Established in 1945, Ross Diner has been a part of 4 generations. While living in Cartersville, during the 1980’s, I learned some history of north Georgia and its businesses. Diners always intrigued me, so I took pictures of them and painted the history in my paintings, as I look back to the time when they were popular and the talk of the town. Ross Diner still sits in the middle of the town at 17 N. Wall Street, in Cartersville, Georgia.
The diner was famous for its breakfast menu, which featured their homemade biscuits along with the Country breakfast and lunches they served. They open at 6:30 am and closed at 2:30 pm Monday through Wednesday. Thursday and Friday the hours are 6:30 am to 8:00 pm and 6:30 am to 2:30 pm on Saturday.
Ross Diner became one of my favorite paintings and a popular one for the locals. It was part of my Cartersville print set, which included the 4-way Lunch, the Cartersville Depot, Valley View, Tilley Park, Tilley Trolley, Euharlee Covered Bridge and Roselawn.
I painted several Cartersville places, and some really close by, here are the links…
Located in Cartersville, Georgia, at the corner of East Main Street (Hwy 41) and Gilmer Street, the “4-Way”, as the locals called it, has been there since 1931. I painted the painting in about 1984, when I was exhibiting in art shows in the area. It was one of my most popular paintings of the time.
The 4-Way was small, but it had front doors and a side door. As you entered through the front doors, you noticed there were no tables, just 8 stools across the front of the counter. They may have had 2 or 3 at the end of the counter, but they were always full. As soon as you finished eating, they asked you to get up, pay and go on about your day. Their menu was simple with hot dogs, hamburgers and fried chicken. Their gravy burgers, you had to eat with a fork. I enjoyed watching them make the chili dogs, The cook lined up all the hot dogs up and down his arm and look a ladle and filled them with the chili. The health department would not allow such a thing in todays world!
The 4-way was not a place for a leisure lunch with friends and conversation. When you finished eating, you had to leave, to let the next person come in and have a place to sit. It was quite an experience.
It is located just off I-75 about 40 miles north of Atlanta. It’s well worth the experience.
I painted several Cartersville places, and some really close by, here are the links…
You may have seen some of my other Barber related paintings. I painted the Barber Chair, from a shop I found in Cave Springs, Georgia. This Barber pole was from the same shop. As you can see on the window, it says “Air Conditioned” and “Hot Shower Bath”. I was curious about the combination because they seemed to be from different eras. The story, as I was told, it was on a truck route, so they had drivers stop in for a haircut and a bath. As Air Conditioning became popular, it was also included in the sign.
The Barber Chair and the Barber Pole became popular items, especially at the Cave Spring show and the Rome, Georgia show. Eventually, I painted four paintings, which became one of my sets of 4. They were the Barber Chair, Barber Pole, Burma Shave Barn and the Barber Tonics. The set became one of my most popular sets across the country.
Copyright Larry Johnston
No Prints Available at this time. If you are interested in a print, let me know, I am always looking for new good quality vendors!
Copyright Larry JohnstonCopyright Larry Johnston
Links to other barber related paints I have done can be found here:
I was told by an Eastern Airlines Pilot, many years ago, that when flying into Atlanta, Georgia, when he saw the big chicken, he knew when to start his descent into Hartsfield Airport. The Big Chicken was 68 feet high. The eye rolled around and the tail feather on the back of its head went up and down. It was called “Johnny Rebs, Chick, Chuck and Shake.” You can just about guess what they served.
When I arrived in Marietta, in 1983, the building was occupied by Kentucky Fried Chicken. Many years later, when the mechanisms no longer worked, they decided to tear the building down, but the community response convinced them to rebuild the chicken. The building now is just slightly shorter, but now everything has been rebuilt and updated into working order. They even have a spiked roof, so the birds wouldn’t perch on top of it. You can see the building at the corner of Hwy 41 and Roswell Road, in Marietta, Georgia.
When I painted the picture, I had already taken photos of the original Big Chicken, so I decided to use that version to paint.
Prints:
ALL PRINTS are printed on canvas and stretched on wooden stretcher bars and prices vary according to size ordered. Most are 2:3 proportion
Options:
wrapped print- part of the image is wrapped
around the sides of the wood.
