Raleigh's yesteryear thrives online

Facebook group celebrates memories of old Raleigh

Raleigh was a memorably great place to live, long before the rest of the world discovered it. That's the idea that comes up time after time on a new group on the Facebook social network Internet site called "You know you grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, when ... "

In a little more than a month, more than 1,900 people have joined the free group, checking in from all over the United States and as far away as Thailand and Israel.

With a few mouse clicks, members can open up decades of Raleigh memories, from Everly Brothers' appearances of the 1950s to the Hillsborough Street punk bars of the 1990s.

Founder and Raleigh native Frank Slifer, 38, said the group, like the town itself, brings together people who have been here for generations with those whose Raleigh affiliations are much more recent.

"For me personally, obviously, there's something special about Raleigh -- it's my hometown," Slifer said. "This is something that every hometown should have."

In fact, other towns, states and schools have long had "you know you're from..." groups at different spots around the Web. Facebook groups take little to start -- a few clicks and a little typing and you're in.

"Membership of a Facebook group typically functions not all that differently from a bumper sticker," said Brett Bumgarner, a recent UNC-Chapel Hill graduate who wrote a senior thesis about Facebook.

"While some groups are used to organize people with similar political ideologies or social concerns, a substantial portion of them are based on something much more light-hearted, such as having the name Elliot or being a fan of 'I Love New York.'"

Slifer, a fleet manager at Dillon Supply in downtown Raleigh, checks in regularly. A recent topic was the State Fair, then and now. He got things rolling with his own memories of the fair: the death-defying Hell Drivers who rode motorcycles along the sides of a cylindrical track, the risque hoochie-coochie shows and "being small enough to go on the pony rides."

Thus prompted, other members poured forth their own memories: the ghost train and Himalaya rides, pink footlong hot dogs, the Strates shows and "watching yourself on TV" at the WRAL booth.

In other topics, or on the all-encompassing "Wall" section, people recall Raleigh from its smallest institutions -- such as the former Suburban Market, known to Anderson Drive kids as "the little store" -- to cultural heroes who touched the town, as when Jimi Hendrix played Dorton Arena on April 11, 1969.

Jim Harrison, Sanderson High School Class of 1977, is a celebrity in this particular group -- he used to spin records on the legendary Raleigh rock station WKIX, starting while he was still in high school. Like others interviewed, he found the Raleigh Facebook group when it popped up on a friend's profile information.

"Not only was it cool to read, but I also got up with five or six people I went to school with," said Harrison. He can be heard these days playing '60s and '70s music on Y102.9.

Raleigh resident Kent Parks, a state employee, showed up in the group in several posts about back-in-the-day favorites, including WKIX.

"That station was my life in my Jr. High years (mid 70s)," he wrote. "I still remember the request line: 851-3277. Called it just a few times ..."

In the giant social network that Facebook and other sites have become, groups become useful markers, Bumgarner said.

"Groups do provide a space for members to post comments or photos, working essentially as a water cooler around which members discuss the designated topic," he said.

Even so, some people on Facebook join a group they've discovered, but then never use it again, he said.

Meanwhile, though, Slifer notes that the group he expected to peak with a few dozen members has grown just like the town it reflects.

"One of the reasons the group has exploded the way it has is that Raleigh has really evolved," he said. "It was really a sleepy kind of Southern town. Now it's a premier place, a big star of the Southeast."

And that's true whether you grew up here or not.