CityView Magazine

The shop, which stood at the corner of Hay and Pittman streets, where the Fayetteville Police Department now stands, catered to all ages. It had a few notable visitors, too. Crawley said his dad used to sell magazines, and one day Gen. George Patton, who was staying at the Prince Charles Hotel across the street, stopped in to buy western magazines. Gov. Terry Sanford came to eat at the shop, as did those famous stooges, Larry, Moe and Curly. The Carolina was not the only soda Above | Nostalgia is all that’s left of Steve’s Tower in the Sky. Today, it is the Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway. SteveÕs Tower in the Sky Steve Horne is 77, and itÕ s been more than 40 years since he closed SteveÕ s Tower in the Sky, but folks still stop him to reminisce about the good times. ÒI can go to the barber shop sometimes, and someone will come up to me and say, Ô I met my wife at your place.Õ Thirty or 40 people have come to me to say that Ð a nd theyÕ re still married.Ó Horne opened his business on Gillespie Street in 1957. About 18 months later, when the Sky Vue went out of business, he leased it, expanded its snack bar into a restaurant that would seat 70 and built a glass tower on top to house a DJ who would take requests and broadcast Top 40 hits on WFNC. It was just a building in a field, Horne said, but it soon became one of the most popular spots in town. Folks could sit inside, but most opted to stay in their cars, scanning the scene, listening to music, waiting on orders of fried chicken or barbecue that carhops brought right to the window. SteveÕ s Tower in the Sky was a favored cruising spot, where young people drove slow circles around the restaurant Ð to see and be seen. By filling out little cards, patrons could request that the DJ play a special song for their sweethearts, too. There were times when as many as 200 cars filled the parking lot, Horne said. And some of FayettevilleÕ s best- known radio personalities, including Jeff Thompson, spun tunes in the tower. Around 1968, though, plans to build a new highway shut down SteveÕ s Tower in the Sky. Now, nostalgia is all that remains. Here or History? All thatÕ s left are the memories Ð SteveÕ s Tower in the Sky is now the Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway or what some folks still call the CBD Loop. Era of the soda shop As a kid, Lewis M. Crawley Jr., used to do a little bit of everything at the Carolina Soda Shop, the business his father, Lewis M. Ò BillÓ Crawley Sr., opened on Hay Street in 1933. He took orders, washed the dishes, waited tables and worked the soda fountain. In the 1940s and Ô 50s, Hay Street bustled, and children from the nearby city schools would come in for a Coca- Cola, an ice-cream soda or one of the shopÕ s famous hot dogs. shop on Hay Street back then. It was the era of the soda shop. There was also BradyÕ s, which operated from the building where Rude Awakening coffee house is now. There was the soda fountain inside HorneÕ s Drug Store. And then there was the Point News, in the triangular building where Hay and Old streets meet, where William and Helen Ward sold old-fashioned banana splits and fresh-squeezed orangeade. Bruce Daws, the local historian, said there was a time when Point News was a haven for schoolchildren. The Wards employed many of them to do nothing but cut truckloads of potatoes into French fries. Pete Piner, who grew up in the Massey Hill neighborhood and retired as chief from the Fayetteville Fire Department in 2001, said the Point News made Ò the best hamburger in the world.Ó The Wards also sold a good selection of cigars, newspapers and magazines. Bill Crawley ran the Carolina Soda Shop for 45 years, until 1978, when he retired. BradyÕ s, which the Wards also operated, closed in 1980. Helen Ward served the final burger and orangeade at Point News in 2003. Here or History? The soda shop era may be over, but HorneÕ s Drug Store has since been reborn as a popular breakfast and lunch spot, with some of the old dŽ cor remaining firmly intact. The USO In 1941, nearly 60,000 Army troops were training for war at Fort Bragg. To help the community entertain this massive number of young soldiers, the USO, or United Service Organization, opened its first government-built club at 333 Ray Ave., in downtown Fayetteville. CityViewNC.com | 45

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