop, and visit tow truck heaven. Fasten your seat belts. I'm Miranda Cohen. We're glad you are along for the ride. When you think of delicious Southern food, what decadent cooking method comes to mind? And what Southern beverage is the natural choice to wash it all down? I bet we're all thinking of the same thing, and we found just the place to prove us right. Right in the heart of Henry County is a great restaurant with a name that screams "Tennessee Crossroads." In fact, after all of these years, I don't know how we've missed it. We are about to go in Southern Fried and Sweet Tea and find out what it's all about. You're not dreaming. It really is fried catfish, fried green tomatoes, Southern chow chow, beans and greens, chicken fried steak, shrimp and pasta, and a big glass of sweet tea all in one place.

- We decided we were gonna open our own restaurant. My husband and I have done this for many, many years. The kids were over, we're talking about it, and I said, "Southern Fried." And one of the kids said, "Sweet tea." And I said, "Let's do it. Let's go." So we have a lot of Southern fried just goodness. That's basically what it is.

- [Miranda] For Betty Myrick and her husband, Paul, Southern Fried and Sweet Tea is really about a love story. Certainly a love of great Southern comfort food, but also a love of family.

- This is just our love story with our family and our food. We love our family, we love our food, and we strive every day to do the best we can.

- [Miranda] Their love story and the restaurant had an unconventional beginning. Betty's husband, Paul, is a classically trained chef. Years ago, he was experiencing some health issues, and she was hired to take his job, but instead, she stole his heart.

- When he checked out of the hospital, he came in, and he said, "I'm here to train you if you're gonna take my job." And that was it. That was the day. We have not been separated since.

- [Miranda] Now alongside their four children and in-laws, they treat everyone like family, serving up huge portions made just like your grandmother made or maybe even a little better.

- [Betty] So we have a twisted hoppin' John, I know a hoppin' John is originally made with rice, but we're not in a big rice area. We're in a big mashed potatoes area. So I took away the rice, added the mashed potatoes. And we have our pastas that are handmade. This is a cheesy stuffed chicken, and that is a chicken breast. It's cut in half. It is cooked with what is called a forester sauce, which means a mushroom. And it's loaded with cheese.

- [Miranda] All of the proteins are hand-cut, all sauces, dressings, and even the butters are made in-house. And so much goodness is hand-dipped and golden-fried.

- Well, we're in the catfish capital. The catfish is a huge seller. We get lots of compliments on it, and it's great catfish.

- [Miranda] The ever-changing daily specials reflect many locally sourced ingredients in this scratch kitchen, all stacked high and served from the heart.

- I like the smash burgers. I had to deconstruct it to eat it. Three onion rings on it. You know, I had to take those off to have them separate, but always have the smash burger. The chicken tenders are outrageous and too many to eat.

- [Miranda] And the ending to your meal may just be the sweetest part. All of these mile-high cakes, cookies, puddings, and cobbler are made fresh every day. And, of course, there is a love story there too. The Myricks lost their nephew to cancer. He was an avid baker. It was his dream to one day own a bakery of his own. And now, in a sense, he does.

- So my main promise to him was, "You will have a bakery, sir. It may not be the exact bakery you want, but we will have a bakery." And we can't make enough cakes. We run behind all the time. And I know he's sitting in a corner just laughing, saying, "Go, Aunt Betty. There's my bakery."

- We have to go home with a piece of cake. And when I say "a piece of cake," it takes three sittings to eat it. You take one layer at a time and eat it each night.

- Oh, my goodness.

- But they're delicious. They last; they're moist. It's just good. Just good cooking.

- [Betty] So when we decided to do this, we thought, "Okay, we are going to do it, and we're going to do it big." You will not leave here hungry, and you're not gonna leave here unsatisfied. It's gonna be a wonderful experience. From the size of your catfish to the size of your cake, it all is gonna be explosive. Everything that we do, we take, and we put all that we have into it. All the love, all the special touches, and we just want you to come in and enjoy great food. And that's what we wanted to accomplish here. We wanted to give out great memories with families where they come in, they eat, and they think, "That was amazing. I spent time with my family. I had great food. We laughed." And that's what we wanna accomplish every day.

