Tag: Cooper-Young

At Coco & Lola’s – Midtown’s Lingerie Boutique

Post author By Sophorn Kuoy
Post date February 12, 2016

“No one is really doing what we are doing,” says Glenna Rohrbacher about her Midtown lingerie boutique Coco & Lola’s. Even Glenna was surprised Memphis didn’t have a boutique that carried vintage-inspired lingerie or lingerie in “real-women size.” It was a discovery that helped launched her business in Cooper-Young.

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“I just walked around for days asking locals what they needed in Cooper-Young. Most could tell me what they didn’t need any more of. I was given lots of ideas but nothing spoke to me,” she says.

It was a trip to New Orleans with her husband on her 60th birthday that began the lingerie idea. They stumbled upon a shop on Royal Street. “Naturally being in the Quarter, the whole experience was quite nostalgic. The atmosphere was very shaded in burlesque and I had never seen anything like it.”

Glenna admitted that she had a hard time finding lingerie locally that suited her and discovered other women in Midtown had the same problem, noting how far the drive was for them just to buy a pair of panties. Not soon after, the store concept was developed. It was originally called the “Naughty Diva,” but after some neighborhood reactions, she and her husband with help from several other family members landed on a more discreet name, two names to be precise – Coco & Lola’s each representing two distinct personas.

Coco represents the sophisticated, vintage-loving woman, while Lola represents the edgier woman and likely for a more youthful audience. Glenna drives the persona of Coco within the shop and her daughter Parker Johnson, who also manages, helps drive the persona of Lola. It’s a melding of “sass and class” as their tagline suggests.

Stepping into the small and intimate boutique is like stepping into a luxurious closet of an undeniably confident woman. The room smells sweet and provocative from a scent they created themselves and packaged into a candle they sell exclusively.

Coco & Lola’s offers specialties such as vintage-inspired lingerie, bustiers, and corsets. A recommended brand for the corset and waist cincher is Rago, which Glenna believes is almost essential to making sure one looks their best in vintage-inspired dresses. They also carry the Cosa Bella line, a luxury lingerie brand from Italy, that is distinctly known and found nowhere else in Memphis. Other brands of note include Betty Page, Coquette, and Shirley of Hollywood. They even carry some jewelry by local artists. As far as lingerie sizes go, all women are accommodated. If they don’t have it, they will gladly order it for you.

“I want everyone to feel really comfortable here and we carry sizes that fit girls up to a 44 so they do!” says Glenna.

Visit them at 710 South Cox in Cooper Young.
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:30 – 7:00 pm
(901) 425-5912
www.cocoandlolas.com

Tags Coco & Lola's, Cooper-Young, Glenna Rohrbacher, Lingerie, Parker Johnson

Music Music Blog

Fundraising for Johnny Cash Statue Underway

Post author By Chris Shaw
Post date October 30, 2015

Johnny Cash by Leigh Wiener, 1962.

Residents of Cooper Young are currently raising money for a Johnny Cash statue that they hope to place in front of Galloway United Methodist church, the site of Cash’s first concert with Marshall Grant and Luther Perkins. According to the IOBY page dedicated to the project:

“Once the total project amount of $103,035 is raised, Sculptor Bill Beckwith will sculpt, cast, and mount a 7-foot tall bronze of Johnny Cash taken from a photograph made by Leigh Wiener in 1962. First, local historian Jimmy Ogle will install the Historic Marker describing Cash’s first performance at the Church. Before the statue is mounted, the plaza will be landscaped and prepared at the corner of the Church property at 1015 Walker (now Cooper Walker Place).”

Currently, $5,070 of the needed $31,015 funds have been donated. Those in favor of building the statue hope to have construction completed by May 1st, 2016, the 60th anniversary of the Sun Records single “I Walk the Line.” After the sculpture is completed, local artists, landscapers, and architects will be enlisted to create sculpture gardens based on Memphis music history. Listen to “I Walk the Line” below. For information on how to buy a brick on the “Cash Walkway” or the “Cash Steps,” click here.

