Latest news with #Brown's
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The history and soul behind Brown's Diner
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — In Nashville, one longstanding burger joint has reinvented itself under new ownership. Brown's Diner in Hillsboro Village opened inside an abandoned trolley car in 1927. In nearly 100 years, the diner has changed ownership just 3 times. The man now in charge has made some changes, but said he has done so with the goal of maintaining the soul of Brown's. Bobbie's Dairy Dip: A Nashville tradition 'It kind of was intriguing to me to take something that had it's soul and had it's core, and put my little touch on it and see what we could do with it,' owner Bret Turk told News 2. 'It's a unique place. It's not going anywhere. We're doing much better now, everything's kind of flowing and we've got into our groove.' Turk took over in 2021. He knows restaurants — having co-founded the popular local barbecue chain Edley's. He's spent the past few years building the diner back up, creating a designated space for bands to play, modernizing the kitchen and menu, and adding an outdoor patio deck. 'We kind of designed it to feel kind of like a train station feel, where you come up and get onto the trolley or the train from the platform area,' Turk said. 'The history with the musicians and the music we have going now, and the neighborhood, it has gotten a little dilapidated and a little dirty.' Amid his updates, Turk made sure to blend the diner's future with it's storied past. That includes retaining an employee who has played a huge role in the history of Brown's. 'Since we're close to Musicians Row, or what was, all the musicians come here because they can get a good burger and a beer, at the time,' Daphne McFarland, a waitress at Brown's for nearly 40 years, told News 2. 'And that hasn't changed. Plus, everybody is usually a smiling person towards you. 'Hi, how are you?'' McFarland is referred to by the diner's regulars as 'Mama.' She said she plans to retire in 2027 when the diner hits its century mark. News 2 On Tour | Explore the communities that shape Middle Tennessee Given it's been around for nearly 100 years, in a city and neighborhood that is constantly changing, News 2 had to ask: how does Brown's continue to stand apart? 'The staff is friendly, 98% of the time. I'll give them 2% that they might (not) be,' McFarland answered with a laugh. 'And the people are nice. You don't mind waiting on them because they are nice. It's just its own little place. It's home away from home.' Meanwhile, Turk told News 2 he first envisioned Brown's as a place his young daughter could work at while in high school before, someday, hopefully taking it over herself. 'The idea is to keep it here until I'm no longer here, and it's still here,' Turk said. 'How cool would it be, 200 years (since it opened), if it were still here?' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Brown's Lobster Pound marks 75 years in Seabrook: 'Best seafood in the U.S.'
SEABROOK — "Numbers 87, 88, and 89, your orders are ready," echoed over the PA system at Brown's Lobster Pound on May 1, signaling another round of fresh seafood awaiting eager diners at the counter. It's a familiar call — one that has been repeated tens of thousands of times over the past 75 years — carrying on a tradition that began on the first Friday of April 1950. It's the result of a journey begun by Hollis Brown and his good friend Louis Violette and set the foundation for what is now a beloved New Hampshire seafood institution. Hollis is gone now, as is Violette, but Hollis' son Bruce remembers every day since. Nearly 88, he's moving a little slower than he did that April weekend in 1950 when, at 13, he hustled beside his dad at the opening of Brown's Lobster Pound. Bruce Brown's father founded Brown's Lobster Pound in 1950, when Bruce, center, was just 13 years old. He took over as owner in 1972, and now, generations of his family continue his legacy as the restaurant celebrates its 75th anniversary. These days, Bruce's sons Robert and Bruce II, along with his grandson Kaleb, do the heavy lifting, keeping the expanded footprint of Brown's up and running. But whenever the elder statesman's in the house, there's no shortage of people who stop to chat. 'I just want to say thank you,' Merrimack resident Craig LoPiana told Bruce Brown. 'We've been coming here for 45 years over three generations.' As Brown thanked him for his business in return, LoPiana, a 20-year Army veteran, said that even when he was deployed to the Middle East, one of the things he missed most was a meal at Brown's. 