Little Leon

For my Halloween costume this year I dressed up as Little Leon from The Andy Griffith show.

He never spoke and was always roaming around Mayberry unattended carrying and offering his PB&J sandwich to the townsfolk.  He was played by Clint Howard, little brother to Ron Howard. 

Here he and I are in his most iconic poses:

Holding up the wall...

And eating a PB&J.....

This costume came from stuff we already had around the house.  I made the PB&J sandwich from some old foam mattress padding, felt, and paint.  The foam was from a queen size pad that I got from my grandmother back in 2008 and she had owned it for a decade before that.  I have used it for all sorts of crafts including my Hamburglar Costume from 2016 and padding for my dining room chairs when I reupholstered them.  I have about a twin bed sized piece still left for lots of future swishy projects.

The key costume piece is the cowboy leather jacket.  This jacket belonged to my uncle in the early 1970s.  My mom somehow finagled it away from him when she was a teenager.  I used to wear it myself while I was in high school.  When she passed away I inherited it.

If we ever make it up to Mount Airy for Mayberry Days I have my costume all set!

 

Slick's Concrete

Last stop on our Mount Airy trip.
Slicks Concrete

155 Slicks Pottery Ln
Mount Airy, NC 27030

This is another of those places that I didn't find out existed until the last couple of years.
It is pure concrete heaven!
Acres of all sorts of concrete sculptures!
Here are just a few of my favorites:

An Elvis Bust

Yoder

Squeee!  Boston Terriers!

A concrete Barney

...and Andy!

And Big Foot and Little Foot Sightings abound!

So much to choose from: bears, squirrels, life sized giraffes, civil war figures, trucks, angels, frogs, poodles, dragoons, dolphins, saints, gargoyles, John F. Kennedy, alligators, pagodas, cats, elephants, coal miners, firefighters, lions, aliens, monkeys, chickens, hippos, pigs, tiki heads, cows, horses, and even garden gnomes.

After all of those choices we still wound up not bringing any of these concrete cuties home.  Just too hard to decide which would make our yard look the tackiest.

Roadside Mayberry

Obviously all of these signs have been in Mount Airy for decades but for some reason we didn't know about them til our current trip.  The Starlight Motel still has a building but it is in bad shape and has been crappily remodeled over the years.  I think it is now a low income month to month room rental.

Right next door is this big man sign.  He looks like a repair shop kinda guy but who knows.  I think it's a car sales lot now.

Then further down the way is this neat large milk carton at the Pet Milk company building.

All of these sites are along Andy Griffith Parkway

Mayberry Eats

While in Mount Airy, NC we tried out a few different places for eats than we normally go to.
One is a little Drive-In called Speedy Chef. (1516 S Main Street Mount Airy, NC 27030)
Just the cute retro clip art chef on the trash can had me pulling the car towards the place.

It's a classic little hamburger joint.  Nothing fancy at all.

We stopped by for a snack and then became addicted to their pineapple and nut topping ice cream sundaes.  We went several times in the 2 days we were in town!

We, of course, went to The Snappy Lunch for pork-chop sandwiches on one day!
(125 North Main St, Mount Airy NC, 27030)

This time we got them with everything!  Chili, coleslaw, mustard, onions,and tomato.

A new place we found was the Olympia Family Restaurant.  It's nothing historic (started in the 80s) but it's a nice local place for good home style cooking along with some Greek dishes.  I heard sometimes Betty Lynn ate there so I was hoping...We ate here for dinner both nights we were in town, no sightings, but great food and service! (602 Linville Rd, Mt. Airy NC, 27030)

We also made our way to Scoops Ice Cream.
 (5091 W Pine Street, Mt. Air, NC 27030)

Scoops is a fun little place full of metal sculptures and vintage stuff all over the grounds.  The business is inside a vintage ice cream truck that is permanently parked.

Bellies full, let's see a few more Mount Airy sites!

