502W. Franklin Street
CHAPEL HILL TIRE
A Chapel Hill staple, this business has served the local community from this location for more than 70 years! As their milestone party invitation stated, “Seventy years ago, the world was a very different place. The Hudson Hornet was the most popular car on the market, “How much is that doggie in the window” was climbing the Billboard Top 100 charts, and television sets across the country were tuning in to I Love Lucy to see about the birth of Little Ricky.”
In 1964, Al Pons bought the business from Sion D. Jennings. Inducted into the Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame in 2012, Al was also an active community volunteer. He expanded the business to four locations before his unexpected death in the mid-90’s, when his son, Marc, left his career in New York City to run the shop. Brother Britt joined him two years later. With the same belief system of kindness and respect for employees and customers instilled by their dad, Chapel Hill Tire currently has 11 locations around the Triangle, and is the first and only independent certified hybrid repair center. They are committed to eco-friendly practices and sustainability…and even have a rooftop rain garden at their Woodcroft location! chapelhilltire.com
These surrounding streets were home to a vibrant Black business community known as Midway which supported the neigborhoods near by - Tin Top, Pine Knolls, Northside, Pottersfield and Sunset. Many stars of stage and screen - Ike and Tina Turner, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald to name a few - stayed at Mason’s Motel when in town to perform on UNC’s campus, since segregation prohibited the Black performers from the other local hotels. They often also played at Charlie Mason’s Star Lite Supper Club in Midway. These institutions were torn down to build the condominium project, Greenbridge.
We encourage you on your walk down Franklin Street to explore the Chapel Hill Nine monument in the next block, where the Chapel Hill Civil Rights Movement began. And, please take advantage of the many useful resources & links on the early history of Chapel Hill, UNC, civil rights, and more found on the Chapel Hill Historical Society website. Visit our library & Reading Room, located near here in the Midway Business Center (109 N Graham Street) with thanks to Empowerment, a longstanding local nonprofit.