- All too often, historic buildings fall victim to the constant push for new construction. Everyone benefits when beloved old structures can be restored and re-suited for use in the present day. Such is the case with our next story. Linn Sitler brings us the story of the Central Station Hotel.

- It's a train station. It's a hotel. And it's also sort of a radio station where disc jockeys spin records piping Memphis music into every room of the Central Station Hotel. The Central Station Hotel has opened in downtown Memphis as a jewel in the crown of Memphis, Tennessee. And who better to oversee the train station's transformation into a luxury hotel than McLean Wilson?

- My grandfather founded Holiday Inns in 1952, and what we're doing here, at Central Station, is an attempt to do the exact same thing he did, relative to being innovative. What we're attempting to do is really create an authentic, genuine expression of what Memphis, Tennessee, is. The building itself has a storied past, so there's a lot of architectural details and design details that pay homage to the past, but we also wanted to make it relevant for not only today but for the foreseeable future. And so we had to create some modernity to it as well. And really the big notion for what this hotel offers that a lot of hotels around the world don't is a music lounge with world-renowned speakers, acoustically dialed in perfectly, and an album all full of records that all hearken back to some tie to Memphis music. To really showcase that which Memphis has done for many, many decades, and that's put out really wonderful music.

- And, thanks to the technical genius of Jim Thompson, guests can listen to music through custom-made EgglestonWorks speakers.

- Memphis has played such an important role in the development of popular music that we wanted to highlight that. So the music is not necessarily just Memphis musicians or Memphis bands; it is writers, producers, bands that recorded in Memphis for the reason that it is Memphis.

- [Linn] You can listen to the Memphis music in the hotel bar, called Eight & Sand. In this sleek redo of the train station's waiting room, you might even see a Memphis music legend or two. Like David Porter and Boo Mitchell. There's even a listening room, appealing to the most serious music lovers.

- It's a small room that has a pair of speakers in it and a few chairs. It seats only about six people. So that one was a lot of fun. And I don't think you're gonna find that... I know you're not gonna find that in any hotel, but you probably aren't really gonna find it in any public space at all, ever, so it's really unique.

- When you're at the Central Station Hotel, there's no doubt that you're at the South Main historic district. And, really, where that's represented is in our art. We recruited a friend of ours, who's a phenomenal photographer named Jamie Harmon, and so every guest room is littered with photographs that he took along the train lines. That was one idea of how we stayed connected to the past and to the present, which is the fact that we are a train station. And is an active line that Amtrak has, going to Chicago, New Orleans. And the other piece is curating original pieces of art from Memphis artists as well as artists in Chicago and New Orleans. And so, all of the public area art is hand-selected, hand-picked, and all that you experience is rooted in a Memphis feeling.

- [Linn] Each of the rooms has a view of the downtown South Main historic district or a view west, toward the Mississippi River. Each is a little different in shape, designed from the nooks and crannies of the 106-year-old building. Looking back at the train station's transformation, it's hard to imagine that the project grew out of the city's desire to simply turn the train station into a transit center. But when legendary Memphis developer Henry Turley took the bait...

- I thought about it for a minute, and I said, "When the train arrives, you want someone that'll welcome them and show them a good time." Well, that's pretty easy: a hotel. So I picked up the phone and called Kemmons Wilson. I said, "Will you do a hotel?" And he said, "Well, will you go in it with us?" I said, "Sure, just so I don't have to work. You've gotta run it, 'cause I don't know anything about a hotel." I said, "I've got one specification: when someone gets on the train in Chicago and buys the ticket to New Orleans, I want them to get off at your hotel, and be so happy that they tear up the ticket to New Orleans. Stay in Memphis." And that's the only thing I did. And, from what I see, they've pretty well done that.

- Thanks, Linn. In this age of chain restaurants, it's getting harder to find a good old-fashioned soda parlor these days. Well, Cindy Carter found one in the tiny town of Lynnville, Tennessee, and it boasts some of the best hamburgers and shakes in the whole state.

- [Cindy] If you ever find yourself waywardly wandering through Tennessee, consider it very good fortune if you happen upon the small railroad town of Lynnville. Folks here have never met a stranger.

- Thank you very much; come back to see us.

- [Cindy] But understand this: strangers are pretty easy to spot.

