It was “the place to be” back in the 50s and 60s to meet your friends, take your date, show off your car or celebrate a victory after the big game. Young people flocked there to cruise and gab after grabbing a cherry coke, a cheeseburger or a piece of Boston cream pie. The place local businessman Doug Bennett described as “Cullman Graffiti” is no longer here, but the memories are.
We’re talking about The Globe, of course! The drive-in restaurant was the hot spot for Cullman’s younger crowd.
The restaurant was owned by Big Ed Burrow, whose daughter Paige Greer explained, “My dad opened the original Globe soon after he returned from the Army where he was a cook. Not sure what year. I do know he helped a lot of people and kept a lot of people out of trouble.”
The Globe was located off of U.S. Highway 31 near where The Shrimp Basket is today. There was no access road in those days so there was plenty of room to cruise around The Globe, named for its round shape. There were parking spots around the building, a circle for driving around and more spaces outside of that.
Greer, who was given the childhood nickname of Little Ed said, “My dad would leave at 5 a.m. in the morning to make the biscuits, then work the lunch rush, return home, have an afternoon nap and then back to The Globe for the supper rush. He had this work schedule as long as I remember.”
“It was the center of the social scene! There were carhops that brought out the food, kind of like Sonic, but I only recall getting cherry cokes,” Brenda Wynn Perry, Cullman High Class of ‘62, recalled. “The boys would go inside to eat sometimes, but that was a big no-no for the girls.”
Susie Rainwater Parker shared, “I wish we still had it for the young people. While your order was being made, everyone would just exchange and go from one car to another and talk. It was a social place to get to know people and meet your friends. I ate every time I went. They had the best cheeseburger I’ve ever put in my mouth.”
She continued, “Sometimes, not often, Big Ed would have trouble with kids drinking. Sometimes kids would get to drinking and have a skirmish with someone they were mad at. One or two times I saw that. Usually when we saw that about to happen, we would crank up and leave. We didn’t want to get up in trouble and we knew the police were going to come and send us all home.”
Parker said she made sure to stay out of trouble because, she laughed, “My mother would have killed me!”
To get a boys’ perspective on a night at The Globe, Bennett was happy to reminisce about what he remembers. He refers to those days as “Cullman Graffiti” due to movie “American Graffiti” that he claims captures the times perfectly.
“It was round but wasn’t paved around it but we’d cruise,” he said. “After your date, the men would congregate up there. During the dates, you’d cruise. It was the era of showing off your car and hot rods.”
Bennett recalled a carpet golf course nearby but said it was mostly open space around The Globe for plenty of cruising and parking.
“We showed out some. Especially if you had a hot car!” Bennett laughed.
The era of super stock cars came about in the early 60s and when Bennett was just 14, he had a 1962 “406 Ford with 3 deuce carburetors.”
He said, “I had a 456 rear-end under it and that made it go from 0-100 quick!”
Bennett admitted to a bit of “showing out and dragging,” but said the boys would meet at The Globe. He laughed about running into a bit of trouble drag racing back in the day.
The Globe was torn down and Big Ed Burrow opened up a more family-oriented sit-down restaurant in 1969 named Big Ed’s.
“It didn’t relate to what we were looking for and it lost its appeal,” Bennett said.
With their hangout gone, he said, Bennett and his buddies relied on other places such as the Mug and Cone.
“When I watch ‘American Graffiti,’ tears come to my eyes,” he said. “They do because of the times. The congregation and camaraderie of everyone meeting up there at The Globe with your date. After the date at the movie, going to the Ritz, the 31 drive-in or the Cullman theater, then you took your date home. The boys would go up and BS, and I’m sure there was a lot of BS going on.”
The Globe was definitely the place to be.
Bennett asked, “Those times, do they exist anymore?”
Parker said she wishes she had enough money to open a new Globe for kids today.
One thing is for sure. Cullman teens, especially those from Cullman High School during the 50s and 60s, had a great time down at The Globe.
“I wouldn’t trade my seat in time with anyone,” said Bennett.
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