TASTE OF THE TREASURE COAST
Granny’s Kitchen, the legendary soul food café on Avenue D owned by Hassie
and Charles Russ has closed after 43 years in business. Employees spent
most of its final days selling commemorative T-shirts, and greeting friends
and patron who stopped by to wish the couple well on their retirement.
BEST WATERFRONT VIEW
67
Hassie Elliot, whom she is named for, worked as a cook at
The Cloister, the renowned resort in Sea Island, Ga. They
were two strong women who knew their way around the
kitchen.
They also looked out for others, she says, part of the hospitable
nature that still runs through the family. She remembers
them setting out eggs, grits and biscuits for the hoboes who
came off the train where they lived in Brunswick, saying, “If
not for the grace of God, it could be us.”
Even in those Jim Crow days, the coastal Georgia town was
a good place for a young black woman to grow up, she says,
noting that there was an Olympic-sized swimming pool for the
black community. The drive-in theater there was integrated,
she says, pointing out that Charles would have never believed
it if she hadn’t taken him there after they were married.
But when her mother remarried, the family moved to Fort
Pierce. “I cried every day,” she says. “I didn’t want to move.
Florida was a cultural shock.”
When she started at Lincoln Park Academy, Hurston was
her substitute English teacher. Hurston, then down on her
luck, regaled the students with stories of Harlem in its heyday.
“I guess she must have seen something in me,” Russ says.
“I had an aunt who had been in New York, she had graduated
from beautician school in 1951, and told me about dancing
at the Savoy, and Zora’s stories caught my attention.”
APPLE OF HIS EYE
Charles Russ had also caught her attention. She chuckles
when she remembers buying an apple every day and putting
it on her desk, located next to the hallway so she could
catch some breeze in the non-air conditioned school. Charles, >>
Enjoy fine Food and the Breathtaking View!
Come by Car or Boat
Serving Lunch & Dinner
Open at 11:30 am
The Perfect Place for your Special Events!
Bar Menu 2:30 pm to 5 pm • Live Music Everyday • Daily Drink Specials
By boat: Latitude 27.2, longitude 80.2583
M A G A Z I N E
BEST OF THE
TREASURE COAST
2017
772.872.7250 | 625 SW Anchorage Way, Stuart | View our menu online www.thesailorsreturn.com
/www.thesailorsreturn.com
/www.thesailorsreturn.com