THE BLUE LIGHT / SAM'S QUIK SHOP

Looking east at Boy's Esso Servicecenter and the Blue Light, ~1950. Erwin Park is in the foreground.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

The Blue Light, and later Sam's Quik-Shop, had its origins in an Esso Station opened at the corner of West Pettigrew Street and Erwin Road by Carl Boy and his sons Sam, Carl Jr., and James. The site had been associated with Erwin Auditorium and the adjacent Erwin Park as the location of showers and tennis courts. I'm not sure what led to the decision to sell off this portion of the property, but the Boy family opened Boy's Esso Servicecenter in 1946.

Soon after opening, a friend of the Boy brothers asked permission to open a hot dog stand adjacent to the Esso Station. The friend did so, but lost interest. The brothers considered operating the hot dog stand, but soon tore it down and in 1949 constructed a drive-in restaurant instead, which they called The Blue Light Restaurant.


Looking north at Boy's Esso Servicecenter and the Blue Light, ~1950
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

The Blue Light immediately became a popular destination with local teens. After movies on Friday or Saturday nights, teens would drive up to the Blue Light and order typical drive-in fare: grilled cheese sandwiches, burgers, shakes, french fries - even a "Fishwich".

The Blue Light was a typical date destination, or a destination for groups of guys. A Herald-Sun article in 1999 clarifies the social strictures of the day for young women:

"Back then, a bunch of girls couldn't just go out to the Blue Light to grab a bite.... They either went to the drive-in with a date or with a group of guys and girls because 'girls didn't go out by themselves.' And unless there was a special occasion such as a school dance, girls had to be home by 11 or 11:30 p.m."

Duke students frequented the Blue Light as well, notably because beer was not available on campus, but was at the Blue Light.

Up to 50-60 cars could park at the Blue Light, and car hops went from car to car taking orders; music could be heard from the Blue Light throughout the parking area. By the mid-1950s, the Blue Light had a miniature golf course as well, although this doesn't seem to have endured for long.

By the late 1950s, cars would evidently make a circuit from the Topps Drive-In - which I believe was on West Main St. at Iredell St. - down to the Blue Light and back. The Blue Light expanded with an indoor dining area as well. An oral history from the Old West Durham website states that the "Rathskellar" was in the basement, which was a common hangout for Duke students.

By the mid-1960s, Duke allowed drinking on campus, lessening the impetus to go elsewhere, and the popularity of drive-ins had waned. By the mid-1970s John Boy and his wife Gerry, who had run the Blue Light, decided to convert the restaurant into a convenience store, which they named Sam's Quik-Shop. By the late 1980s, their son John took over the business. At some point, the houses on the Case Street side of the store were torn down and replaced with a car wash.

My own memories of Sam's date from this era, where I remember it as an eclectic place with decent beer (nothing like they have now) and an absolute ton of magazines, as well as a video rental business. Over the intervening years, the videotapes disappeared, then the magazines, and they now focus on an incredible beer selection - made all the more unusual by finding it in a convenience store.


Sam's Quik Shop / The Blue Light, 04.04.09

If there is any happiness in the Triangle Transit train having been summarily dismissed by the Feds, it was the intent of Triangle Transit to demolish Sam's Quik Shop in its entirety for a parking lot for the 9th Street train station. Why, with the quantity of vacant land across the street, owned by NCDOT, they felt it was necessary to destroy a vibrant part of Durham is beyond me. I sympathize with Triangle Transit trying to meet Federal standards thrust upon them - but this need to provide gobs of parking places around a train station in an urban setting seems to be sort of missing the point - ? We are still trying to persuade them of this with regard to the Graybar building downtown, but it remains an uphill fight.

So I may not be able to take a train to Raleigh to ride their free "R line" bus around their downtown, but I can relax comfortably with a cold Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron in my hand and be thankful that Sam's is still around.

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36.005691,-78.922482

FORLINE'S GROCERY

Looking southeast from Erwin Road at Forlines Grocery, 1980

Per the Durham Architectural Inventory, a store occupied the southwest corner of Erwin Road and Blacknall St. (later Alexander Ave.) It appears that the masonry structure above had been constructed by 1910. The store was run by AL Bowen during the 1910s, and by 1924, Forline's Grocery - run by William Ward, James A Forline and his wife (unnamed in the inventory.)

By the early 1940, the Forlines and Ward sold the grocery to a "Mr. Mills" who ran a grocery here until 1965, when the building was purchased by Duke University. Duke did not demolish the building during their initial sweeping demolition of mill housing south of Erwin Road in the late 1960s; they adaptively reused the structure as an office building, still extant in 1980.

Such enlightened treatment could not hold, however, and by 1989, the building had been demolished for a surface parking lot.