Davis Arcade and Motel

We have been to Mount Airy, NC numerous times.  I love that every time we go we discover several things new to see or do.  Walking downtown I have seen this sign at the end of an alley for Davis Arcade.  This trip we decided to go find out what is was.  I thought it was a pinball arcade.  However that is not what the word Arcade actually means here.  It is the definition of "a covered passage way that includes many shops"

As you can see...It is a super long hallway.  Most of the businesses were not retail (lawyers, and a psychic) and so it was kinda nice that on Friday evening the hallway was deserted and could be explored some. 

I loved this green asphalt tile on the floor!

As we came out the other end of the Davis Arcade, we found ourselves at the entry to The Davis Motel built in 1930.  The front door was open to this little lobby waiting room.  

Check out those amazing 1960 era chairs!

This is the front desk window.
  I think the sign "Limit your calls to 5 minutes please" may be giving you a hint as to what the Davis Motel is.  In present day it is a low rent, month by month, kinda half way house for men.

The supervisor/manager was there and a super cool guy.  He let us look around and take photos and told us about the history of the Motel.

The Davis Motel was where a ton of country western and blue grass performers and actors of past stayed when in town or passing through: Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Little Jimmy Dickens, Audrey and Hank Williams Jr. along with many others.

Check out the little windows in those rooms overlooking the hallway and stairwell.  The manager said the other side of the windows are bathrooms.  Odd.

Beautiful art deco wall sconces.

Awesome wallpaper.  Not sure of it's date, but I guess it could be original.

Stumbling on the Davis Motel was really awe inspiring.  So many legends climbed those steps and walked that hall.  We spoke with the manager at length.  He told us he still has the motel ledger books from 1940-1960 with signatures of all the guests.  The whole Davis building and complex is apparently bigger than I even realized.  He told us part of the building houses The Grand Theatre, which is one of his next restoration projects.  He was going to let us take a peek at it but a photographer had rented it out for the day.  Next time!

The Merry Go Round At The Earle

While we were in Mount Airy , NC to see Betty Lynn, we also got to make it to a live radio show from blue grassstation WPAQ called The Merry Go Round which is performed at The Earle.

The Merry Go Round is the second longest running radio show in America (first being the Grand Ole Opry).  It plays every Saturday morning for 2.5 hours featuring live bluegrass music from 2-3 bands.

The first performers we saw were the Apple Pie String Band, which were very good.

The second band was called High Country Grass.  I can't locate a website but found this video from the performance we attended.  Mr. Husband and I loved them!  The two guys who do most of the singing have great gritty real voices.  The fiddle player is a teenager and he is absolutely amazing.

While we were at the Earle I noticed this neat light feature in some of the original 1938 seats in the balcony.

The last time we visited The Earle I regretted not checking out the bathroom for neat old features.  I figured there had to be something in there since the bathroom doors looked so cool.  So I made a special trip to use the facilities and discovered these fun mid-century tiled floors.

While we were in town we drove out to see the actual WPAQ radio station which is really small.  I wanted to go inside but didn't want to interrupt or disrupt anything.

Every time we have been to Mount Airy we missed seeing The Merry Go Round.  It was amazing, so so amazing. If we lived in town I would be there every Saturday.
The closest thing to it is the ability to
Listen Live! online.
The Merry Go Round runs live at 11 am Mount Airy, NC Time every Saturday morning.

Wally's

No trip to Mayberry is complete without a stop at Wally's Filling Station known really as Tour Mayberry Squad Car Tours.  We have done the official Squad Car Tours a couple of times in the past and they are a lot of fun.  Also on the premises are several neat areas for photos ops: The Darlings cabin, Wally's, a downtown storefront, various vehicles, and the Mayberry Court House with a complete interior replica.

