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The State Line Motel, Gas Station, Dance Hall and Bar
The first gas station and motel that Daddy Fox owned was called the Stateline Motel outside of Guthrie, Kentucky. It was a quick drive south on state highway 79 almost to the Tennessee line. Growing up in the late 50s and early 60s I had been to the Stateline Motel many times and I stayed with Daddy Fox and Miz Burchett in a small house next to the station. There was a small 8 room motel on the property but it never seemed to do much business so I didn’t pay much attention. I was much more interested in the gas station and all its delights, especially food and pinball!
The station was a typical 60s design with two gas pumps labeled “Regular” and “Premium”, and a covered roof leading back to a large building that held a bar, game room, and dance floor.
It was air-conditioned and dark when you first entered and as you walked in the first thing that caught your eye was the long counter that stretched across the whole width of the room, except for a small opening on the right for the attendant to get behind the bar-like counter. Directly behind this opening was a large cooler that opened like a chest freezer and held just about every type of beer that was popular at the time. Schlitz, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Budweiser, and several others that ranged in price from very cheap to pretty good depending on how much you were willing to spend. To the left of the beer cooler was another smaller cooler similar in design that held soft drinks like Coke, Pepsi, Royal Crown Cola, Nehi Orange, and Grape and Root Beer. To the right of the cooler was a cigarette rack that offered many different brands, but mainly Marlboro, Winston, Camel, Lucky Strike, and Newport. My parents smoked Newport and I am lucky to be alive with all the second-hand smoke that filled our house through the years.
If you looked to your left as you entered you would see a huge room that Daddy Fox had built to hold dances on Friday and Saturday nights. It had a wooden floor and a jukebox in one corner of the room. This room would fill up on the weekends and it was a fun place to drink and dance and get in a fight. Fighting was normal and expected so Daddy Fox would patrol the room and make sure anyone who got into an argument would take it…