Fundraising for Johnny Cash Statue Underway

Tags Cooper-Young, Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash Statue, Sun Records

Letter From The Editor Opinion

Curb Alert

Post author By Bruce VanWyngarden
Post date October 22, 2015

Do you know about Nextdoor.com? It’s a social media site that links you with your neighbors, providing an online forum for discussing common concerns: garage sales, lost and found pets, garbage and recycling, criminal activity, references for chimney sweeps and handymen, and curb alerts, where someone announces they’re putting, say, an old couch on the curb. First come, first served.

Last Sunday, the greatest curb alert of all time was posted on the Central Gardens Nextdoor.com site. It read:

Curb Alert – Ole Miss Football Season

The Ole Miss football season is on the curb by the Liberty Bowl.

Frankly, it was a rare example of wit on the site. Most posts are pretty mundane and some are borderline paranoid. “Suspicious” is perhaps the most-used word on Nextdoor.com. As in, “suspicious-looking teens walking down alley behind my house on Vinton at 4:45 p.m. Be aware.” I leave it to you to guess what usually constitutes a suspicious-looking teen. But, occasional paranoia aside, the site is pretty useful.

As is a big win over that SEC team from Oxford.

I was out Friday night, listening to the City Champs at the Buccaneer. During a break, I got into a conversation with a couple of Ole Miss fans from Nashville. I could tell they were Ole Miss fans because they were dressed entirely in red and white, and they were a little drunk and a little loud. But they were raving about Memphis. Seriously.

“There’s no music like this in Nashville,” they said. “There are no little clubs like this. It’s all that country shit.” They’d just had a large time earlier in the evening in Cooper-Young, and then in Overton Square, where someone had told them that they’d hear the best music in town at the Buc.

Then talk turned, as it must when talking to people dressed in garish school colors, to football. The Rebel fans conceded that Memphis had a nice offense and that Paxton Lynch was a “good college quarterback.” But, they explained, helpfully, Memphis was not ready for SEC competition. “Y’all’s defense won’t know what hit them,” they said. “SEC football is on a different level. It might be a game for a quarter or so,” they said, “but our depth will wear y’all down.”

I blush to admit now that I sort of agreed with them. Like most Memphians, I was hoping the Tigers could score enough to make the game interesting, but I had few illusions that Memphis could actually beat Ole Miss.

I’ve never been happier to be wrong about something in my life. And I’m happy the Ole Miss fans at least had a great night in Memphis before their team got kicked to the curb.

They were right about one thing: It was a game for a quarter or so.

Tags Central Gardens Memphis, Cooper-Young, nextdoorcom, Ole Miss football, Overton Square, The Buccaneer, The City Champs, University of Memphis Football Tigers

Letter From The Editor Opinion

Two Trains Running

Post author By Bruce VanWyngarden
Post date August 20, 2015

There’s two, two trains running,

Well, they ain’t never going my way.

One runs at midnight and the other one

Running just ‘fore day. — Muddy Waters

I was sitting in my favorite little neighborhood bar the other night and fell into a conversation with a couple of realtors. They were bemoaning how Midtown was changing. “All we do these days,” one of them said, “is show houses to people from out east — Germantown and Collierville.” The realtors were happy to be selling homes but afraid that the invaders from the east would change the character of Midtown.

“They drive more aggressively. They tear down hedges and put up big security lights,” she said. “Midtown’s a special place, and we don’t want it to become just another ‘burb neighborhood.” But to be honest, for Memphis, that’s a pretty good “problem” to have. And that conversation feeds one of the two central narratives that are driving Memphis these days.

Here’s one: The city is changing for the better. The reinvestment and reinvigoration of Overton Square, Cooper-Young, Broad Avenue, Sears Crosstown; the downtown and Bass Pro Shops boom; the greenlines, bike lanes, the big trees and old houses of the central city, all are luring people back and fueling a renaissance.

Lots of people believe this to be true. I’m one of them. So are those realtors.

But there’s another narrative that also has a lot of adherents. It’s a simple credo, comprised of just one word: Crime. That’s Crime with a capital C. Crime is the most important thing ever, they say. We have to fix crime, or nobody will ever want to live in this hellhole.

