It's two o'clock on Tuesday afternoon and cars are whizzing by the Cherokee Inn on North State Street. The neon Budweiser sign says that today's blue-plate special is beef tips or meatloaf, rice and gravy, fried okra and lima beans for only $6.50. A hive of activity buzzes in and out of the wooden kitchen door as waiters take food orders in and bring food out.
Chip Angelo, the Cherokee's owner for the past 20 years sits down with me at a booth "upstairs" and fills me in on the rumors I've been hearing about the place moving. My first reaction was "Nooo!" Chip seems excited and a bit apprehensive, like his staff, some of whom who were there when he bought the place. He tells me that the rumors are true, that they're moving the whole kit and kaboodle almost directly across the interstate to 1410 Old Square Road (across from Moe's and next to Old Venice Pizza).
But, but what's it going to be like? "We're going to make it as close to this as possible," Chip says, waving his arm to encompass the lovingly dilapidated room. "We'll try to paint the ceiling the same color, even," he laughs as we look up at the smoke and grease color. He, like his clientele, loves this place. The only reason he's moving is the rent, which is higher than that of surrounding commercial retail.
As the owner of the name, the contents and the neon sign that has become a Jackson icon, Chip plans to move it all: pennants (of which there must be hundreds), jukebox, booths, tables, bar and stools, kitschy neon signs, memorabilia, pool table, foos-ball table, pinball game. "Same grill, same fryer, we'll even take the same grease. Hell, we'll have a parade," Chip promises. Sign me up: I'll throw fries.
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