'I wanted to come back so I could eat here,' LoPiana said. The sentiment isn't unique. Brown's isn't just a tradition for the Brown family, it's one for thousands of families who've celebrated special occasions enjoying fresh lobsters and seafood there for generations. 'Mother's Day and Father's Day are two of our busiest,' Bruce Brown II said. 'And, of course, summers starting around Memorial Day.' Open weekends during the off-season from Nov. 15 through April 14, and seven days a week for the rest of the year, the restaurant for 75 years has drawn patrons from throughout New Hampshire, as well as from New Hampshire and Massachusetts — especially the Merrimack Valley — and beyond. 'We've been coming here for more than 20 years,' Lowell residents Edviges and Jorge Fraga told Bruce Brown. 'My cousins are here from the Azores. We brought them today.' High praise since the Azores, islands off the coast of Portugal, are famous for seafood. There was even a couple who flew in from Chicago once, Bruce Brown said, because eating at Brown's was what the wife said she wanted for her wedding anniversary. Hampton Beach Casino makeover: Developers bet big on charitable gaming expansion How Brown's Lobster Pound came to be It was 1947, Bruce Brown said, during an economic downturn that followed the end of World War II. His dad had been laid off from his factory job in Newburyport, and Louis Violette from his job at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Needing a way to earn a living, they started hauling lobsters landed by Maine fishermen, selling them to fish markets and restaurants in the Merrimack Valley. Doing well, a year later the two men opened their own lobster pound on Route 1 in Hampton, using the water from the nearby Taylor River for the lobster pool. Bruce Brown's father opened Brown's Lobster Pound in 1950, when Bruce was just 13. Starting out by cleaning tables, Bruce later took over as owner in 1972 upon his father's retirement. Now, the family-run restaurant is celebrating its 75th anniversary. 'But the water from the Taylor River was brackish,' Brown said. 'The water here, from the Black Water River, is better. It's cold, saltier, and good for lobsters.' So, in 1950, Hollis Brown and Violette opened their lobster pound in the flat-roofed, mustard-yellow, one-story building on Route 286 on the banks of the river that still provides the water for the holding tanks where lobsters crawl. Back then, they just sold lobsters and clams,' Bruce Brown said. 'Alive or cooked. Guess how much lobsters were back then? 35 cents a pound!' Things went so well that two years later, the men added a lunch bar to the lobster pound, serving lobster rolls, steamed clams, fried seafood and sandwiches. Replicating a place he had seen in Maine, Hollis Brown added a small dining room on the west side of the pound stretching over the river where patrons could sit, enjoy the view, and eat the lobsters they'd chosen themselves from the tank. In 1957, when Violette wanted to open his own lunch bar in nearby Salisbury, Hollis Brown bought him out. In the decades that followed, Hollis — with his son Bruce's help — extended the huge expanse of the dining room and furnished it. 'My father and I built a lot of the picnic tables in this dining room,' Bruce Brown said. 'I'd say about half. We've never served alcohol here. My mother and father were death on alcohol.' More: 2025 Great Bay Food Truck Festival at Stratham Hill Park. What to know before you go Brown's Lobster Pound keeps it all in the family Brown's Lobster Pound isn't simply a story about a successful restaurant; it's begun the lives of families over its lifetime. For starters, in 1957, it's where Bruce Brown met Cynthia Marston and their romance began. 'My father bought insurance from her father and asked him if he had any teenagers who needed a job for the summer,' Bruce Brown said, smiling. 'He did, and when I saw Cynthia, I thought she was a pretty good-looking chick.' Kaleb Brown hauls in fresh lobsters during the lunchtime rush at Brown's Lobster Pound, the family-run Seabrook institution celebrating 75 years of tradition. Only one problem, Brown said, Cynthia had a boyfriend. Over the summer, however, as he regularly drove Cynthia back to her North Hampton home, her loyalties changed. By October 1958, they were married and would become the parents of 'three fine sons,' Robert, Norman and Bruce II. All grew up working in the family business, two choosing it for their careers, and one, Norman, becoming a well-known local engineer. 'They're good boys,' Bruce Brown says softly of his sons. 'And I have four grandchildren, Kaleb, Ashley, Brittany, and Chloe, and four great-grandchildren, Liam, Isla, Cian and Laila.' They all owe their very existence to Brown's. 