PEACH BUZZ: Of chili dogs, fried pies: Oh, the memories

Tag : peach

Not surprisingly, PBA 30’s 80th anniversary salute to thecity’s favorite drive-in, “What’ll Ya Have: AHistory of the Varsity,” has become one of the most-watchedprograms during this month’s pledge drive. A final encore ofthe documentary airs at 8 tonight. Lots of bold-faced fans lendtheir memories of the North Avenue chili dog emporium, founded in1928 by Atlanta businessman Frank Gordy. Wearing a paper Varsityhat and nibbling from a familiar red and white box, former U.S.Sen. Max Cleland recalls cruising the hot dog stand as a LithoniaHigh School student in 1960. Former Coke CEO Doug Ivester, a friedpeach pie fan, calls the Varsity “the cathedral of hotdogs.” U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson says his parents’ firstdate occurred there. Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce PresidentSam Williams reflects: “The girls would drive by and youwould wave at them. ‘Bird-dogging at the V’ is what wecalled it in those days.”
Our fave factoid: The Athens and Atlanta locations employ vastlydifferent mustard applications, demonstrated in the film. Examiningthe methods in super slo-mo, Buzz discerned that Athens mustardslingers apply the condiment meticulously, akin to a yellow stripeon an interstate. Atlantans favor an arc, like an abstract painterartfully flinging paint onto a canvas. Or as author Roy Blount Jr.more articulately voices it in “What’ll Ya Have”:“They’re doing God’s work.”
A family for Hope
Snellville is the town where everybody is somebody. Evenfour-legged residents. Hope, the kitty whose likeness will gracesome Georgia license plates starting in December, has found a homein the Gwinnett County city. “She’s already sleeping inthe bed,” said Josie Wind. She spotted Hope’s photowith an AJC story about the competition to pick the feline to befeatured on the license plate. Then Wind and her sons, Nathan, 14,and John, 8, drove to the Georgia SPCA shelter in Suwanee whereHope had lived for three months.
After learning they’d been chosen to adopt Hope, they endedup taking Mavis, an orange and white cat, home as well.
Proceeds from Hope’s plates will benefit spay/neuterprograms. They’ll be available in December for a one-time $25fee in addition to regular tag fees. Drivers can request them attag offices.
Wind can’t wait to buy one. “I’ll be the first inline,” she said.
Michelle Nunn: Influential person
The Nonprofit Times last month named Michelle Nunn, CEO ofAtlanta’s Points of Light Institute, to its annual list of 50most influential U.S. people in the nonprofit sector. It is thesecond time Nunn has made the list. In 2007, Nunn oversaw themerger of the Hands on Network, which she led in Atlanta, with thePoints of Light Foundation in Washington. The resulting Points ofLight Institute is the nation’s largest volunteercoordinating organization, directing 785,000 volunteers inthousands of community service projects last year. It hasaffiliates across the country and in other countries.
Nunn is on the President’s Council on Service and CivicParticipation. She has received a variety of awards and recentlywas named by Georgia Trend Magazine as one of the “100 mostinfluential Georgians.”
Dining with Denzel
A group of local Boys & Girls Club of America staffers were headedhome from Washington on Wednesday, having broken bread with actorDenzel Washington. The Academy Award-winning actor headlined at abreakfast meeting to launch the organization’s “BeGreat” campaign.
“He’s a passionate advocate for our cause,” saidArtis Stevens, senior director of marketing strategy andoperations. “He’s a club alum, so he knows the impactof caring people being involved in his life.”
Washington was active in his native Mount Vernon, N.Y. The Boys &Girls Club of America is headquartered in Atlanta. The group fromhere traveling to Washington included president Roxanne Spillett,senior legal counsel Kristine Morain and staffers Evan McElroy, JanStill-Lindeman and Angela Richmond.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Jimmie Rodgers is 75. Actor Robert Blake is 75. Actor FredWillard is 69. Singer-actor Frankie Avalon is 68. Guitarist KerryLivgren (Kansas) is 59. Actor James Gandolfini (“TheSopranos”) is 47. Singer Joanne Catherall of Human League is46. Actress Holly Robinson Peete (“Hangin’ With Mr.Cooper”) is 44. Singer Ricky Bell (Bell Biv Devoe, NewEdition) is 41. Actress Jada Pinkett Smith is 37. Actor JamesMarsden (“The Notebook,” “Ally McBeal”) is35. Rapper Xzibit is 34. Actors Taylor and Brandon Porter(“Party of Five”) are 15.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I just wanna say, it’s not bad to wear a promise ringbecause not every guy and a girl wants to be a slut, OK?”
—- “American Idol” champ Jordin Sparks, defendingthe Jonas Brothers at the MTV Video Music Awards after host RussellBrand joked about the siblings, all of whom wear purity rings tosymbolize a vow not to have premarital sex
Contributing: Sandra Eckstein, Richard Eldredge, Chris Quinn andnews services
Got a tip for Peach Buzz? 404-526-2749 or buzz@ajc.com