The Admiral Benbow was never very big. I believe the franchise topped out at 18 locations.
At the time of this publication in 1977, Admiral Benbow Inns were a part of the Morrison’s Cafeteria franchise group. The scan to the left is from the back of a directory for Morrison’s, which I will share and map sometime in the future.
The history of the Admiral Benbow chain in someway is the darkest timeline of the Holiday Inn franchise. Both started in Memphis, the founders knew each other and both had gigantic plans for expansion. Holiday Inn was an unprecendented success. Admiral Benbow is a failed franchise lost to annals of time.
Morrison’s struggled for a while and sold the failing brand to Allad Industries. The franchise would limp into the 1980s but most motels would close not long after the middle of the decade.
Most of the following article by Jim Hanas appeared in the Memphis Flyer on February 17, 2000. I edited the parts that do no pertain to the history of Admiral Benbow. I encourage you to read the entire thing, as it is wonderfully written.
When the Admiral Benbow opened in 1961, it was a nice place, a “beautiful” place, in fact, according to boosters of the day. Designed in “the Jamaican influence” — part modernist box, part Spanish Revival neo-tack — it was the first motel in Memphis to be more than one story, and certainly would have been the first with a massive, reinforced concrete palm tree in front of it had the tree ever made it off the plans and onto the pavement. Like plans for parking ramps that would have allowed guests to drive up to their second-story rooms, it did not. Neither did the penthouse.
The motel was a gamble. Its founding father was Allen Gary, a darkly handsome restaurateur whose friends told him (quite accurately) that he looked like George Raft, an actor legendary for playing Hollywood mobsters. He was born the same year as Kemmons Wilson (he in Tupelo, Wilson in Osceola) and attended Central High a year behind the future Holiday Inn founder.
Gary served as manager at the Pig-N- Whistle carhop on Union and, later, Fortune’s Belvedere before founding, with partner George Early, The Stable restaurant in a Civil War-era farmhouse at the corner of Union and Bellevue in 1941. The city’s first bottle bar, The Stable announced the substance of its “Southern Horse-pitality” with a drawing of a drunken horse on its menus as waiters in starched white jackets served up five kinds of steak and set-ups to go with your “upsets” amid rustic squalor complete with wagon wheels and flintlocks.
Eventually, The Stable’s star got hitched to the future of Holiday Inns, as Gary took a seat on the board of directors of Wilson’s booming concern and Early-Gary Enterprises opened almost a dozen Admiral Benbow Inn restaurants in Holiday Inns across the country.
Which is where the gamble came in.
The launch of the Benbow motel chain required not only the demolition of The Stable, but also for Gary to resign from the board of Holiday Inns, which he did in 1962, a year before Holiday Inn stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
“All of us at Holiday Inns of America, Inc. and the Board of Directors wish you every success in your operation,” read a letter from vice president Bill Walton accepting his resignation.
Meanwhile, business boomed at the Benbow. Two months after it opened, it was humming away at 95 percent occupancy, drawing a mix of business travelers, Medical Center traffic, and other visitors to downtown Memphis. Some days, its occupancy exceeded 100 percent, as out-of-town shoppers rented rooms for the afternoon and checked out in time for their rooms to be rented again.
Another location was built by the airport in 1963, followed by another, a franchise purchased by Gary himself to kick-start franchise sales, on Summer Avenue. The offices of Early-Gary Enterprises, now Admiral Benbow Inn, Inc., moved across Bellevue to a refurbished turn-of-the-century frame house outfitted with windows like portholes. There, Mr. Gary sat at his desk in front of an original oil painting of Admiral John Benbow himself, the 17th-century British naval hero whose name appears in the opening pages of Treasure Island, attached to an Admiral Benbow Inn. Meanwhile, the Midtown location was expanded to 182 rooms. “Which will make us, I believe, the biggest motel in Memphis,” Gary observed.
Once, when the Monkees stayed here, the parking lot and catwalks were overrun by screaming, teen-aged girls.
The Tuscaloosa News – March 13, 1968
The mission was to have 100 Admiral Benbows built by 1970, but that number topped out at less than a dozen when the company was sold to Morrison’s, the cafeteria people, in 1968.
In 1975, the meager chain’s corporate headquarters were moved to Tampa. Eventually, the properties were sold and sold again with the Midtown location ending up in the hands of Allad Investments..
