Earnestine & Hazel's

History

Earnestine & Hazel’s is a dive bar and burger joint at 531 South Main Street in downtown Memphis. The building’s own history says it began as a pharmacy in the late 1930s whose owner, Abe Plough, later of Coppertone, gave it to cousins and stylists Earnestine and Hazel, who turned it into a café. Earnestine’s husband, the promoter Sunbeam, booked stars including B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, and Ray Charles at nearby Club Paradise, and those musicians came to the café after their shows. Bud Chittom and Delmer George bought the property in 1992, and Russell George later helped run it as the bar it is now, known for the Soul Burger.