TC's Restaurant

TC's Restaurant was a short-lived restaurant owned by radio personality Tommy Charles in the late 1970s. It was located in the Clark Building at 400½ 20th Street North.

The restaurant's menu included a fanciful history, "The Legend of TC's,"

In 1936, Aristotle Onassis' fifth cousin's chimney sweep's sister, Pearl, was turned away from London's Royal Rochester Restaurant, due to her being too free with her laughter. Pearl, not being a spiteful sort, moved that very day to America, where she promptly fell in love and married the half brother of President Harry Truman's great uncle, Benjamin Thames Charles IV, a night clerk at the Plaza in New York. From this union three children were born: Sarah Sue Ellen Charles, Rochester (See, she was all forgiving.) King Charles and George Washington Lincoln Jefferson Charles. Sarah Sue Ellen married a gypsy named Fred Zermzixtm and moved to Tanzania as an Ambiguous missionary. They had 7 girls. George fell in love with the plumber and ran off to California. They had no children. Rochester, the pride of his mother's eye, became a Microbiologist, lived at home until 1956 when he married Emily Dickenson Whittington, the only daughter of Savannah's most prominent banker, Morton Featheringill Whittington VIII. Rochester and Emily's love bore one remarkable child: Thomas Charles. Remarkably the child began to speak at age three months and was a delight to his mother, and a great source of pride to his father. Another unusual aspect of Thomas was his white hair and by the time he was six he had graduated from high school. (He did flunk math three times, which caused his late departure from High School.) In 1962 Thomas entered Radio and Plumbing Trade School four miles outside Leeds, Alabama, which was not to his father's liking since he had dreamed of Thomas becoming a brain surgeon. Thomas did not do well at RPTC, leaving the school seven years later and entering as a major in Used Car Salesmanship at Choo Choo U in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Unfortunately, Thomas did not do well at CCU either and under the advice of his psychiatrist, became a banker. As it happened, the English Pound lost heavily on the world market, causing to the Royal Rochester Restaurant to see desperate financial assistance through the Bank of England, who referred the owner, Rowland Ruffles Rochester, Jr. to the First Southern Bank of the Confederacy, owned by the Shah of Iran's second wife's mother, who also was the Chairman of the Board of the Bank of England and part owner in a deli outside of Chicago. Thomas' mother, Emily, had by this time been made Retail Loan Officer for the Savannah bank and in the late summer of 1974 happened to be reading the Rolling Stone when Rowland Ruffles Rochester, Jr. entered her office, hat in hand! You can guess what happened. Emily's mother-in-law had told her the sad story of 1936, perpetrated by Rowland Ruffles' father. Well, it just goes to show, doesn't it, that all things come to him who waits, everything comes in full circle and if the shoe fits wear it. Emily agreed to help Rowland Ruffles' Royal Rochester Restaurant get back on its feet, with one stipulation: "You owe me, Turkey! When I ask for the favor to be repaid, I'll call upon you." (Emily's maternal grandfather was Don Cornieloonie, of Sicily, W. Virginia.) In the meantime, Thomas had been transferred to the First Notable Bank of Birmingham, where he was Assistant Cashier. Thomas was a carefree, young man who was rumored to be dating Raquel Welch, Debbie Reynolds and Mae West. But, Thomas lacked true happiness. He still longed for Radio Show-business. And, in 1977, he became the janitor to the First Faldoral Savings and Lean Association, wherein WSGN radio had its broadcast facilities. Thomas would sneak up to the radio offices late at night, and after cleaning the manager's office, he would pretend to be announcing over the station's microphone. As it turned out, he actually turned on the microphone one early morning and broadcast to over fourteen citizens who were up for cow milking. Well, he was a hit! But, Thomas wasn't quite satisfied, because he always dreamed of revenging his grandmother's insult in London in 1936. And then in the Spring 1978, he found the way. He decided to open his own Restaurant and dedicate it to good food and laughter, in memory of his Nanna. When he told his mother, Emily immediately informed Rowland Ruffles Rochester to send over his chef, give Thomas the Royal Rochester crest and forty-four chairs, six glasses and three swizzle sticks. And now, Thomas' restaurant is available to you for excellent food, fun, laughter and old fashioned conviviality. It just goes to prove that a genius of English derivation with rich parents and an overly aggressive grandma can accomplish miracles in this Land of Opportunity. So, enjoy yourself and, by the way, the salt and pepper at your table are provided for your convenience at no additional charge. T.C.'s would like to express its appreciation to the following people for their invaluable assistance in the creation of T.C.'s Restaurant: Aristotle Onassis, Harry Truman, John Ed Willoughby, Eleanor Roosevelt, Doug Layton, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Maude Frickett, Marvin Fumple, The Incredible Hulk, Bozo, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, Mayor Vann, Ben McKinnon, Crazy Kanakis."