I did my best to map these locations out. Some of them may not be correct, as the address is vague and information scarce. Please let me know if I am incorrect on anything.
BLUE LINKS – Building still stands RED LINKS – Building is gone
OXFORD State Road 6 By-Pass at Lamar Blvd. – I live in Oxford and I never knew this was an Admiral Benbow. The Thai food restaurant attached to this place, Pick Thai, is great.
In 1981, the Airport Benbow was the site of a fracas involving 480-pound professional wrestler Jerry “The Crusher” Blackwell, in which he was attacked by three women who would have absconded with his wallet if he hadn’t subdued two of them with vigorous hair-pulling.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – April 12, 1963St. Louis Post-Dispatch – April 14, 1963St. Louis Post-Dispatch – April 26, 1964Southern Illinoisan – April 30, 1964St. Louis Post-Dispatch – October 25, 1964
I can give you a lot of details about this chain, as I worked for Morrisons in the 1970s, was involved with the motels, and was headquartered in Memphis during the strongest years of the motel chain,
Hi,
Can you help me and my family. My Father was a chef back in the 1960’s. He worked at The Admiral Benbow Inn in Tuscaloosa, Alabama at the end of tenth street.
We can’t find out any information regarding this bit if information. I was only able to find a short passage regarding a merging between a Morrison Inc. & Admiral Benbow Inn this article of The Tuscaloosa News dated March 13/14, 1968.
Would you be able to ass
The Jacksonville, FL location did indeed get demolished. It was replaced by a Walgreens and a little strip mall. That location was hoppin’ in its heyday. The lounge was very popular with the locals. Interestingly enough, the ABI closed up shop in its original location that had a restaurant and bar, only to move just across the highway and take over an original Knights Inn (sans restaurant and bar). It stayed an ABI for a long time – I believe it may have even be the last in the group. The hotel eventually became the “Executive Inn” (although I assure you no executives were staying there by that time) and is now boarded up.
Hi! The Atlanta Spring St location is still there, but serves as part of SCAD now. Until somewhat recently, there was also one in Warner Robins, Georgia. The building is now an Executive Inn.
There was an Admiral Benbow Inn in Panama City Beach, Florida, in the late 1970s. I found a number of photos via Google. I believe the property is the Boardwalk Beach Hotel now.
I stayed at the Admiral Benbow on Union in Memphis at least twice, the first time was in 1973. All the rooms had doors that opened to the exterior of the motel, which anyone had access to. Probably not a good idea, especially for an urban setting such as this location. Of course that was 1973 and security was not the concern that it is today. Still I remember a hooker knocking on my door one evening.
The one in Baton Rouge was on the SE side of the intersection of I-12 and Sherwood Forest Blvd. Google Maps shows the frontage road now as Mead Rd. The site of the former Admiral Benbow is now a Callaway Suites, but I do not know how the buildings relate to the original.
My family had a swimming-pool membership at the Benbow in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Fun times!
I stayed at the Atlanta airport Benbow about a month after I hired on with Delta in 1978 . We had two days of new employee orientation . I remember that the bar was really hopping.
I was a bell hop at the Memphis Union Ave location throughout the sixties. In 1970-71 I was at the Spring street location in Atlanta training for management. And in 1971, 72 I was the Assistant Restaurant and bar mgr at the Memphis Winchester location. A lot of great memories from those years.
my SO had a band (sometimes just a band of 2!) and played in The Office at the Admiral Benbow in Oxford MS. This was in the 70’s, not sure the exact year. He has a lot of very fond memories and wonders about the man he thinks owned that location. He thinks he remembers him as M.D. Neal (Neil?). Anyone remember this location or Mr. Neal?
My dad worked for the one in Jacksonville and 2 in Atlanta and another in Oakwood Ga- then owned by Jack Hurt. My dad is 85 now and is trying to Locate Mr Hurt. Does anyone know Mr Hurt or where he might be ? Email me at Gritschick@yahoo.com If anyone knows …
I went to the one in Tampa a lot around 1989-1991. I never stayed there, but they hosted a lot of sports card shows for collectors in the ballroom there– probably 1-2 per month. The place was not very upscale, but not the worst I’ve seen either.
As far as I can tell by looking at the pics online, the Ramada that is at that location presently is probably the same building.
