Many doubters (including me) thought the creation of a roundabout in Emory Village, in 2011, would lead to confusion or disaster. Happily, the new traffic pattern works so well that it leaves us wishing for more such circles throughout Atlanta.
There was a time when getting from the campus to, say, Everybody’s, the pizza joint of legend, meant jay walking or precisely syncing your sprint with the changing light at the five-point intersection. Either was a risk.
Emory folks of a certain age remember fabled Village establishments like the cinema and Horton’s. When I arrived at Emory in 1983, as a graduate student, Horton’s was still in business, and would be for another year or so. A sign in the window said, “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.”
The cinema, part of the wing of businesses along South Oxford — about where Saba now stands — burned while Animal House was playing, in 1978, according to Druid Hills native John Mills 87Ox 89C. Seems fitting in a way, though Gone With the Wind would have done as well.
Once home to two grocery stores, Emory Village hangs on to Shields Meat Market (sharing with CVS the building formerly occupied by the nation’s smallest Kroger), but the dance studio, dental office, watch repair, hardware store, lending library, and florist shops of yore (October 1948 Emory Alumnus) are long gone.
Three gas stations competed through the decades, but the last of them closed a few years ago.
Correction: This Zesto’s was misidentified as being located in Emory Village when I originally posted this entry. The eatery actually was near the corner of Clairmont Avenue and North Decatur Road. The Gulf station in the background is now a Shell station.
Gary Hauk
Emory Historian's Blog 
It took only ten years for a roundabout to come to that perilous convergence of five streets, ten years of county fear and indolence as well as deep skepticism on the part of those who had never been to Europe or even New England, where roundabouts have for years saved lives and sped traffic.
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Weren’t the gas stations forced to close because the roundabouts made it impossible to deliver fuel?
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Burns Gulf, which had stood for several decades across from Everybody’s Pizza (now Slice ‘n’ Pint pizza) went out of business a few years before the roundabout was planned. The spot where that Gulf station stood is now a large grassy plot. The Standard Oil station shown in the blog post became a Chevron station and went out of business sometime after the roundabout. The property was sold, and a new Jimmy John’s now occupies that corner.
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Hi, Gary. You helped me with Walter Candler’s white barn a while back. I was wondering if you had any full history of Burns’ Gulf Station when it was still over in the old Everybody’s building? Thanks! Jennie Richardson
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Hi, Jennie. Alas, no — I don’t know the history of the Gulf station. I remember it, of course, but I don’t know when the station opened or anything about Mr. Burns. Gary Hauk
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In the 40s, I was born and raised in the Emory area and my first home was on Oakdale Road with with both paternal and maternal family all around.
When I was a pre-schooler, I vividly remember being in the car with my mother, headed for Burns’ Gulf station which at that time was located in the space which later became Jeffers’ Drug Store and even later Oliver’s Drug Store and then much later, Everybody’s. Our car ran out of gas on North Decatur Road right after Mother turned off Oakdale. We coasted all the way into Burns’ Gulf Station and bought $1 worth of gas – regular, not ethyl! Mr. Burns was a wonderful man, very friendly and helpful, and he could take care of many minor car problems.
♥️🖤♥️ (Druid Hills colors!)
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I’m pretty sure that for a time after that Gulf station closed, it became home to Good Old Days restaurant, which had as its signature menu item a number of flower pot sandwiches. The chicken salad was particularly good.
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Good old days was next to the gulf station, was Huddle House before.
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Good ol days was – from the perspective of the Gulf station – farther fown the street to the left. By the late 60s, Mr. Burns was long gone but Vic ran the station for many years
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