'My father met my mother here,' according to Bruce Brown II. 'My brother Norman met his wife Sandy here; my brother Robert met his wife Kim here and I met my wife Cathy here. A lot of people who've worked here over the years have met the people they would marry at Brown's.' The fourth Brown generation has already stepped up. Robert's son Kaleb, began in the kitchen as a kid, first as a dishwasher, but he moved up, taking on the important role of fry cook. Now he works beside his dad and uncle daily. Bruce Brown II's daughter Chloe – who'll graduate from Seabrook Middle School this spring – may also find her place at Brown's in decades to come. As for Brown generation number five, when school's out, Kaleb Brown's kids, Cian, Isla and Liam, can sometimes be found trailing after their dad, getting familiar with the goings-on in the complex world of the food industry. Kaleb said he once thought of pursuing a career in engineering like his uncle, but the family business called to him. 'It just seemed the natural thing to do to work here,' Kaleb said. 'I like it here.' It's not just blood relatives who make up Brown's family. Many in the area have worked inside those yellow walls year after year, like Gary Fowler, who's been with Brown for 65 years. 'Even when I did my military duty, when I'd get leave on weekends, I'd work here,' Fowler said. 'When it was quiet in the restaurant, we'd play cribbage,' Brown added. 'And I'd skunk him,' Fowler said. 'Wasn't very often,' Brown returned. The banter of the two friends revolves around more than cribbage. Staunch Republicans, they have worked on local, state and federal campaigns for Grand Old Party candidates, including, since the 1970s, organizing bi-annual Republican rallies at Brown's every two years, when a presidential prospect has been known to show up. More: Seabrook tightens beach parking rules ahead of summer Keeping tradition alive at Brown's Lobster Pound It's no secret the food service industry is one of the most difficult. With the high costs of equipment, perishable stock, long hours, and numerous employees, even nationwide chains find it challenging to drop enough to the bottom line to survive. But Brown's carved out a niche that's worked for three-quarters of a century, even while the cost of its primary product rose exponentially, as fish supplies diminished and consumer demand soared. Family-run Brown's Lobster Pound in Seabrook celebrates 75 years in business. In 1960, for example, a seafood plate was $2.50 and an order of French fries 15 cents, Bruce Brown said, making dining there a normal financial experience. But those prices are ancient history in the seafood restaurant business. 'A man told me, 'Mr. Brown, your food is very expensive,'' Bruce Brown said. 'I agreed with him. We want to maintain our standards, and these days to do that, everything is expensive. Fresh fish, labor, everything.' Bruce Brown II said to maintain quality, the restaurant buys and prepares fresh fish, and only from suppliers it trusts. When he surveys other fresh seafood restaurants in the region, Bruce Brown II said he finds prices similar to theirs. 'Some things may be a dollar or two higher or lower,' Bruce Brown II said, 'but we're all around the same.' Bruce Brown II believes it's important for New England to keep its historic seafood restaurants, a legacy of its oldest industry. 'It's important to keep these places going,' he said. 'It's New England heritage. These are special places.' Family Destination Guide's March 2025 review agrees. Although the review claims Brown's yellow building isn't going to win any architectural awards, it adds it's captured 'the hearts and appetites of seafood enthusiasts throughout New England and beyond.' Referring to Brown's as steadfastly consistent and unpretentious, a tough, resilient mirror of the New Hampshire Seacoast community, the article claims Brown's doesn't need fancy tablecloths, because hiding inside is 'The Best Seafood in the U.S.' 'In a culinary landscape dominated by ever-changing food trends and restaurants that reinvent themselves with each season, Brown's remains gloriously stubbornly unchanged … they let their impossibly fresh seafood speak volumes.' After 75 years, the dining public appears to agree. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Brown's Lobster Pound marks 75 years in Seabrook
Washington Post
04-04-2025
- General
- Washington Post
They just don't make stores like Brown's Hardware anymore
