In my October "Ask Vance" column, I told readers the thrilling story of the Green Beetle Cafe. Actually, I wrote about both of them — the Green Beetle Lunch Room that opened in the 1920s in the basement of the old (meaning: original) Peabody Hotel, and the Green Beetle Cafe on South Main that is now considered "Memphis' Oldest Tavern."
In the column, I ran a photo of the establishment's founder and owner, a nice fellow named Frank Liberto. I had located a photo of Frank shutting the doors to the cafe when it closed for a while in the 1970s. But since I didn't think you could see him very well in that particular photo, I also ran a larger image of the man.
And that's when various members of his family began to call the Lauderdale Mansion, disturbing my slumbers with an unusual complaint. WHO, they wanted to know, was the fellow I had so clearly identified as Frank Liberto?
I ignored these pesky calls for as long as could. After all, the Lauderdales are rarely wrong about anything. Finally, though, I took the time to look over the column, and I had to admit that the man shown in one photo (closing the doors to the restaurant) didn't look a whole lot like the fellow I had also said was Liberto.
So that's when I realized my foolish mistake. It was indeed the wrong person!
Let me explain.
I had obtained both images from the impressive collection of photographs, originally housed in the Memphis Press-Scimitar archives, and now maintained by the hard-working staff in the Special Collections Department of the University of Memphis Libraries. At my request, they had brought out a folder labeled "Frank Liberto" and inside were newspaper clippings and various photographs.
One of those photographs — the one I ran in the October issue — had the name Frank Liberto scribbled on the back. And that's fine; because the fellow in the photo was indeed Frank Liberto.
But it was another Frank Liberto — I believe he operated a car dealership here in the 1950s, but I can't be positive (and I'm probably wrong about that, too) — and I foolishly ran that picture by mistake, befuddling members of the family who owned the Green Beetle.
So here, for all to see, is a decent photo of the real Frank Liberto, founder of the Green Beetle, where I have enjoyed many a delicious lunch, washed down with ice-cold bottles of Kentucky Nip.
My apologies to anyone who remembered Frank, and to the members of the Huckaby family, who are current owners of the establishment.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY LINDA LIBERTO HUCKABY.
