5 Star Story: Memphis milestones

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - We’re celebrating Memphis milestones this week: M-Town mainstays that are celebrating big anniversaries. Some of our favorites have called Memphis home for decades and to say thanks, we’re saluting them as this week’s 5 Star Story.

‘Tis the season of Thanksgiving and this year marks 75 years of families feasting at Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous! Charlie opened the restaurant in a downtown alley back in 1948 and legend has it that the Rendezvous was the first to serve not only barbecue ribs, but also a cheese and sausage appetizer!

Eating there is a uniquely Memphis experience, since there are no franchise operations. Although, you can get the ribs shipped anywhere in the world! Maybe add that to your Christmas list!

ARTSMemphis celebrates its diamond anniversary this year investing in the local arts community for 60 years and contributing more than $94 million since its inception in 1963.

It’s all with one purpose in mind, as explained by President and CEO, Elizabeth Rouse: “So the arts play a critical role in our community and youth development and bridging differences and offering opportunities for healing and connection.”

And according to Sabrina Norwood, the Executive Director for Young Actors Guild, the organization was even able to transform an old fire house on Lamar Avenue into a studio -- thanks to ARTSMemphis supporters.

“People are looking at our city; they’re seeing a lot of crime and they’re wondering, ‘What is the answer?’ The arts is the answer. Put them on the stage, put them in positions of leadership and watch them grow. Because they will,” she added.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Just ask the brothers behind Pete and Sam’s, who are very proud of keeping the restaurant in the family.

Sam and Michael Bomarito’s dad, Sam, opened the restaurant with his cousin Pete 75 years ago this year!

“Goes back to quality and consistency. That was one of my dad’s always mottos was “consistency is a habit.’ He developed a relationship with his customers, they would have families, their kids would come in, they would have families, and they’d bring their kids in. So it just built from that,” related eldest son Sam about a family tradition that’s more than seven decades strong.

And according to his brother, Michael, “Our menu from today is pretty much the same menu from the 50s. So it’s not broke, we’re not gonna fix it.”

Legendary radio station WDIA celebrates 75 years as the first radio station in the country to cater to African Americans.

And Bev Johnson, arguably the queen of AM radio in Memphis, explained the importance of that designation.

“When Black folk didn’t have anything else to listen to, they could listen to WDIA and get the truth,” she said.

And, now, thanks to the iHeart radio app, WDIA can now be streamed anywhere in the world, adding another layer to the station’s storied Memphis legacy.

It’s a legacy that Program Director Tracy Bethea believes will continue in the years to come.

“Radio has changed, but the programming of WDIA really has not changed in 75 years because it’s always been about community and family,” expressed Bethea.

For 70 years, families have found clarity and calm at the Memphis Botanic Garden. What began as a space for local garden clubs to meet has grown over seven decades into 31 gardens on 96 acres off Cherry Road in East Memphis.

“The Japanese Garden is my favorite. I find the Japanese Garden, with the lake there with the Koi fish, to be the most serene, most calming, most beautiful space that we have,” admitted the garden’s Executive Director, Michael Allen.

Understandably with the red bridge over a pound providing a source of serenity for the hundreds of thousands of garden visitors each year, in addition to the thousands of music fans who flock to the summer concert series at Radians Ampitheater.

The lineup usually consists of both legendary and contemporary artists from the worlds of Rock, Country and R&B! And, this time of year, fans can rock around the Christmas tree at the annual Holiday Wonders exhibit!

Wonders also abound on the campus of Rhodes College, which is celebrating it’s 175th anniversary as a place like no other, with each building on the 123-acre campus sharing the same collegiate gothic-style, as mandated by the board of trustees.

And according to our tour guide, Archivist and Associate Library Director, Bill Short, “We now have over 40 buildings, 18 of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.”

The school got its start in 1848 as the Masonic University of Tennessee in Clarkesville. The university then moved to Memphis in 1925 and changed its name to Southwestern, and later Rhodes College in honor of former physics professor-turned-president Peyton Rhodes.

Today, the college hosts roughly 2,000 students from more than 60 different countries.

“And that learning takes place, not only in the classroom, but also as they are experiencing life together. Whatever they’re doing together, they learn each other’s cultures and they learn so much that we know that becomes very helpful in their later life,” Short described.

Whether it’s Rhodes or the Rendezvous, a garden stroll, an acting role, a family meal or words that heal, these Memphis milestones are ones for which we can all be thankful.

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