The March 28 Metro article 'History yields to the present' brought tears to my eyes. My father, Sidney Berman, picked up things from Brown's Hardware several times a week for many years. I am sure those trips provided a much-needed lunchtime break from his demanding job as the executive director of Northern Virginia Family Services. My visits to his office almost always included a stop at Brown's for something he needed. My father loved to fix things and would always find something around the house that needed mending or improving. Brown's Hardware was just across the street from his corner office overlooking the intersection of East Broad and South Washington streets. If you drive by this area now, you'll see a Whole Foods where my father's office used to be. Though development provides nice new amenities, there's also real value in places such as Brown's Hardware, which was in business for 142 years, that provide a sense of community. I appreciate The Post for taking the time to make us all remember. Adrian Fremont, Alexandria My wife and I have been Falls Church residents for almost 44 years, and during that time, we were frequent visitors to Brown's Hardware. We live in a community of colonial townhouses where property standards specify that the exteriors of the units must be painted in 'Williamsburg colors.' Brown's sold an approved paint specially mixed for our neighborhood. Several years ago, we had our kitchen repainted and told our painter to pick up the paint at Brown's. Many of the units in the neighborhood also had interiors painted in Williamsburg colors, and although we were not required to, we chose one to use in our kitchen. We planned to be away for the day while the painter completed the work. When we arrived home, we found that the kitchen paint was the wrong shade. I told the painter to return to Brown's and pick up the proper paint. Brown's gave him the new paint free of charge; the painter repainted the kitchen for free. Weeks later, I was in Brown's, and Hugh Brown came up to me and asked whether I owned the home where the incorrect paint was used. Brown said he sent a letter offering to pay us for any additional charge for repainting the kitchen. I said there had been no additional charge and that I greatly appreciated his gesture. A lot of folks in Falls Church have stories similar to mine. Brown's Hardware will be missed by us all. James E. Schoenberger, Falls Church When the D.C. Public Schools lottery let us down, sending our child to one of the community-based organizations that, along with public schools, are part of the city's delivery system for early-childhood education became our only option for accessible child care. The opportunity to do so turned out to be more than a convenience. It changed our lives forever. Our first time doing the DCPS lottery was in 2021, and even though we ranked 12 schools, we didn't get into our in-boundary school on the first try. (We were wait-listed and eventually got a spot five months later.) We needed to move to get more space with a second child on the way. It was kismet finding a house one block away from Estrellitas Montessori School, one of the community-based organizations that serves prekindergarten students and their families, and we were accepted two weeks before school started. As someone who experienced the worst-case scenario of the lottery firsthand, I'm not sure what we would have done without this opportunity. Given that DCPS does not have pre-K slots for 3- and 4-year-olds in all neighborhood schools, the high-quality care that community-based organizations provide is not a luxury. It's an essential part of the city's education system. At Estrellitas, our daughter excelled and formed strong attachments to her favorite teacher. This experience led us to enroll our second child six months after he was born. Because we enrolled before our children were pre-K age, we knew they would be able to attend two years of D.C.'s free Pre-K Enhancement and Expansion Program, giving us a way out of the lottery system and a guarantee of stable relationships between our children and their teachers. When our son graduated from his first class, I cried with his teacher. She supported me when I breastfed him during the lunch hour, and she allowed us to feel as though the classroom really was an extension of our family. As my son moved through two more classes, the quality of caretakers stayed high. One of my son's teachers even became the only caretaker we use in our home, given my son's strong attachment to her. We continued to send our older child to the school's privately run aftercare program while she attended DCPS kindergarten so she could stay connected to the community where she thrived. When the school raised tuition for children who are not yet old enough to