You can point out to the Crime People that crime rates have been falling for eight years. They will respond by telling you that the statistics are rigged. They will tell you that five people got shot last weekend and ask, “How can crime be going down?” They will cite local television news, which will give you all the crime you can handle on a nightly basis. Telling someone whose car has been stolen that crime is going down is like trying to explain to someone who’s freezing that global warming is a problem. It doesn’t matter.

So we have two trains running. Two ways of looking at our city. Two trains that both carry some truth. Crime in Memphis is a big problem, as it is in lots of cities. We need to keep trying to fix it — by improving our education system, by working to bring in more jobs, by using smarter policing. But to focus on crime to the exclusion of the other narrative is wrong and does a disservice to all of us living here and working to keep Memphis vibrant.

I’ve lived here 23 years, and I’ve seen a transformation, especially over the past few years. There is a momentum that’s real right now. We need to keep that train running.

And derail the other one.

Tags Bass Pro Shop, Broad Avenue District, Collierville, Cooper-Young, Germantown, Memphis has a crime problem, Memphis is booming, Midtown Memphis, Muddy Waters, Overton Square, Sears Crosstown, Two Trains Running

News The Fly-By

Cooper-Young Bank of America To Close in February

Post author By Chris Shaw
Post date November 6, 2014

CREDIT: Chris Shaw

The tiny Bank of America at the iconic Cooper and Young intersection is getting ready to make a withdrawal from the neighborhood.

In a letter sent to customers last week, Bank of America stated that the bank will be closing on Friday, February 20th. The bank says the planned closure is mainly due to a change in banking habits by the account holders in the area, as more and more customers do the majority of their banking online or through mobile apps.

“We look at our banking centers and ATM networks and see how people are using our banking services, and when that information is determined, sometimes it means that we close a banking center,” Bank of America spokesperson Matthew Daily said.

Daily said that there are no plans to open another Bank of America in Cooper-Young or any area nearby, but that the ATM at that location will stay in place for about a year.

“In this particular case, we have an overlap with a branch a mile and half away [at Union Extended and Poplar], and we saw that the customer’s needs in this area are changing. Generally, we saw a decline in transactions and an increase in people using online banking and mobile banking,” Daily said.

Chris Shaw

Cooper-Young Bank of America

While individual customers may have changed the way they bank, some locally owned businesses in Cooper-Young rely on that Bank of America location for their daily banking needs. Cooper-Young Business Association Director Tamara Walker said the association will push for another bank to open there after the Bank of America closes.

“We would definitely push for another bank rather than another business,” Walker said. “Since 1989, there’s been a bank there. Boatmen’s [Bank] came in 1989, and they lent to a lot of the businesses that were opening during that time, which helped make the neighborhood what it is today.”

Burkes Books co-owner Cheryl Mesler said that having a bank so close to her business was one of the reasons they chose their current location on Cooper.

“When we moved over here seven years ago, we switched everything over to Bank of America, honestly just for the convenience,” Mesler said. “Not having to get in my car and drive to the bank was a huge help, especially because there are a lot of times when there’s only two of us in the store. Going to the bank on Union Extended would turn into a 20-minute trip instead of a 10-minute one, so if a new bank comes in, I can’t say that I wouldn’t switch all of our accounts over to them.”

Tags Bank of America, Burke's Books, Cooper-Young, Cooper-Young Business Association

Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Taste of the New Menu at Sweet Grass

Post author By John Klyce Minervini
Post date November 4, 2014

Fried oysters

Did you hear? Sweet Grass got a new menu, and chef Ryan Trimm says it’s all about fall:

“I always love the first burst of fall produce,” Trimm confesses. “Butternut squash, pumpkins, collards, mustard greens. Right now I got brown crowder peas coming out of my ears.”

Who could resist an invitation like that? So yesterday, I flung a warm scarf over my shoulder and headed down to Cooper Young for a taste. It all started with a cocktail.

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Old Orchard

The Old Orchard ($8)—a concoction of apple-cinnamon whiskey, orange bitters, and lemon peel—is just the thing to warm up a chilly autumn afternoon. It’s sweet but not too sweet, with deliciously dark notes from the bitters and lemon peel.

Next, we tried the Fried Oysters ($12), which—besides looking good in photos, see above—also happen to be compulsively edible. They’re served with pickled squash slaw and a lemon crème fraiche that’s good enough to eat with a spoon.