- We love our town, and we only got 326 people, and we love every one of them.

- [Cindy] And Johnny Phelps, owner of the Soda Pop Junction, like most everyone else around here, can probably list almost all 326 names.

- Huh?

- I'm ready, if ever get up, move around a little tiny-

- [Cindy] But everyone, locals, tourists, and wayward wanderers alike, all seem to eventually make their way to the Junction, the Soda Pop Junction, a place known for its delicious award-winning burgers and ice cream by the shake, float, scoop, or sundae.

- I get a chocolate milkshake about three or four times a week. Just on a nice hot summer day, it's nice to have something to cool you down.

- [Cindy] Cool down and catch up. That's what the locals do.

- It's just a closeness here. And people have been very supportive. But 90% of our business comes from outside the area.

- [Cindy] And that outside cash flow has given Lynnville new life, which is exactly what Phelps had in mind back in 1998 when he decided to buy this old building and turn it into a restaurant.

- At that time, most of the buildings that you see up and down the street either had fell in or there was no business. When I came to look at the building, it was raining. I mean, just really, really raining. Actually, I had to go to my car and get an umbrella to come in and look at the building 'cause it was leaking so bad.

- [Cindy] Well, to be fair, the building was built in 1860, at the height of the town's railroad boom.

- [Johnny] I'm not crazy about running a restaurant, but I love the history and being around people, and that comes from 49 years of being a teacher.

- [Cindy] So this former high school teacher invested in the past, and a colorful past it is.

- It was a saloon on this side, and it was two different buildings, but it's all under the same roof. And it was a drugstore on that side. You could get your medicine at both places back then. Get it over there or you could come in here and get. Either way, you was gonna come out of here happy.

- [Cindy] In 1928, this space became home to the L.E. Moore Drug Company, which, like many drugstores of the day, also sold ice cream and mixed together soda pop. The drugstore literally served in this community for 50 years before shutting down. And that's what Phelps wanted to recapture.

- Most restaurants now are tearing down to the brick walls and go back to the old days. And we've always been old, so we didn't have far to go.

- [Judy] Thank you, sir.

- [Cindy] That's Miss Judy behind the register.

- I came to work here when I was 14, making ice cream cones, selling Cokes, milkshakes, and so forth, and worked behind this counter.

- And both Miss Judy and the 1950s drugstore counter are still here. So is the original 1870 pharmacy facade. In fact, pretty much everything you see was donated to Phelps by friends and family to keep the Soda Pop Junction uniquely Lynnville. So the cliche is you can never go home again, and when small-town businesses disappear and buildings are torn down, that can seem very true. But not here. With old photographs on the walls and antiques scattered about, for many, the Soda Pop Junction just feels like home.

- [Johnny] People walk through the door and say, "Holy smoke! This is like going back in time."

- [Cindy] A simpler time, and that's how Phelps likes it. Oh, he's heard about those newfangled ice cream shops, charging $10 to $15 for what they call a "gourmet experience."

- We'll do that for 2.99. We're not a Baskin-Robbins. We can't furnish 31 different flavors, but we've got about eight or nine. We do what we do.

- [Cindy] And what they do these days seems harder and harder to find.

- Everything alright with y'all?

- [Cindy] So why not wander in, cool off a bit, and have a chat with friends? They'll be waiting for you at the Junction.

- Thanks, Cindy. Most of us rarely think about tow trucks. In fact, most of us hope we'll never need one, but you will never look at them the same way again after a visit to this one-of-a-kind museum in Chattanooga. If you are up for traveling down tow truck history lane, this may be just the place to pull you in.

- [Vincent] There's a tow truck museum, and they think, "Oh, that's interesting. You know, I've been to car museums. I've been to all this kind of thing." And they'll come in here and they'll go, "Wow! There is a lot in here. A lot more than I expected."

- [Joe] It all started with a group of towing professionals who decided to preserve their industry's history and share some of it with the public. The result is a unique little attraction with a big name: The International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum. Nyle Vincent, the resident historian, showed me around.

- The industry's kind of one that people kind of brush over, but it's a very proud, very rich history. It's essentially a Samaritan industry. They get out there and they say, "Hey, you know, I'm willing to come pick you up when you can't get up yourself."

