The new restaurant reprises the original department store space, which was the site of the February 1960 lunch counter sit-ins (and where congressman John Lewis received his very first arrest for nonviolent protest—with 49 more arrests to come.) Looking around the place, he says very little. Woolworth eventually closed, and it sat there on 5th Avenue for years, spending twenty of them as a Dollar General. Today, Woolworth on Fifth is a festive, full-service restaurant serving modern takes on down-home dishes. Nashville’s Woolworth On 5th Was Home To Sit-Ins During The Civil Rights Movement In The 60s. His restaurant portfolio includes Loveless Café (which he purchased with partners in 2003 and then revamped), The Southern Steak & Oyster, Acme and Fin & Pearl. Thank you! Why This Nashville Restaurant Opened at the Site of Historic Lunch Counter Sit-Ins ... the home of civil rights attorney and activist Z. Alexander Looby was bombed on April 19, 1960. This website offers detailed city tours, videos and much more, telling the stories of heroes who confronted racism and injustice, and changed the world. "We wanted to make it a welcome table.". S.H. Many of the Art Deco elements were maintained or carefully recreated to pay homage to the original space. On that day, the long, arduous process of desegregating the city's lunch counters began. Beginning in 2017, Morales (of TomKats hospitality) worked with his team to restore the historic space. We’ve assembled a list of 50 of the world’s most reliable, inexpensive wines – bottles that offer amazing quality for their price year in and year out. The restaurant's basement, called the New Era Ballroom, hosts regular music shows featuring music of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The menu, which Morales calls "an exploration of Southern cuisine," features updated comfort food dishes like hot harissa chicken sandwiches, blackened fish with succotash and potlikker beurre blanc and hibiscus brined pork chops with whipped potatoes, stewed okra, corn and tomatoes. Menus had yet to be printed as of late January when The Tennessean toured the space, but Morales said it will include fried chicken, collard greens, macaroni and cheese and a “culinary exploration of the roots of Southern cuisine.”. It is also part of the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, Why This Nashville Restaurant Opened at the Site of Historic Lunch Counter Sit-Ins. The terrazzo floors, original handrails, wood-paneled walls, upper-level mezzanine, historic photographs and art deco aesthetic will remind longtime Nashvillians of trips to Woolworth at 221 5th Ave. N. during a time when department stores ruled downtown. After another wave of student sit-ins at Woolworth, the home of civil rights attorney and activist Z. Alexander Looby was bombed on April 19, 1960. (It’s reminiscent of the experience visitors have at Atlanta’s Civil Rights Center, where they sit at a counter, don headphones and get an idea what it would be like to endure a sit-in protest.) But the key battles of the Civil Rights Movement were fought in the Deep South, and it’s where you can find historic sites and moving monuments. And while it’s not the same restaurant as it once was, the new restaurant is a wonderful tribute to the brave men and women that help change the country nearly 60 years ago. Read our disclosure policy here. amzn_assoc_linkid = "9c07ccfa8aef3d37476d406a7d91262a"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "civilrightstr-20"; He admitted he did. by making the decision to temporarily close. Amassed over five decades, the collection included an astonishing range of titles, from classic compendiums ordered from glossy magazines to obscure tomes her grandmother had tracked down at bookstores, including Nashville’s beloved (but now, Arts & Letters in New York City. Throughout the process, Morales consulted with Vanderbilt professor and cookbook author Alice Randall, who made sure the new restaurant preserved African-American foodways and not only recognized, but celebrated, black identity. The building and businesses at 221 5th Avenue North is a critical piece of our country’s history. Woolworth is featured alongside several other Nashville sites, including the Civil Rights Room at the Nashville Public Library, Fisk University and Clark Memorial United Methodist Church where Martin Luther King Jr. held the annual meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Nashville has its fair share of history as well as its fair share of restaurants, but there’s one spot that opened recently in downtown Nashville that is a perfect combination of the two. Reach Lizzy Alfs at [email protected] or 615-726-5948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; Most of the 18,000-square-foot space was rebuilt, of course, but it still echoes the art deco-inspired aesthetic and wood-paneled walls of the past. its 1960s specifications, and approached Williams about becoming involved. amzn_assoc_region = "US"; Curated by Williams and Randall, the shop is dedicated to African American authors, with works from early standard-bearers including Edna Lewis and Rufus Estes as well as current voices such as Bryant Terry (author of Afro-Vegan), acclaimed food historian Michael Twitty, and baker Jocelyn Delk Adams. “We want the restaurant to be a welcome table—to represent what those students sat in for,” says Tom Morales, a Music City hospitality veteran who oversaw the project, including rebuilding the twenty-two-seat counter to Iconic lunch counter restored at Woolworth on 5th, Music City’s role in changing the course of civil rights history, Nashville native and experienced restaurateur, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Grab a seat at the lengthy lunch counter on the main level, head up to the mezzanine for … amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; Homewood Suites by Hilton Nashville-Downtown A rare bargain, this offers familiar amenities including a full kitchen and suite, at a surprisingly affordable price for downtown. Notably, it was the first time that John Lewis was arrested, although it would happen dozens of more times to the man who became a congressman from Georgia. © 2007-2020 Garden & Gun Magazine LLC. This restaurant also has some incredible history. For Morales —  who remembers visiting Woolworth as a child during downtown shopping trips with his parents and nine siblings — recreating the lunch counter is his most meaningful preservation project to date. With much of the original architecture in place, Woolworth on 5th recreates the lunch counters where student sit-ins changed the country forever. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; Get more stories like this one delivered right to your email. Today, you can order all kinds of classic American food at Woolworth on 5th. Amassed over five decades, the collection included an astonishing range of titles, from classic compendiums ordered from glossy magazines to obscure tomes her grandmother had tracked down at bookstores, including Nashville’s beloved (but now shuttered) Davis-Kidd and Kitchen Arts & Letters in New York City. Options include a walking tour, and one focused on the important role women played in the city’s civil rights movement. Among the protestors arrested was future US Congressman John Lewis, who protested from the lunch counter at Woolworth. We’re aware that these uncertain times are limiting many aspects of life as we all practice social and physical distancing. amzn_assoc_region = "US"; Walk into the reimagined Woolworth on 5th, past a front window display chronicling the building’s iconic history, and you’ll feel transported back in time to one of the most important decades for Nashville civil rights history. Three different groups of college students, most of whom attended historically black universities, including Fisk University, American Baptist College, and Tennessee A&I, sat at downtown Nashville’s lunch counters at Woolworth, Kress, and McClellan asking to be served.