History
443 McCrackin St.
The building at 443 McCrackin was built in 1927 by Mr. Edward L. Williams Sr. He and his wife, Lillian, ran a general merchandise store for some 45 years. This store closed for good in 1972. After that the building was used as a real estate office, a timber consulting firm as well as an antique shop before it was found by Hollywood for the filming of the Universal Studios feature film release, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, which was based on Fannie Flagg’s novel “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.”
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Hollywood Effect
In 1990 some Hollywood scouts found the sleepy remains of Juliette’s McCrackin Street covered in kudzu vines and thought it was the perfect location for the fictional town of “Whistle Stop, Alabama” from Fannie Flagg’s story. They used the town as it was for the “present day” scenes with Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy and then set to work reviving the buildings and the street for the scenes set in Whistle Stop’s heyday. Ed Williams’ building was transformed into “The Whistle Stop Cafe” — a restaurant owned and operated by Idgie Threadgood (Mary Stuart Masterson) and Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker) famous for its fried green tomatoes and southern hospitality.
After the filmmakers left town and the movie gained notoriety Robert Williams, inheritor of the building, decided to use the building as it now was and opened the Whistle Stop Cafe as a functioning restaurant.. In 2002 the cafe was purchased by Mrs. Elizabeth Bryant and it now carries on in its tradition of excellent food, hospitable service and, of course, fried green tomatoes.