Has anybody else dared to hand their keys to a valet? I did yesterday, for the first time. I'm in Jackson, MS where I grew up, taking a little vacation and visiting family. For the past 40 years, the once grand old Hotel King Edward had been a vacant, sad and creepy landmark in downtown Jackson. It has been home only to pigeons, bums and despair for decades. Everybody with any sense of adventure has stories of sneaking into the place and snooping around. The graffiti alone was worth the risk of a trespassing charge just to see it. And of course there are the ghost stories. Many investors and companies have said they were going to fix the place over the years. I've listened all my life to politicians alternately vowing to tear down the horrible eyesore and to save it, but nothing ever happened until recently. When I heard the hotel had been fully restored to its 1920's glory, I had to go check it out, and check in to a room. So we went to Jackson in the Maverick, pulled up curbside at the hotel, handed the keys and a $5 bill to to valet. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself. They really did it. It was not simply gutted and rebuilt, but actually restored. It was an especially surreal experience for me because I'd explored the structure many years ago. I could easily see how much of its original character had been preserved, and the magnitude of what had been done to bring it back. When we checked out this morning it was time to send another valet to retrieve my car. I walked up to him, a young guy, and handed over my ticket. I said, "It's carbureted, so you might need to pump it a little bit and let it run for a couple of--" "The Maverick?!" "Yes." "Oh, " he grinned, "Can't wait to see the look on [the other valet]'s face when I pull around in that!" He walked off, then a couple of minutes later we heard (and felt ) the Maverick start up in the garage. He brought it around with a big smile, asked me a few questions about it, then I tipped him and we left. That was pretty cool, I thought. Because at a place like that hotel, you know the valets have had the chance to drive some pretty interesting hardware, yet an old Maverick still got them talking. On the way out of downtown I got to do something else I've wanted to do for a while. There's a tunnel. When we were kids, we always wanted our parents to honk the horn through it. We'd roll down the windows and yell. You can guess what happens next. "Ok dear, roll your window down." "What, why?" "I want to hear my engine in the tunnel." "Oh." So, windows down, we waited on the light. It turned green, I put it in first gear and we screamed though the tunnel. The sound was incredible. She just quietly said "Wow." It occurred to me, I don't think she'd ever been in the car when I really nailed it before. I don't know if it was the sound, the acceleration or both, but either way it was nice to impress a girl in my Maverick.
Glad to here they finally did something with it. For many years I would pass behind it on a train working between Meridian and Vicksburg. It had to be a grand restoration because it was in sad shape. Haven't been up there in 5 years.
You should check it out if you get a chance, you'll be amazed. They even fixed up that ragged old train station.
I've never used a valet, but one of the hospitals has a valet service that my wife has used a few times with her car or my pickup. You have gotta get some pics of that old hotel! I love the old buildings that have been restored to their former glory like that. The detail and craftsmanship in the wood work is something totally lost today....
Okay... This is the way it looked last time I saw it. Many pics here. http://travel.webshots.com/album/205763315CFhKqO?start=12 And here it is today: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/photos/category/94/ http://hiltongardeninn.hilton.com/en/gi/hotels/photo_gallery.jhtml?ctyhocn=JANTWGI
WOW! That place was a dump! Hard to believe a place that nice could be let run down like that, then be rebuilt to be even nicer. Most times, the dynamite takes out the old and it gets replaced with a new modern building. No telling how many millions of dollars were invested there. I love those shots of the main lobby. The woodwork on those railings is a lost art. And that door header! Probably hand carved. Thanks for the pics! :Handshake
We have a similer hotel a few miles north of me in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. which sits right on the Susquahanna River. In it's heyday it was a magnificient hotel home to many weddings, gatherings & meetings and only the most afulent folks had enough money to stay there. It went into ruins about 25 years ago and became a haven for the druggies and homeless. The plan is to bring it back to life and have it a shining star on the river. I wish them luck but it just seems that everything Wilkes-Barre has plans to do turns into crap through the rampent corruption in W-B and Luzerne County so we'll see what it becomes.
Awesome job on that hotel ... looks like a well-deserved restoration, too. My valet story .... I had just swapped the 351 into my Comet, and because of the headers, had to change to a floor shifter. Of course, the pattern was backwards because we didn't dive into the tranny (original C4 in the car ... It wouldn't live much longer behind the 351 anyway ... 140K miles). Also, you could not get it into park. Park with the parking brake, start the car in neutral. My buddy was getting married at one of the nicest hotels on Clearwater Beach ... valet parking only. I was prepared ... left a note with instructions taped to the shifter. I drove up to the valet, explained briefly that the car was modified and not dialed in yet, and asked if he wanted me to park it. He asked for more detail, and then said, "No, it's OK ... got a reverse pattern shifter in my Nova". I felt a lot better about that, and he drove off with my car. At the end of the evening, the guy on duty wasn't quite so brave ... had to go get the car myself ... I was fine with that, too. I drove the car like that for at least six months on a daily basis ... it is amazing how "car guys" will drive junk that they would never let their wives behind the wheel of.
Too Funny and Very True. Us car guys will drive a Jalopy that we wouldn't see fit for anyone else to drive. Quirky gear shifts,....pump the pedal, turn the steering wheel 1/4 turn counter clockwise, turn the key backwards twice and once forward and hit the horn to start.... LOL