be in pre-K by $500 last year (from $2,300 to $2,800 per month), instead of leaving for a less expensive option, we felt it was necessary to stay and support the teachers and staff because of the high-quality care and learning environment our children received. Unfortunately, it seems D.C. does not feel the same way: As reported in the March 12 online article 'Parents fear D.C. may cut some preschool funding. Here's what we know.,' the city has said funding for pre-K at community-based organizations is not guaranteed for next year's budget. Ours is just one story. But I know that many families in our Ward 4 community have similar ones. We agree on the need for continued funding. Our children deserve the best care this city has to offer. Anjali Richards, Washington Regarding Donald E. Graham's March 25 op-ed, 'Jerry Wilson transformed the D.C. police': Jerry V. Wilson not only transformed the D.C. police, but he also raised the bar for policing everywhere else. In 1971, Wilson hired 100 women and 100 men as police officers and deployed them to the same assignment: routine patrol. At that time, women often served as secretaries or support systems for male detectives interviewing women and child victims of rape and abuse. What Wilson planned for his recruits was radical. Not only did he take what was then considered a risk by deploying women without male partners, but Wilson also had the 200 new officers' performance evaluated by a neutral third party, the Urban Institute. The institute found the women's performance mirrored that of the men, with one exception: The way policewomen performed their services invited fewer incidents of violence from the citizenry. The impact of the study was immediate. Department after department expanded its recruitment base to include women. Federal law enforcement agencies followed suit. Simply put, doubling the recruitment base to include women produced a better cadre of officers, even if only a small percentage of women made the grade. Thus, Wilson — by his commitment to science, to transparency in policy formation and to establishing the strong law enforcement our nation's capital demanded — transformed policing nationwide. Washingtonians were lucky to have him as their chief. Ava J. Abramowitz, Leesburg Catherine Milton, Palo Alto, California The writers marshaled initiatives to recruit more female officers and helped produce the 1972 book 'Women in Policing.' The March 26 Metro article 'Waymo aims to put its taxis in the District' reported that Waymo, an autonomous vehicle company, plans to bring its 'robotaxis' to the streets of D.C. for paying customers next year. While covering the company's claims of superiority over human drivers in terms of safety, the article smartly noted that the foundation of this claim relies on a small dataset of miles traveled by Waymo vehicles relative to the trillions of miles driven by humans in the United States every year. In addition to this flimsy comparison, how these machines perform should not be compared against average human drivers but rather against the best human drivers. Human drivers are not provided with billions of dollars in development, millions of miles of testing and training, or an array of cameras, radar and lidar sensors, and still most manage to drive safely. Just days before this announcement, two Waymo vehicles in Austin stopped and blocked a local roadway, halting traffic flow. Though no crash was reported, a similar scenario during an emergency could cause delays with serious consequences for safety. In fact, San Francisco has experienced numerous incidents in which robotaxis have impeded police and fire response, including driving through emergency tape and blocking firehouse driveways. Of note, numerous public opinion surveys, including one we commissioned a few months ago, show people have significant concerns and trepidation about riding in and sharing the road with driverless cars. Even the head of the automotive division at advanced chipmaker Nvidia believes that fully self-driving technology is a 'next-decade marvel.' While we certainly hope that the promises of safety, accessibility, reduced congestion and environmental sustainability offered by the autonomous vehicle industry come to fruition, transparency and accountability — including what data actually reveal — are essential to ensure that the public understands not only self-driving cars' capabilities but also their limitations. Safeguards and regulations are needed. We should not rush driverless cars onto public roads before they're safe and reliable. Cathy Chase, Washington The writer is president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