Looking southwest at the site of Forlines, 06.06.09

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36.005526,-78.926393

ERWIN AUDITORIUM

Erwin Auditorium, 1920s.
(Courtesy Durham County Library - North Carolina Collection)

Built in 1922 by Erwin Cotton Mills, the Renaissance Revival, 2 1/2 story Erwin Auditorium was designed by Hill C. Linthicum to provide all-purpose recreational space for the community. The construction was not entirely benevolent, as William Erwin used money that would have otherwise been distributed to workers as bonuses to construct the building.

Nonetheless, it quickly became a beloved hub of social activity for West Durham, open from 8:30am to 10:30pm daily, except for Sundays. A 1000-person capacity two-story auditorium (in the rear of the building) hosted concerts, meetings, lectures, shows, plays, and twice-weekly movies. When the chairs were removed, it also served as a gymnasium where basketball games and other athletic activities were held. A swimming pool was located in the basement. The front of the building contained a library, a cafeteria, a baby clinic, a game room, a bowling alley, and a soda fountain. Classes were offered in the building as well, including crafts/arts/sewing/cooking classes as well as night school trade/professional classes that had been offered by Erwin Mills for a number of years. Community groups, such as scouts, would utilize the auditorium for meetings as well. Outdoors in the adjacent park, (extending to the east) there were tennis courts, playgrounds, and a zoo (which had, at least, a bear, an eagle, monkeys, goldfish, and squirrels.) Showers and changing rooms were located on the south side of Erwin Road (where Sam's Blue Light would later be located.)

CB West was the director of Erwin Auditorium and Rosa Warren supervised 'women's programs'.

Movies were a significant attraction at the Auditorium. Many residents saw their first 'talkies' at the Auditorium - children were admitted for 5 cents, and adults for 10. Zeb Stone noted in a 1975 oral history that movies would be originally be shown on Tuesday and Saturday, and that Thursday nights were later added to the schedule as well (other sources note that the third day added was Friday.) The fourth of July was evidently a major event for the community, celebrated in the Park and auditorium.

Residents of West Durham recalled in the same oral history the sense that what they had at the auditorium was a significant cut above what was available / provided by the city in other parts of Durham.

It appears that any program sponsored by the mill was likely to utilize the auditorium. Below, employees of Erwin Mills receive blankets from the company at Christmastime.


Looking northwest from the upper floors of the Erwin Auditorium towards Mill No. 4, 12.22.49. Employees are lined up from the entrance back to the railroad tracks (West Pettigrew was apparently closed between Oregon and Alexander when the Auditorium was built.)
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Employees receiving free blankets, 12.22.49
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Even as control / ownership of Erwin Mills shifted in the 1950s, the auditorium remained a hub for social activity, classes and the like.


Erwin Auditorium, looking southwest from Mulberry St., 1950s.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Erwin Auditorium, looking northwest from Erwin Road and Oregon St., 1950s.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Erwin Auditorium in the background, looking south from Mulberry St. during the 1951 Erwin Mills Strike, 1951.
(Courtesy the Herald-Sun)


Aerial shot looking southeast over the Erwin Mill with the Erwin Auditorium in the right background.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Looking northwest towards Erwin Auditorium, 1950s
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Two women taking ceramics classes at Erwin Auditorium, 04.17.58
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

After 1956, the Auditorium was jointly owned by Erwin Mills and the City of Durham, and from 1966-1976, it was a city recreation center.


Erwin Auditorium, August 1975
(Courtesy Old West Durham Neighborhood Association)

Jean Anderson tells the story of Erwin Auditorium's connection to the eventual arrival of the American Dance Festival in Durham; when a group of local dance enthusiasts sponsored "A Day for Dancing" at Erwin Auditorium in the early 1970s, they expected 50-75 participants - they got 600. The level of support gave them a substantive base to build upon, establishing summer programs that eventually led to ADF's migration from Connecticut. Similarly, the Durham Symphony was formed after a group met at the Auditorium after recruitment by Vincent Simonetti, the eventual first conductor for the Symphony.

In 1976, the Edison Johnson Rec Center opened, and Erwin Auditorium was closed. The city continued to use the building for storage for another 3 years before it was abandoned.


Erwin Auditorium Pool during abandonment.
(Courtesy Old West Durham Neighborhood Association)

In 1984, the Erwin Auditorium was torn down in advance of the extension of the Durham Freeway from Erwin Road to 15-501.


Erwin Auditorium demolition, 02.16.84
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Erwin Auditorium demolition, 02.16.84
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Erwin Auditorium demolition, 02.16.84
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Some of the site of the auditorium still exists as woods, sandwiched between the RR tracks and the Freeway, but the building footprint hovers above you as you travel westbound on 147.




Site of Erwin Auditorium from West Main Street, 04.12.09


Former Air Raid siren located at Erwin Auditorium, still sitting in the woods between the tracks and the freeway - 04.12.09

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36.006324,-78.924451