It’s how tall?

The 1970s were a great time to be a kid. People weren’t as uptight as they are today. I was in high school and, being a typical male teenager, I was unafraid of a challenge. It was the Spring of 1976, and I was feeling my oats as a senior who could do no wrong. Actually, I did lots wrong but I never got in trouble.

As I sat in class, I loudly pondered where to eat lunch on this pretty day. Stacy Burnette agreed to go, but where. The Varsity? It’d been done before. Then someone mentioned the new Peachtree Plaza Hotel had a restaurant at the top called the Sundial. Sure, said I, we can do that. No one believed it could be done.

When the lunch break bell rang we jogged to my mom’s Buick Skylark, and we headed downtown. My dad’s office was across the street, and since he was out of town, I could use his parking spot in the Peachtree Center deck. I jetted to town and we ran to the hotel lobby and got in line for the elevator.

Disappointment followed when the hostess said we couldn’t take the dedicated elevator because we weren’t wearing a coat and tie! We had never heard of such a rule.

Stairs! There had to be stairs, so we searched and found a staircase. In addition to being in great shape, neither of us was very bright as we had 70 floors to climb.

We did it. We actually ran up the stairs! To the very top. 840 steps in all.

We encountered a simple metal door that said “Sundial.” So we knocked and a waitress opened the door that led into the kitchen. We explained that we had made a bet that we could have lunch and get back to school in time, could she get us a table? She laughed at us as we were dripping sweat and exhausted. She told us she’d get fired if she let us in, but she had an idea. She came back with some Sundial plastic cups and some branded napkins. She told us that’d have to do.

We tried to take a shortcut to the hotel elevators, but the doors from the staircase were locked going into the hotel hallways. So Stacy and I had to go back down all 70 flights of stairs, then get in the car and head back to school. We actually made it right as the class bell was ringing.

Our compadres did not believe we had made it until we showed them the cups and napkins. We lied, of course, claiming lunch was pricey but good. We were hungry, but not about to tell.

So I have the fairly unique distinction of having run up, and down, 70 floors of the Peachtree Plaza Hotel. I don’t recommend it unless you are really young. And stupid.

Kelly Burke was born in Knoxville where he spent his younger years, followed by high school years in Atlanta where he graduated from Georgia Tech, and then graduated from Mercer Law School. He has been in private practice, a magistrate judge, and an elected district attorney. He writes about the law, politics, music, and Ireland. He and his wife enjoy gardening, playing with their Lagotto Ramanolo named George Harrison, and spending time with their grandchildren.