Non-wrapped print- The full image is on the face, with white or black edges
(frames and hardware are not included)
11″ x 14″………. $148.82
16″ x 20″ ………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ ………. $375.00 Original painting on stretched canvas
I was due to exhibit in an Art Show in Rome, Georgia and then in Cave Springs, so I visited the area to see what I could find in the way of Nostalgia. Cave Springs was a quaint little town in which I noticed a barber shop, just off the square. It had the letters painted on the windows, which you could see through to the inside.
We went inside the shop and I immediately noticed several porcelain barber chairs, in which one was filled with a young man, who was being given a haircut by the only barber in the shop. Just as he finished and the gentleman left the shop, we asked the barber if we could ask him some questions and told him what my intentions were. His reply was, “You can ask me anything but my age.”
It was the mid to late 1980’s and I had noticed a sign he had posted that said, “$1.00 Haircuts”. He said he had always given haircuts for a dollar and didn’t see any reason to change. The sign on the door was Hot Showers and Air Conditioning. When he started cutting hair in that shop decades previously, Cave Springs was just off the main truck route, so many truckers would stop after a long trip, take a shower and get a haircut.
Carter Brannon
Copyright Larry JohnstonCopyright Larry Johnston
Links to other barber related paints I have done can be found here:
While exhibiting at a show in Cave Springs, Georgia, a couple talked to me about painting a picture of their home. We made an appointment with them to see the home and take some pictures. Their home was located north of Rome, Georgia outside of Armuchee, GA.
While being taken on a tour of the home, they brought out a photograph of what the home looked like before it was remodeled. It was black and white photo of the house back in the early 1900’s. Since I was interested in nostalgic places, I mentioned that I would like to paint a second picture of what it used to look like. The didn’t mind, but they were not interested in purchasing it when it was finished.
This is what the finished painting looked like before it was remodeled. The painting was sold almost immediately. Actually, it was still on my easel, not quite done, when someone told me they wanted to buy it when it was finished. You’ll notice the date on the painting , 1985 shows that it was painted 35 years ago.
Prints:
ALL PRINTS are printed on canvas and stretched on wooden stretcher bars and prices vary according to size ordered. Most are 2:3 proportion
Options:
wrapped print- part of the image is wrapped
around the sides of the wood.
Non-wrapped print- The full image is on the face, with white or black edges
(frames and hardware are not included)
11″ x 14″Black Edge………. $148.82
11″ x 14″ White Edge………. $148.82
11″ x 14″ Wrapped Edge………. $148.82
16″ x 20″ Black Edge ………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ White Edge………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ Wrapped Edge………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ ………. $375.00 original painting on stretched canvas not available.
When I first moved from California to Georgia in 1983 and started exhibiting my work, I found a nice show in Bartow County in the community of Acworth, which sits along the shores of Lake Allatoona. As I looked for a subject to paint, I found several. One painting from the area, was “The Gathering Place”, which was an old shed. To compliment the subject matter the I was painting at that time, was the Acworth house, which was an abandoned home in the area.
I have had businesses and restaurants commission me to paint a painting of their places. One of them was “Wings for You!” that started out in a concession trailer. They had served wings from that trailer for a number of years and were in the process of expanding into a shopping center space.
As a reminder of how they started, they wanted the painting to hang near their front lobby, for all to see, when they entered the restaurant.
The restaurant was located, in an eastern suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, but unfortunately, I have not seen their new business after it was finished, so I am unable to report on it at this time.
Prints:
ALL PRINTS are printed on canvas and stretched on wooden stretcher bars and prices vary according to size ordered. Most are 2:3 proportion
Options:
wrapped print- part of the image is wrapped
around the sides of the wood.
Non-wrapped print- The full image is on the face, with white or black edges
(frames and hardware are not included)
11″ x 14″Black Edge………. $148.82
11″ x 14″ White Edge………. $148.82
11″ x 14″ Wrapped Edge………. $148.82
16″ x 20″ Black Edge ………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ White Edge………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ Wrapped Edge………. $204.72
16″ x 20″ ………. $375.00 original painting on stretched canvas not available.
