Chat 'N Chew & Skeeters

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   *** I wish to correct an error that I made in this article (Feb 2003 - The City News)
The sentence O.D. Holifield owned should have read O.D Holifield managed the Chat 'n Chew. The owner was Mr. Barton Webb. Mr. Webb purchased the land and had John Sergeant build Chat 'N Chew to resemble a larger verision of a restaurant that he visited after a ballgame in  Mississippi. Mr. Webb even purchased  bar-b-que equipment and an ice cream machine just like the restaurant in Mississippi. Since O.D. was known for his ability to cook barbque and was having to close his ice cream stand on South Highland, Mr Webb hired him to run Chat 'N Chew. "The lone drive-in out south with it's neon sign, great bar-b-que and reputation as, 'the place to be,' " according to Mr. Webb, "would have so many customers on weekends that the THP would have to come out and direct traffic." Mr. Webb also told me that on opening day the smell of the bar-b- que caused a number of South Side students to leave school at lunch. When the principal called to complain Mr. Webb simply told him that they should have better food at the school. Mr  Webb got away with the comment since he and the principal were long time friends. I wish to thank Mr. Webb for accepting my apology for leaving him out of the story and Elizabeth Whitt for putting me in touch with her father. ***

Chat 'N Chew & Skeeters
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     How many hearts skipped a beat, were stolen and sometimes even broken while sitting in the parking lot of the Chat ‘n Chew or Skeeters?

     Since February is the month of hearts and flowers I couldn’t help but think of two of Jackson’s favorite restaurants from the past. Chat ‘n Chew on South Highland and Skeeters on North Highland. Both of these hot spots were established in the 1950's.

     O.D Holifield ran Chat ‘n Chew and Skeeter and Eva Alexander owned Skeeters. Chat ‘n Chew was famous for it’s Bar-B-Que, hot dogs, hamburgers, and milk shakes. Skeeters had it’s hamburgers, cucumber salad dressings and unbelievable pies. But the real attraction for the young people of the 50's,60's and early 70's in Jackson was the parking lots of Skeeters and Chat and Chew. Even though the kids of today think cruising and hanging out in a parking lot is just what you are suppose to do, and their parents just don’t understand. I am sure most of them do understand, but it’s not like when they were young. ( A penny for every time that phrase has been uttered would make someone rich.)

     Back when Skeeters and Chat and Chew opened in the 50's, kids soon learned that if you got in your car and drove slowly in the parking lot of Skeeters or around Chat ‘n Chew, you could always find a friend. Now finding a friend was important because if you were shy and wanted to meet a certain guy or girl, they would get the word out. Now it might not have been cool to date someone from South Side if you went to North Side, but it happened all the time, after they met at the Chat ‘n Chew. The students of Jackson High just floated, they made their own rules.

     One lady told me that the girls from Jackson High would go to the Chat ‘n Chew, order two bar-b-ques and a milk shake then sit in their car. Usually four or five girls would be in one car, if one of the girls made eye contact with "him" they would send a signal. If he was interested, he would come back and park beside the girls car. Oh did I mention there were at least two guys per car. Now if that didn’t work, you sent word by a friend to let the guy or girl in question to be at the same location the next week. See, things haven’t changed that much. It’s just at an earlier age and maybe a movie or the mall instead of a parking lot, she added.

     One gentleman told me it was also the place to show off your car and find a good challenger for the next drag race, usually down Hwy 45 South. Even though the police kept an eye on the two locations they didn’t really bother the kids as long as they behaved themselves. Mr. O.D, and "Skeeter" both kept an eye on the goings on. Both men loved and supported the young people of Jackson. If a fight broke out in either parking lot it was soon calmed down. Some of the young Romeos would get a little carried away. There was more than one disagreement over a girl and a few girls were also known to take exception to a boyfriend with a roaming eye.

     One lady was quick to tell me she fell in love with a North Side boy in 1959, in the parking lot of the Chat ‘n Chew. She got her engagement ring one year later while they ate a bar-b-que in the same parking lot. Her story doesn’t end there. After two years of marriage, her husband who played in a rock n roll band, had told her he was rehearsing. Instead, when she and a friend went to get a sandwich they found him with another girl, you got it, sitting in the parking lot of the Chat ‘n Chew. After she divorced him she and her friend stopped by Chat ‘n Chew for a hot dog after they left their classes at West Tennessee Business School. While there one afternoon she met a "very attractive young man." The end of her story is that she married the attractive young man and they will celebrate their thirty-eighth wedding anniversary this year.

     That’s just one of the love stories I was told began or ended in the parking lot of the Chat ‘n Chew. There are so many other memories about these two beloved places, I’ll have to write stories on each later in the year.

Trivia: The name Chat n Chew was the winning entry in a contest O D and the Jackson Sun ran in 1957. The winner was Sandra Morgan (Sandra Morgan Williams) a South Side student at that time. The prize, a $25.00 War Bond.