LANDMARK RETURNS
New Overton Square restaurant goes back in time.
The newest restaurant near Overton Square rewrote, refurbished and on Friday re-erected a well-known sign that celebrates the neighborhood instead of the eatery’s own brand.
Chiwawa, which opens one day next week on Madison at Diana, reposted the old archway sign, 10 feet high by 20 feet wide, that now proclaims “Midtown Is Memphis.”
The sign stands in front of the restaurant’s patio.
The sign was originally installed 34 years ago when the property was Chicago Pizza Factory. The archway had simply said “Chicago” and became something of a landmark by staying in place decades after the pizza joint closed in the early to mid1980s.
“To spend that kind of mon- ey, it’s very unusual to not actually put your name up there and use it for advertising,” said Robin Balton, co-owner of Frank Balton Sign Co., which rebuilt the sign.
The “Midtown is Memphis” slogan has endured as a bumper sticker or T-shirt message for 20 years. Midtowners John Branston, Tom Foster and Calvin Turley created the slogan in 1993.
Branston learned of the sign Friday and drove by to see it.
“It looks great,” he said. “It’s cool somebody is doing something with it. Maybe I’ll get a free beer.”
The idea came 20 years ago to the Midtown fathers who had grown tired of driving their children all the way to Cordova to play sports.
“We felt we ought to come up with a plan to promote Midtown,” said Branston, a columnist for the Memphis Flyer.
To Branston, the slogan means that “Midtown is a slice of Memphis that represents history, proud tradition, black and white people, and old schools. ... And the secret of a bumper sticker is it has to be short.”
Chiwawa will serve tacos, Mexican small plates, American-style hot dogs, whisky and tequila. Keeping only the skeleton of the former restaurant, Chiwawa is essentially a new building designed in a postmodern architectural style.
While a “Chiwawa” sign fronts the building, the owners chose community over brand for the archway message.
“The idea kind of just came to us as an opportunity to say something about the area,” co-owner Taylor Berger, a Memphis lawyer and restaurateur, said Friday. “We already had a great sign saying the name of the restaurant over our door. So over our patio we wanted to talk about where we are and celebrate that. Celebrate Midtown.
“I think the patio especially will become such a landmark and meeting place for all of Memphis, that having a sign over it that says something to that effect felt appropriate.”
Chiwawa paid about $6,500 to renovate the sign. The letters are lit in a way that creates the illusion of movement, with the incandescent lights seeming to chase each other.
Berger credited graphic designer Robert Finkel for the idea of using “Midtown is Memphis.”
The sign was to glow at night for the first time Friday night. “I can’t wait,” Berger said.