Goober says "hey", but he also says in episode "TV or Not TV" (S05E23):
"I've been deputized a couple of times too.  Did you know that?  Just during emergencies.  Every Halloween I'm in charge of guarding the cannon in the park.  Kids are always filling it full of orange peelin's, and potaters and rotten tomaters...things like that.  It's real disrespectful."

Ever since I've been in charge of guarding that cannon they ain't even as much as got a grape in it."

Goober happened to be off duty!

Orange peelin's!

Ha!



We also took the opportunity to take a grainy, blurry black and white picture inside the courthouse.

We love coming up with and staging photo set ups.  Here are a few more along with past visits to Wally's and the Courthouse :

Jail Cell Photos 2016
Wall'ys Filling Station 2016
Mayberry Courthouse 2006

Andy Griffith Museum 2018

The The Andy Griffith Museum in Mount Airy, NC hosts the meet and greet for Betty Lynn (Thelma Lou of the Andy Griffith Show) that we attended in June. I have been to the museum many times in the past.  It was certainly interesting to view but in one big way it always miffed me.  You weren't allowed to take pictures...even with the flash off.  Well recently they did a massive renovation to the space adding many new artifacts and beautifully crafted vignettes. ..and now allow flashless photography!!!!
The above and below photos are in the entryway of the museum made to look like downtown Mount Airy Storefronts.  The first few displays are items from Andy's early days.

You can't get much earlier than this. 
On display is a rocking chair made by Andy's dad for his mom to rock baby Andy in.

Next is a facade of The Earle Theatre.  On the "screen" is a digital presentation of Andy's theater productions and artifacts in the window displays.

Behind the Mount Airy town area is the TAGS section, first featuring 
an officer costume shirt from the show.

and Deputy Badge ..."pointed and silver".

Off to the left are downtown Mayberry store front facades.

An area with some of Don Knott's costumes. 

The old "Salt and Pepper"...."just perfect for the dip."

A suit worn by Gomer and then Goober in later episodes.

  Barney:"This is a plain clothes operation."
 Gomer:" I've got a brown suit that is pretty plain.  This brown suit was a tiny white thread running through it...it might not be plain enough."

Goober's classic look.
You know Goober takes off on Cary Grant.
"Judy, Judy, Judy!"

The court house with the original set of door plaques from the show.

Floyd's Barbershop store front.  

 It's clever they put one of Barney's election posters in the window here.

Barney: "What do you mean you don't think you can put up my poster?"
Floyd: "Oh..I never put up posters in my window Barney.  It spoils the decor."
Barney: "A mud slide couldn't spoil that decor."

Of course this poster is from Return to Mayberry (the 1986 movie) not from the original 1960 series episodes.

Next is a jail cell display featuring costume pieces for Otis Campbell.  It's even got the little jail cell window up top as part of the display!

Two sets of keys from the show.  One normal set (left) with it's teeth still in place and another one where Cousin Virgil polished them off.

Directly across from the jail cell (clever!) is the courthouse desk.  The desk has several show props.  Barney's chair from the show is on the left and has been bronzed.  Also cleverly this is the backside of the courthouse doors.

"This mechanically perfect, RJ300 motorcycle, that's official Army nomenclature, is as of now an official part of the Mayberry Sheriff's Department rolling stock.
Check Point Chickie!"

Outside is a vintage motorcycle side car like one from the episode, "Barney's Sidecar" season 4.  Folks are allowed to climb in it for photo ops.  The sidecar used to be in the building and had a helmet for the complete look.  But the helmet is now gone, I guess other folks feel like how Barney and his mother did about not liking people wearing their hats.

 "
Floyd:"Did you ever see what is written in the cement outside the shop out there?"

A reference to episode "The Case of the Punch in the Nose" from season 5. Only I think it's actually Emma Lawrence.

Also at the museum are artifacts from Andy Griffith's early comedy routines, Matlock, and a horrible crappy country music video he was in later in life.

Visit!
Andy Griffith Museum
218 Rockford St
Mount Airy, NC 27030
336-786-1604