But the real show stealer was the Dirty Pig Fries ($13), a recipe that Trimm brought over from the menu at Southward, which closed last month. Mixed into a haystack of thick-cut french fries, you’ll find braised pork shoulder, sautéed onions, pecorino romano, and sriracha—plus a spicy mix of collards and mustard greens.

Dirty Pig Fries

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s duh-licious. Like fancy poutine or chili-cheese fries for grownups. And it’s got greens in it, so it counts as a vegetable, right?

“Oh, definitely.” Trimm confirms.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Sweet Grass without some tasty local produce. Sure enough, the butternut squash is from Hanna Farm in Luxora, AR. The collards and mustard greens are from Woodson Ridge Farms in Oxford, MS. And the braised pork shoulder is from Newman Farms in Myrtle, MO.

But wait—what’s that you say? Ryan Trimm is starting his own CSA in November? Who told you that? You certainly didn’t hear it from us *wink*.

Tags Cooper-Young, Midtown restaurants, new fall menu, Ryan Trimm, Sweet Grass

News The Fly-By

New Shuttle Service Will Run Between Midtown Nightlife Hotspots

Post author By Chris Shaw
Post date September 19, 2014

Bar-hopping in Midtown is about to get easier, safer, and cheaper.

A bus route called “The Roo” will connect nightlife hot spots in Overton Square and Cooper-Young, thanks to a new service launching this fall by cab company Premier Transportation Services.
The new vehicle won’t be hard to spot, as a giant Kangaroo complete with sunglasses and a martini sits atop the all black bus.

The bus will operate on Thursday evenings from 5 p.m. until midnight, and Friday and Saturday evenings from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m. The 17-person bus will run every 30 minutes and will be wheelchair-accessible. The bus will also feature additional standing room with hand-grips.

Fare will be set at $2. Passengers can board the bus at 10 stops located throughout Overton Square and the Cooper-Young neighborhood. The route begins at the Huey’s on Madison and ends at the corner of Cooper and Young. Stops will feature distinct signage to differentiate between the Premier stops and the MATA bus stops. The route will make use of the side street Trimble Place in Overton Square and Union to keep Madison from getting too clogged. The total route will take about 30 minutes to complete.

Ham Smythe, owner of Premier Transportation Services, said that a weekend Midtown bus service is something people have been asking him to start for years.

“For at least three years, there have been people approaching me to do this, so I thought the first thing to do would be to let MATA take a bite at the apple,” Smythe said. “MATA didn’t see a way to make it feasible, so we decided to take a look at it and see if we could make it work.”

Smythe said that the new service will make getting from Cooper-Young to Overton Square much easier and will cut down on people feeling unsafe about walking between the two neighborhoods.

“A good friend of mine was having dinner at Sweet Grass, and he told his wife that it would be great if there was a shuttle that took him from Sweet Grass down to the Playhouse on the Square,” Smythe said. “With this new shuttle, you can park in the garage at Overton Square and take it where you want to go. You also don’t have to worry about parking multiple times or parking in unsafe neighborhoods.”Passengers can track the whereabouts of the bus using the GPS on their smartphones, and the bus will also have a state-of-the-art sound system that Smythe said will play both contemporary and classic Memphis music.

“We love the concept of Memphis musicians making a living as musicians and not as waiters and taxi cab drivers, and if we can find a way to facilitate that, we want to do it” Smyth said. “We are going to be playing all local music, from hip-hop to rock-and-roll. The music will be tailored to the time of night it is. Up until 10 p.m. we will be playing rowdy stuff to get people’s engines running, and then after 10 p.m. we will start slowing it down.”

Smythe said that if the Midtown bus line is a success, he may add more buses and extend the route.

“If this works in Midtown, we have plans to expand the concept to other parts of town,” Smythe said.

Tags Cooper-Young, Ham Smythe, Overton Square, Premier Transportation Services

Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Taste of Cooper Young Thursday

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date September 17, 2014

The Bouffants have a motto: “The higher the hair, the closer to God.” So it seems especially appropriate that the popular showband, with its ever-changing cast of big-voiced (and bigger-wigged) singers, should headline Thursday’s A Taste of Cooper Young. The annual party for Memphis foodies used to benefit the Memphis Literacy Council, but the event has been taken over by First Congregational Church, and proceeds go toward funding the progressive church’s various outreach ministries.