In the mid ’60s there was an Admiral Benbow Inn restaurant on N. Glouster in Tupelo, the founder’s birthplace. I don’t remember a motel being attached, but maybe there was. They had the best pecan pie I ever had. Wish I could find the recipe.
I can give you a lot of details about this chain, as I worked for Morrisons in the 1970s, was involved with the motels, and was headquartered in Memphis during the strongest years of the motel chain,
Hi, I have a question about a Coin related to this place. Please reply.
Hi,
Can you help me and my family. My Father was a chef back in the 1960’s. He worked at The Admiral Benbow Inn in Tuscaloosa, Alabama at the end of tenth street.
We can’t find out any information regarding this bit if information. I was only able to find a short passage regarding a merging between a Morrison Inc. & Admiral Benbow Inn this article of The Tuscaloosa News dated March 13/14, 1968.
Would you be able to ass
The Jacksonville, FL location did indeed get demolished. It was replaced by a Walgreens and a little strip mall. That location was hoppin’ in its heyday. The lounge was very popular with the locals. Interestingly enough, the ABI closed up shop in its original location that had a restaurant and bar, only to move just across the highway and take over an original Knights Inn (sans restaurant and bar). It stayed an ABI for a long time – I believe it may have even be the last in the group. The hotel eventually became the “Executive Inn” (although I assure you no executives were staying there by that time) and is now boarded up.
Hi! The Atlanta Spring St location is still there, but serves as part of SCAD now. Until somewhat recently, there was also one in Warner Robins, Georgia. The building is now an Executive Inn.
There was an Admiral Benbow Inn in Panama City Beach, Florida, in the late 1970s. I found a number of photos via Google. I believe the property is the Boardwalk Beach Hotel now.
I stayed at the Admiral Benbow on Union in Memphis at least twice, the first time was in 1973. All the rooms had doors that opened to the exterior of the motel, which anyone had access to. Probably not a good idea, especially for an urban setting such as this location. Of course that was 1973 and security was not the concern that it is today. Still I remember a hooker knocking on my door one evening.
Stayed at the one in Baton Rouge, LA in the summer of 1977.
The one in Baton Rouge was on the SE side of the intersection of I-12 and Sherwood Forest Blvd. Google Maps shows the frontage road now as Mead Rd. The site of the former Admiral Benbow is now a Callaway Suites, but I do not know how the buildings relate to the original.
My family had a swimming-pool membership at the Benbow in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Fun times!
There was one in Newnan Georgia just south of Atlanta that converted to a Motel 6 in or around 2000
I stayed at the Atlanta airport Benbow about a month after I hired on with Delta in 1978 . We had two days of new employee orientation . I remember that the bar was really hopping.
I was a bell hop at the Memphis Union Ave location throughout the sixties. In 1970-71 I was at the Spring street location in Atlanta training for management. And in 1971, 72 I was the Assistant Restaurant and bar mgr at the Memphis Winchester location. A lot of great memories from those years.
Don’t know if you were aware, but Admiral Benbow was a real person. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Benbow
my SO had a band (sometimes just a band of 2!) and played in The Office at the Admiral Benbow in Oxford MS. This was in the 70’s, not sure the exact year. He has a lot of very fond memories and wonders about the man he thinks owned that location. He thinks he remembers him as M.D. Neal (Neil?). Anyone remember this location or Mr. Neal?
Nicely researched. . . It’s still not exactly clear why they went under. Did I miss something?
My dad worked for the one in Jacksonville and 2 in Atlanta and another in Oakwood Ga- then owned by Jack Hurt. My dad is 85 now and is trying to Locate Mr Hurt. Does anyone know Mr Hurt or where he might be ? Email me at Gritschick@yahoo.com If anyone knows …
I went to the one in Tampa a lot around 1989-1991. I never stayed there, but they hosted a lot of sports card shows for collectors in the ballroom there– probably 1-2 per month. The place was not very upscale, but not the worst I’ve seen either.
As far as I can tell by looking at the pics online, the Ramada that is at that location presently is probably the same building.
In the mid ’60s there was an Admiral Benbow Inn restaurant on N. Glouster in Tupelo, the founder’s birthplace. I don’t remember a motel being attached, but maybe there was. They had the best pecan pie I ever had. Wish I could find the recipe.