For Kayne, it was a chance to revisit some of her college haunts and to relive days gone by. For me, it was a debt repaid. And a long drive to get some pizza.
That pizza, from a place called Stefanos, was probably Kayne’s primary goal for the trip. I’ve been hearing about its superior merits for decades. Proust had his madeleine; Kayne has her Supreme. Whole wheat crust.
The debt part dates from five years back, when Kayne accompanied me for her introduction to my alma mater, Ole Miss, and surrounding Oxford, Mississippi. I promised then to someday join her on a similar pilgrimage to the University of Tennessee and Knoxville.
No Ole Miss grad would consider this an even exchange. ESPN has called Oxford the best college town in the nation. The Princeton Review once ranked the campus as the most beautiful in the country. The Grove, 10 lovely acres beneath oak, elm and magnolia trees, is the spiritual heart and tailgating center of student and alumni life. The Lyceum – “of stately Ionic Greek Revival design,” as an Ole Miss website puts it – is a picturesque link to the university’s earliest days in the 1840s.
Off-campus, the Square downtown is studded with excellent restaurants; Square Books is a leading independent bookstore. Nearby Rowan Oak allows access to the former home of a Nobel laureate in literature, William Faulkner. I could go on.
True, it was all also the scene of a tragic, monumental embarrassment in 1962. But that was then and this is now. If you come from Mississippi, you have to focus on the positive.
Kayne’s chief campus focus on our recent trip was the Strip, that portion of Cumberland Avenue that once housed her happy places, including Stefanos and lesser hangouts like the Old College Inn, Sam & Andy’s, Gabby’s and Best Italian. All are gone now; victims of a construction campaign to provide more and more housing for the growing student population.
The absence of personal landmarks was very disappointing for her. For me, the current lineup of businesses was disorienting: On just a few blocks of the Strip were not one, not two, but three stores offering a variety of cannabis products for purchase.
In my college days, psychoactive flora came in one form – smokable leaf – and required more clandestine commerce. All in all, I considered the new businesses a plus, despite whatever Kayne memories they may have trampled on.
And truth be told, aside from some overload of Tennessee Orange – a shade even my color-challenged eyes find slightly nauseating – I found my UT experience generally agreeable. The campus was lush, green and plantful, if that’s a word, including the serene UT Gardens nearby.
My only complaint might be that too much of the campus is taken up by structures, and not necessarily visually appealing structures. I’m talking about you, Art + Architecture Building.
Knoxville itself was even more agreeable. It wasn’t my first visit; that came decades ago as a reporter for The Tennessean covering a meeting of the Tennessee Valley Authority board. But I didn’t do much exploring then, so I was pleasantly surprised by the likes of Market Square, with its inviting variety of eating and drinking establishments and mellow, honky-tonkless vibe. Would that Nashville offered something like it.
The nearby Old City was an added treat. In my experience, urban reclamation projects don’t generally turn out well. Old City appears to be a thriving exception to the rule, at least so far, and we were happy to find a nice Greek restaurant at which we celebrated our 26th anniversary.
Another pleasant surprise was the Sunsphere, the symbol of Knoxville’s 1982 World’s Fair. I feared it might have become a tacky relic; instead, it’s a worthy companion to the likes of the Space Needle in Seattle and the Unisphere in Queens, New York, remnants of the 1962 and 1964 fairs. It also made for a striking centerpiece of the view from our hotel room balcony, duly captured for display on social media.
As for Stefanos: Its sole location now is far from the campus setting that captured Kayne’s heart and taste buds. Its spacious interior with towering ceiling and multiple big-screen TVs serving up sports is “sort of the opposite of the Stefanos that was on the Strip,” Kayne said, which she described as “small and musty. A warren.”
But it’s the food that counts, right? And the highly caloric offering delivered the goods worthy of our 172-mile trek from home.
“I feel 40 years younger,” Kayne said as she worked on her second slice. “And 40 pounds heavier.”
Joe Rogers is a former writer for The Tennessean and editor for The New York Times. He is retired and living in Nashville.