Monday, July 9, 2018

Matchbook Monday

It's time for Matchbook Monday.  Some real Jackson history is posted below.  Feel free to add your stories or any information about them in the comments section as you enjoy these blasts from the past. Readers can email copies of any old matchbooks to kingfish1935@gmail.com.


First up is the legendary Sun-n-Sand.  The favorite place for horse-trading in the after hours when the legislature was in session.  If only the walls could talk or even whisper, oh the stories they could tell. 





The hotel's 2001 closing was lamented by many.



Next up is Highland Village's Fridges.  It opened in 1976.



JJ has found no information about the establishment online but there was once a Wholesale Confections on South President Street.  Maybe readers can provide more information. 




There was also once a police supply store downtown.


Finally, there are two matchbooks of the type of hotel one won't see anymore.  It was truly modern for its day as it offered free radio service in every room. 






The Clarion-Ledger announced the construction of the hotel in 1930.






16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! It says there is a rooftop garden and a 12th floor convention room. In a perfect world, Mayor Chokwe Lumumba and friends could have a luncheon and press conference from the historic Robert E Lee Hotel in downtown Jackson and nobody would bat an eye.

Anonymous said...

If the walls of the Sun-n-Sand could talk...

Anonymous said...

Lovely building, the Lee Building. However, it honors a dude who represents total epic failure!!!! The only bigger loser than Bob Lee is Jeff Davis. Total choke artists

Anonymous said...

Robert E. Lee Hotel to Attract Conventions to the Capital City

Yeah. How'd that work out? About the same as the Jackson Convention Center that has yet to draw a single national or regional convention?

Anonymous said...

11:39 Sounds like you should carry your pompous ass back north. Delta is ready when you are!

Anonymous said...

Robert E Lee was the greatest general ever!

He lost the war and surrendered quickly but when he managed to save the scalps of white southerners who should have been shot for treason he won the Long game. From there white southerners continued killing blacks for over 100 years with no help from the north.

And today...Lee is honored and revered and the moving of his statues causes riots amongst white people who have no relation to Lee whatsoever....

Lee was the greatest general ever......in a way

Anonymous said...

The matchbooks are very cool. I really enjoy Matchbook Monday's

To everyone making political statements, yes in the past southern whites were all about self preservation. In modern polite aociety, whites are denied a sense of self preservation or identity. So you won't have us to blame for your problems for too much longer.

I hope everyone hating on white people enjoy their Jamaican or Haitian style society going forward.

These matchbooks represent the builders. The people who once tried to build a great city in Jackson. All that is left in the City of Jackson are the maggots consuming a corpse.

Anonymous said...

Love that the matchbook for the R.E. Lee says "matchless" service.

Anonymous said...

Ah, the ol' Sun-n-Sand with The Patio Club next door. Those were the days! Don't know anything about the wholesale confection place, but somewhat interestingly, that address would put it right across the street from city hall, next to the Hood Building where the body was found last week or week before; those were certainly different times then! Farrior's actually rings a faint bell. Foley Street is across High Street from the fair grounds, in the Cowboy Maloney area. Given that they sold radar equipment and breathalyzers, that couldn't be that long ago and I've got a faint memory of some such business in the area. Fridge's was a "ladies' place" so while I remember the name, I don't remember ever going in it.

The Robert E. Lee Hotel was still operating when we moved here in the early 60's and I vaguely remember going in that grand old building for some reason as a kid. Unfortunately it closed in 1964 because the owners didn't want to accept AA guests, at least per this good article in Preservation Mississippi. The only other thing I remember about this hotel was that it was briefly featured in a scene in a book by MS author Lawrence Wells called Rommel and the Rebel that came out sometime in the 1980s.

PittPanther said...

The matchbook for the Robert E Lee hotel mentions "true southern hospitality." That's the kind of hospitality I DON'T need. Would prefer to close a functioning business rather than follow the law. Is this the "sense of identity" you want to preserve?

#sad

Anonymous said...

PittPanther,

You are absolutely right. I bet they also descriminated against whites of a lower social class as well. I doubt that their 'southern hospitality' extended to impoverished whites like my sharecropper ancestors who walked around barefoot in overalls and had very little money to their name.

Actually, most businesses would descriminate against them to this day, since so many businesses have signs requiring shirts and shoes.

It is unfortunate though, that very few businesses today have signs requiring that pants be around the waist, and that underwear should not be exposed.

The act of dressing and speaking like you have or want a job, and that you aren't contemplating your next criminal act is an 'identity' that is lost in today's society.

Jack's Son said...

It was sad that Jackson was so full of hate and violence back in those days.
Now look how friendly and peaceful Jackson is today.
We've come a long way sweetheart !!!

Anonymous said...

11:30AM

Yes, it is almost as if the people in power back in those days had some sort of observable evidence in the world around them that led them to keep tight controls on a certain demographic the best way that they could to prevent that demographic from destroying what the people in power back then had built.

Sort of like how that certain demographic has fulfilled that terrifying prediction everywhere in the entire world that they have gained a majority control of society.

However, discussing this is blasphemy today. You could be called the dreaded 'R' word

Anonymous said...

I had a bridal registry at Fridge's in 2003. I believe it closed a year or two after my husband and I married.

Anonymous said...

I think 7:48 said all that needs to be said. Yes, this city and State are heading the way 3rd world countries go....

Anonymous said...

The decline of Jackson began with the disappearance of Nabs.



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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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