Rich's: A Southern Institution (Landmarks) - Softcover

Clemmons, Jeff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1609491912 ISBN 13: 9781609491918

Publisher: The History Press, 2012

Synopsis

In 1867, less than three years after the Civil War left the city in ruins, Hungarian Jewish immigrant Morris Rich opened a small dry goods store on what is now Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta. Over time, his brothers Emanuel and Daniel joined the business; within a century, it became a retailing dynasty. Join historian Jeff Clemmons as he traces Rich's 137-year history. For the first time, learn the true stories behind Penelope Penn, Fashionata, The Great Tree, the Pink Pig, Rich's famous coconut cake and much more, including how events at the downtown Atlanta store helped John F. Kennedy become America's thirty-fifth president. With an eye for accuracy and exacting detail, Clemmons recounts the complete history of this treasured southern institution.

About this title

About the Author:

Jeff Clemmons has lived in Atlanta for more than a quarter century. He created and leads walking tours of the Midtown and SoNo districts for the Atlanta Preservation Center, and he serves on the board of the APC's auxiliary group CIRCA, which offers its members private tours of some of metropolitan Atlanta's most interesting historical structures.

Review:

"Fantastic book!" - Steve Goss, "One On One" With Steve Goss, WABE, NPR

"[An] absorbing new book. ... One of the book's more fascinating sections concerns the reluctant role Rich's played in the civil rights movement in 1960, when black students from the Atlanta University Center [along with MLK, Jr.] tried to obtain service in the store's legendary Magnolia Room." - Jill Vejnoska, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Clemmons provides the nuts and bolts of the colorful department store's history--presenting a rather complete treatment of the Atlanta Sit Ins when students from the Atlanta University complex sought to fully integrate the store in the early 1960s." - Maria Saporta, SaportaReport
 
"...a decade after its brand vanished from the marketplace, a first-time author has written a book that preserves the history of a store that for 138 years was part of a city's soul. "Rich's: A Southern Institution" [however] is more than the story of a retail giant." - Richard Hyatt, The Ledger-Enquirer

About this edition

• Publisher: The History Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1609491912
• ISBN 13: 9781609491918
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224