Starting at 5 p.m., participants can pick up wristband from First Congregational Church. The wristband entitles the wearer to a small dish, or “tasting,” at a dozen popular Cooper Young area restaurants all within walking distance of the church.

Participating restaurants and food-related businesses include Alchemy, Bar DKDC, The Beauty Shop, Cafe Ole, Celtic Crossing, Sweet Crass, Mulan, Strano, Stone Soup, Soul Fish, Green Cork, and Get Fresh.

The food tasting continues till 8:30 p.m. Meanwhile, saxophonist Pat Register will be performing in the corner gazebo and the Bouffants will play from 8 p.m.-9:30 p.m. in the sanctuary at First Congo, where a silent auction will also be conducted.

First Congo is a justice-minded church. Its outreach ministries range from traditional food ministries, to community gardens, to a “Blessed Bee” program that helps to repopulate devastated bee populations.

A Taste of Cooper-Young is Thursday, September 18th, 5:30-9 p.m., $50
tasteofcooperyoung.com

Tags A Taste of Cooper Young, Alchemy, Bar DKDC, Cafe Ole, Celtic Crossing, Cooper-Young, First Congregational Church, Get Fresh, Green Cork, Mulan, Soul Fish, Stone Soup, Strano!, Sweet Crass, The Beauty Shop

News The Fly-By

A Look at Upcoming Issues on the Memphis City Council Calendar

Post author By Toby Sells
Post date July 10, 2014

Passage of the city’s budget dominated most of the Memphis City Council’s time and attention in the past few weeks, which means decisions on other issues we’ve been following have been delayed. But those issues will find their way back on the council’s agenda in the next few weeks. Here’s what’s coming up:

• Overton-Square parking permits The final vote on whether or not to create the special parking zone and issue the permits was delayed until the council’s next regular meeting on Tuesday, July 15th.

That one-year pilot plan would allow Square-area residents to buy an annual parking permit for $50. Residents could also buy up to four visitor permits for $25 each. The permits would allow them exclusive rights to park in spots on city streets that are currently open to the general public. Those spots would only be within a defined parking district.

If the program is approved by the council, petitions will be sent to residents in the parking permit district. Should enough residents on any one street sign the city’s petition, their street could become part of the parking district.

So far, that district is limited to an area bound by Cox on the east, Morrison on the west, Union on the south, and Jefferson on the north. A section of Lee Place North is also included. Neighbors within that area can determine whether or not they want their street in the program.

City of Memphis Engineering Director John Cameron said if a street is approved for the program, signs would be erected there, residents and permitted visitors would get their permit (a sticker or a hang tag), and anyone who parks there without a permit would be ticketed.

• Sidewalk repairs

At the beginning of July, councilmembers extended by two months a moratorium on forcing Memphis residents to repair sidewalks in front of their properties.

Repair notices began going out to numerous Memphis homeowners at the beginning of the year, and many of those people got a summons to appear in Judge Larry Potter’s environmental court. Those notices were sent, according to city engineer John Cameron, after the city saw a spike in sidewalk-related lawsuits in 2013.

But many of the homeowners complained, noting they did not have the financial means to pay for sidewalk repairs that could cost between $200 and $1,500.

George Little, the city’s chief administrative officer, said he was ready to propose a repair hardship program at the beginning of the month. But councilmembers delayed the presentation to focus on budget issues.

• Cooper-Young parking garage Councilmember Janis Fullilove proposed adding $3.6 million to the city’s budget for next year for what could be a $4 million project.

But she pulled her proposal during budget negotiations after Councilmember Kemp Conrad pushed a new rule that forced councilmembers to find money in the budget for any extra projects they propose.

The proposed garage would have two floors of parking for about 150 to 250 vehicles and be built on the corner of Meda and Young. The ground floor would be reserved for commercial space.

The proposal is slated to come before the council during their next regular meeting on Tuesday, July 15th.

Tags Cooper-Young, Memphis City Council, Overton Square