- The museum's in Chattanooga for good reason. You see, the tow truck was invented here, all thanks to an interior decorator and mechanic named Ernest Holmes. In a way, this is how it all started. You see, Mr. Holmes opened a garage to work on cars, and, well, he realized after a while it'd be easier to bring the cars to him rather than work on the cars in the field. The result? The Model 680. Why 680? That was the cost. The foundation for his invention was a 1913 Cadillac with a fairly stout factory chassis. The towing mechanism is a system of ropes and pulleys, hand-cranked, of course.

- [Vincent] Once the company kind of got started, he started selling the wreckers internationally. I mean, it exploded because, you know, there was no such thing as a tow truck prior to that. Vehicles became more prominent. The Model T was everywhere. So, you know, that became very useful for people on the road.

- [Joe] Holmes' company not only manufactured complete tow trucks, it also made rigs that mounted to existing truck beds. With the advent of World War II, American wreckers headed to Europe to give the Allies a lift. Holmes made over 7,200 W45s. This one was part of the Red Ball Express that carried critically needed supplies to the front lines in France. This monster wrecker was also built for the military but never saw action.

- [Vincent] Holmes' company had built four of these wreckers. They were prototypes for the military. They had been contracted. Well, unfortunately, the military didn't use it, and they kind of just fell into disarray. This particular one that exists in the museum is only one of four, and it's the only one that survived. And it was restored in the mid-to-late-'80s. And it's still considered the largest wrecker mounted on a truck in the world.

- [Joe] Well, from the biggest to the fastest. This is the one you'd want for speedy service.

- [Vincent] In the '70s, they wanted to see how fast they could get a tow truck, a fully built, fully set up tow truck, that would work, you know, anywhere in the world as far as getting out on the road and picking somebody up. And they wanted to get it out on the Indianapolis Speedway and see how fast they could get it to go. Ended up breaking, I believe, about 109 miles an hour. So it ended up being the fastest recorded tow truck in the world at the time.

- [Joe] All the vehicles were on loan from proud owners who had them meticulously restored to their former towing glory.

- [Vincent] It's like restoring any vehicle. It becomes very specialized, and very, you know, you have to have parts machined. And, you know, it has to be restored in a very specific way.

- [Joe] A tow truck driver has an important job, but it's a dangerous one as well. It's estimated that a driver is killed every six days. That's why in 2006, the Wall of the Fallen was dedicated to honor men and women who lost their lives in the line of service. Scott Hickson is a veteran driver from Florida we met. To him, witnessing the wall was an emotional experience.

- It's quite awe-inspiring. It brings out several emotions. It's quite humbling.

- [Joe] Have you lost a lot of friends?

- I've lost a lot of friends. I've had a lot of friends get hit. Myself, I've been hit. Yeah.

- [Joe] Obviously, the towing and recovery museum is not your run-of-the-mill roadside attraction. And while most of us hope we never need one, it's fascinating to hook up with all this truck history and tradition. You can't leave this place without a new appreciation for tow trucks and the people who drive them.

- [Vincent] I would just hope that they would be more informed about the industry, realize that there's people out there that work hard every day to make sure the roads stay clear and are there to help them. And at the same time, you know, they come away understanding a part of history that is not often discussed. You know, you don't talk about tow trucks very often, or where they came from.

- Well, time for us to head back to the garage, but you can watch all of the "Tennessee Crossroads" you want on tennesseecrossroads.org and see much more on the PBS app. Until next time, thanks for watching. You take care.

- [Announcer] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you in part by:

- [Narrator] Students across Tennessee have benefited from over $7.5 billion we've raised for education, providing more than two million scholarships and grants. The Tennessee Lottery, game-changing, life-changing fun.

- [Announcer] Discover Tennessee Trails and Byways, where adventure, cuisine, history come together. With 16 scenic driving trails, you can discover why Tennessee sounds perfect. Trips can be planned at TNTrailsAndByways.com.

- [Narrator] The Co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently owned Co-ops, driven to serve farmer-owners, rural lifestyle customers, and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states. More at ourcoop.com.

- [Announcer] Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds, enrich lives, and earn a living. More at MTSU.edu/CLA.