NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Fisher’s was all lit up, and folks wanted to know why.
But the presence of the small crowd assembled at 1919 Broadway in North Little Rock on the night of March 22 was temporary.
They stayed just long enough to be disappointed. They shared some memories, then left, making way for a new handful of hopefuls. Each person approached the old Fisher’s Steak House with guarded optimism.
“Did they open Fisher’s again?” one passerby asked, speaking the obvious question on the minds of his three companions.
To the chagrin of the neighborhood folks who saw lights, cameras and plenty of action that night, the old staple that served politician, pauper and pop star alike for more than 50 years was only serving movie stars that night. And then, just a few of them.
Fisher’s was used as a filming location for the upcoming movie The Last Ride, which portrays the last days of Hank Williams Sr. The film is set in late 1952, leading up to Williams’ death on Jan. 1, 1953.
It’s not hard to see why Fisher’s was chosen to represent that time period. The restaurant opened its first location in 1947 on the south side of Broadway. It moved across the street in 1958 to the building where it still stands today. Sitting in a booth at the now-closed diner is like stepping back in time.
“This is probably just what it looked like back then,” said Tim Jackson of Little Rock, whose company, Category One Entertainment, is co-producing the film.
For the purpose of the movie, the crew gave a spit and shine to the tables in front of the bar to film a scene in which Williams (played by actor Henry Thomas) savors a cup of coffee with his young driver (played by Jesse James).
Director Harry Thomason grew up in southwest Arkansas around the time Fisher’s opened, and he remembers well traveling to Little Rock with his parents and making a point to stop in at Fisher’s.
“Folks [back then] loved Fisher’s Steak House,” Thomason said. “When we were looking for a diner, I said, ‘Guys, is Fisher’s still around?’
“It looks just like I think I remember it.”
Thomason mentioned Fisher’s to Jackson, who, after a series of phone calls, got in touch with Karen King, who works for ArkBest Realty. King is handling the Fisher’s account, as the old diner that has sat empty for several years is up for sale.
“I haven’t met or showed it to one person who hasn’t had nostalgic memories about it,” King said.
In the movie, Fisher’s is not portraying itself. It’s supposed to be a random diner somewhere between Alabama and West Virginia by way of Ohio, the setting of The Last Ride.
Chee Chee Fisher, who ran the restaurant alongside her mother-in-law and husband, Roy Fisher Jr. (Roy’s father, Roy Sr., opened the diner) from 1985 to 2005, said to her knowledge Hank Williams never fared Fisher’s food, but plenty of famous folks did, including Ann Margret and Elvis Presley, who would stop in on his way to or from performances in Louisiana before making it big.
Local media personality Rex Nelson is one of the restaurant’s biggest fans, and he said part of what made it so successful in its heyday was its location.
“They had very lengthy hours because U.S. 70 [Broadway] was the main highway between Memphis and Little Rock,” Nelson said.
Then there was the food. Nelson said the Fisher’s homemade salad dressing was well known in central Arkansas, plus they had another patron favorite.
“They had the best fried chicken livers I believe I’ve ever had,” Nelson said.
Nelson said that before the restaurant closed (it changed ownership in 2005 and didn’t last long after that), he would often eat breakfast and lunch there, and he learned to come early.
“If you did not get there by 11:15 a.m., you were going to wait, and it would basically be full from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.,” Nelson said.
Chee Chee Fisher said the restaurant had a loyal customer base, and she and her family treated their customers like relatives stopping by for Sunday lunch. With a diverse menu that ranged from chicken-fried steak to homemade pies (and all sorts of other absolute goodness), Fisher’s was a melting pot within the community.
“We’d serve old farmer Brown and governors and even a president,” Chee Chee said.
Business was best before Interstate 40 was completed in the 1970s, but even afterward, folks still flocked to Fisher’s. Many public-office hopefuls saw an opportunity to capitalize on Fisher’s popularity, Chee Chee said.
“Most politicians would come down here and get permission to talk to people and [campaign],” Chee Chee said.
When the Fishers sold the restaurant in 2005, it just wasn’t the same. Roy Jr. and Chee Chee had decided to retire, and while many friends begged them to retain ownership and hire managers to run the restaurant for them, that just wouldn’t do.
“We came up the old-fashioned way,” Chee Chee said. “We felt like we had to be there.”
She said it was sad to see the restaurant close, but still, she said they made the right decision. One of few regrets, she said, is that they didn’t keep a log of their customers.
“I’d have loved to stay in touch with a lot of them,” she said.
Roy and Chee Chee don’t have any plans to start the business back up again, but there’s hope that maybe one day a Fisher will return the old restaurant to its original glory. Chee Chee said one of their grandchildren is in college studying restaurant management and has hinted toward an interest in the family business.
“We’re holding onto the recipes,” Chee Chee said, both in case a family member wants to reopen the restaurant and also because one of their daughters hopes to create a cookbook.
Nelson said he’d be first in line if the Fishers were to reopen the restaurant.
“I wish to goodness they would [reopen],” he said. “I would be a regular customer if they would and could have the kind of food that the Fishers had.”
Thomason said he was glad it worked out to film a scene at the restaurant he grew up loving.
“We brought Fisher’s back to life for at least one more night,” he said.