An old postcard shows a rendering of White Station Tower, with Club Embers at the top, and two images of the interior.
Dear Vance: What became of Club Embers, the rotating restaurant atop White Station Tower? — M.A., Memphis.
Dear M.A.: Rotating clubs and restaurants were such a fad during the 1960s that Memphis opened three of them: The Top of the 100 Club on the 100 North Main Building, Club La Ronde on the Mid-City Building at Union and Cleveland, and — the one you remember — Club Embers on the 24th floor of White Station Tower. None of these were thrill rides; patrons had to enjoy a very leisurely meal if they hoped to experience the complete 90-minute revolution. Perhaps that’s why none of these places endure today.
Club Embers was actually an offshoot of the original Embers on Park Avenue, and I’ll try to make the story easier to follow by telling you about the two gentlemen involved with both places.
Harry Glaser and Barney Katzerman were half-brothers, and later became business partners. They managed the Cotton Boll Restaurant on East Parkway, and later joined the Gridiron chain of diners, with locations all over town. Glaser eventually became the manager of Gridiron #8, at 1143 Union Avenue, but he had bigger plans than a 12-seat diner. In 1955, he and Katzerman opened their own fine-dining establishment, calling it the Embers, at 3881 Park Avenue, in the Park Plaza Shopping Center.
This postcard shows the various dining rooms of the original Embers Restaurant on Park. The popular Waterfall Room is at the top left.
From what I’ve read, several other gentlemen in the dining business here were part of the ownership group, but all the newspaper ads identified the new establishment as Harry Glaser’s Embers, so I guess Harry gets most of the credit for the restaurant’s success. And yes, successful it was, quickly becoming the place to go for regular dinners, as well as birthday parties, rehearsal dinners, and other special events, including fashion shows for women, girls, “tots, and toddlers.” The interior was quite classy, with maroon velvet wall coverings, white classical columns, and gold-framed mirrors. The most striking feature was the unusual Waterfall Room, helpfully described by The Commercial Appeal as “real water cascading down a combination of various types of marble.”
courtesy restaurant and menu collection, memphis public libraries
An original menu from Club Embers.
But the main attraction was the food, and menus offer a rather astonishing selection that Memphians wouldn’t expect to find at other places in town. For example, they could choose from Fresh Broiled Lake Superior Whitefish, Frog Legs Sauté, Spanish Prawns Al’Indienne, Shish Kabob Istanbul, and Brochette Monte Carlo. All this was in addition to more traditional dishes such as chicken, steak, and roast beef, along with a variety of salads, sandwiches, and desserts.
“The Embers steak is a gourmet’s dream come true. Very, very tender, and succulent beyond description with a supreme flavor. The art of cooking reaches its peak of perfection!” — from an Embers newspaper ad.
“Specializing in taste memories,” said a Commercial Appeal review, “the Embers is the kind of restaurant where a salesman takes his top client, a lover takes his best girl, and a husband takes his wife for an anniversary dinner. … It appeals equally to bridge groups and to doctors. It’s also a hangout for meat-packing firm salesman; they know better than anyone where they’ll find top-quality steaks and roasts.”
When Harry Glaser’s Embers first opened, it was 5,000 square feet and could serve 185 diners. After barely two years, a major remodeling expanded the restaurant to 8,500 square feet, with seating for 340 in four separate dining rooms. On one particular evening in 1957, following a Memphis State University football game, Glaser told reporters that more than 400 exuberant fans jammed into his establishment. “We never had a single complaint,” he said, “but that was the biggest Wednesday night in our history.”
Glaser and his partners certainly believed in the power of advertising. They came up with a catchy slogan — “Where Fabulous Food Is the Show!” — and during the late 1960s, newspaper ads would entice readers in this way: “The Embers steak is a gourmet’s dream come true. Very, very tender, and succulent beyond description with a supreme flavor. The art of cooking reaches its peak of perfection!”
Advertisements announced that Club Embers was now called the “Top of the Tower,” but it was essentially same the same establishment.
Perhaps you’re not in the mood for steak: “Feeling adventurous? Try the Embers’ Broiled Atlantic Flounder for an unusual taste experience. Gently pampered in creamery butter, cooked in white wine with chopped shallots and anchovy sauce. Served with a bottomless salad bowl, baked potato, and coffee by candlelight.”
Glaser and Katzerman expanded his restaurant empire by 1960, opening a second Embers in Little Rock, and also managing the restaurant inside the Hotel Tennessee and a restaurant across from Sears Crosstown called The Harbor. But tragedy struck on July 31, 1961, when Glaser died after a brief illness. He was only 41 years old. Katzerman took over, and the restaurant continued to be ranked as one of Memphis’ top dining establishments.
In 1965, a landmark appeared in East Memphis — White Station Tower, at 24 stories the tallest building outside of downtown. Early renderings showed the building with a flat roof, but in 1966, Katzerman met with the structure’s owner, William “Buck” Clark, and opened a revolving restaurant on the top floor, where “dining rooms seem to blend with the stars.” Called Club Embers, with seating for 350, various promotions claimed it was “the largest revolving restaurant in the world.”
I realize times — and prices — have changed, but it’s still surprising to read a 1967 ad for Club Embers’ “Thanksgiving Special,” and see that “the bounty of an old-fashioned Thanksgiving, complete, served to make a magnificent show for you and your guests” would cost only $3.45. At that price, customers enjoyed “Roast Tennessee Tom Turkey” with a salad, two vegetables, and dessert. Children dined for only $1.50.
Perhaps calling this establishment Club Embers confused diners when they were making reservations — after all, the original Embers was still doing a booming business across town on Park Avenue — so after only two years, Katzerman changed the name to “Top of the Tower.”
He didn’t enjoy it very long. When he died in 1972, new owners changed the name to the Pyrenees, and that’s how many readers seem to remember the place. It survived until 1979, when the building’s management decided that circular space could be put to better use. The novelty of rotating restaurants had worn off, and William “Buck” Clark told reporters, “They sprang up around the country, especially after the Seattle Space Needle, and they were very big, but there were problems from a management point of view.” Those problems didn’t involve the mechanism that rotated the huge dining space, as one might expect (it actually rolled smoothly on regular car tires, powered by a small electric motor), but the logistics of moving food from the kitchen, which was on the floor below. Clark transformed the restaurant space into 36 executive offices.
Over on Park, the Embers closed in 1975 and was demolished. The location became home to a Rite-Aid for several years, then various beauty-supply companies. You won’t find a Waterfall Room there.
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Mail: Vance Lauderdale, Memphis Magazine, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101
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