Prohibition ended on Dec. 5, 1933. Almost immediately thereafter, the Crystal Beer Parlor was born.
In January, the famed restaurant and bar will celebrate its 80th birthday with a week of special promotions.
A photo from around 1920 shows that Henry Gerken Family Groceries once occupied the building at the corner of Jones and Jefferson streets.
According to “The Jewish Community of Savannah” by Valerie Frey and Kaye Kole, owner Julius Weitz lived in the large upstairs apartment with his parents and siblings.
The Crystal’s windows were larger in those days than they are today. Signage advertised cigars and Tetley’s teas.
That 1920 photo shows a few members of the Weitz family standing out front, flanked by an unidentified man standing near a bicycle parked at the curb. What appears to be a small chicken coop is just a few strides from the front door.
According to Crystal Beer Parlor owner John Nichols, William “Blocko” and Connie Manning took over the space in the early 1930s and opened a restaurant.
Nichols suspects that the establishment was called the Crystal Palace, but much of the early history is hazy. Few photos have turned up of the Depression-era restaurant or the earlier grocery.
The restaurant was likely serving alcohol illegally, according to Nichols, so when Prohibition was repealed, the establishment pivoted quickly into the Crystal Beer Parlor.
“Ladies didn’t come here,” Nichols said of the restaurant in those early days. Not only was the Crystal a busy bar, but it also sold cigars, had spittoons and had a reputation for gambling.
Maybe it was because of the nature of the Crystal Beer Parlor’s business that no one seemed to think about memorializing the actual opening date. Probably no one anticipated that the same restaurant and bar would still be around 80 years later.
During our rambling conversation last week, Nichols recalled his own childhood in the 1960s, when he would typically wait in the car while his father picked up a takeout bag of greasy burgers and fries for the family.
So over a period of decades, the Crystal Beer Parlor became a Savannah institution.
And then financial problems forced it to close in 2000.
The establishment reopened about three years later under new ownership, but then closed again in late 2008 as the recession deepened.
Not long after that, Nichols received a flyer announcing that the Crystal was available.
“I put the thing in the trash,” Nichols told me. He had a successful catering company at that point and had already been burned a couple of times in the restaurant business.
But his dedicated catering staff loved the idea of reopening the Crystal Beer Parlor and urged Nichols to pursue it.
Nichols’ former restaurant John and Linda’s in City Market was one of the best in town during the 1990s, so I asked if he missed fine dining.
“Not at all,” Nichols responded with a wave of the hand. He has embraced the old business model for the Crystal Beer Parlor – and that means making less money per customer but serving as many as possible.
It’s a model that the Crystal’s clientele has embraced. The classic burger with a side item is priced at just $8.50.
I’m pretty sure that patrons don’t just go back for the food and the value, however.
The Crystal Beer Parlor was the first Savannah restaurant that I patronized when I moved here in 1995, but even after all these years I’m still entranced by the palpable sense of history.
The Crystal still honors Monroe Whitlock and A.G. “Smitty” Smith, both of whom were servers for over 45 years.
Nichols’ favorite historic items include two old fire extinguishers along the western wall. In intense heat, the glass tops would have shattered and released a chemical that would fight the flames.
The cigar case alongside the original Brunswick bar still has a Dentyne logo.
And then there are all the photos, which are periodically changed or moved.
One of Nichols’ favorites is a large shot of the segregated waiting room inside the old Union Station. Another depicts a snowball fight on Broughton Street in the early 1900s.
There’s even the sheet music for Johnny Mercer’s underrated “G.I. Jive.”
Of course, it’s impossible to summarize everything on the wall at the Crystal Beer Parlor. I’m sure regulars have their favorites.
For all the restaurant’s appeal to locals, Nichols estimates that the Crystal Beer Parlor gets about 40 percent of its business these days from tourists. Nichols said that the visitors are primarily being sent his way through the recommendations of locals.
To avoid conflicts with the holidays, the Crystal Beer Parlor will celebrate its 80th anniversary during the week of January 5.
During that week, guests born in 1933 will have a chance to eat for free. There will be commemorative pint glasses and magnets, plus a variety of other promotions and specials.
Even though he grew up in Savannah and has a long history with the Crystal Beer Parlor, Nichols still seems surprised by the support that the place continues to receive and the memories that patrons continue to share.
“I knew we would do well,” Nichols said. “ But there was no way I could anticipate the love that Savannahians have for this place.”
City Talk appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net and http://www.billdawers.com. Send mail to 10 East 32nd St., Savannah, Ga. 31401.