Hollywood Leftovers

I do declare, I believe this is a first for The Colonel and I. On May 29th, we had lunch in what was once a set for a Hollywood movie. The movie I speak of is Fried Green Tomatoes (1991).

The movie is based on the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg (I remember her as a semi-regular panelist on the game show Match Game in the 1970's).

Director Jon Avnet chose to film his movie in sleepy, little Juliette, Georgia. When the film crew arrived in Juliette, they renovated the kudzu-covered buildings on main street for sets and created the Whistle Stop Cafe set from what once was a hardware store at the end of the street.

 

After the filming of the movie in Juliette was over (only 16 days worth!), the sets/buildings used for the movie town's main street were renovated again into a tourist district, complete with a fully operational "Whistle Stop Cafe". Just what the little town needed. Several jobs were created once the film crew left.

The Colonel and I had seen the movie when it first came out. His memory of it was much better than mine. As we dined in the cafe I told The Colonel that we needed to see it again. He grinned and said uh-huh (little did I know, he had the DVD ordered and it would be waiting for us when we arrived back home).

Of course we had fried green tomatoes (the best I have tasted thus far, nice and crispy) and Bar-B-Que sandwiches (the secret's in the sauce) for our lunch. We washed it down with iced tea (unsweetened, sorry y'all) that was served in a jelly jar.

We sat at the table that was looking out of the cafe's famous window.

This a view of the inside of the cafe from our table.

I walked around the cafe taking pictures. No one seemed to notice or care. I'm sure they see it all the time.

The three men at the counter are the Juliette Fire Department. We saw them standing at the little fire station as we were leaving Juliette.

After lunch we walked around the cafe to the back yard where more scenes from the movie were filmed.

Here is Big George's Bar-B-Que pit.

And of course, Frank Bennett's final resting place...or is it?

The Colonel and I did not have time to shop in the cute little buildings across the street from the cafe. We will just have to come back one day.

Down the street, behind the cafe, stood the Whistle Stop Depot. According the the movie's director this was the original depot building for Juliette. When the film crew came to Juliette the building was in the woods and overgrown. The director had it moved and renovated for the movie. The depot building was moved to the end of the street, in front of the cafe and across the railroad tracks for the movie. Once the filming was completed it was moved to its current location.

Across from the depot was the movie set for the bank, now more tourist shops.

I am currently reading Fannie Flagg's novel. I usually will read a book first then watch the movie, but it just didn't work out that way this time.

I would have liked to have seen the movie again before I visited and dined at the Whistle Stop Cafe, but not having done so, did not diminish my excitement or the "this-is-so-cool" factor I felt while there.