Big Apple Restaurant (Asheville, NC, 1957-1991)

The Big Apple Restaurant existed at 573 Swannanoa River Road in Asheville, North Carolina, from 1957 to 1991. From 1957 until about 1963, it was called the Big Apple Drive-In. The “Big Apple” name is not explained, but it followed the national 1937 “Big Apple” dance craze and many other restaurants named “Big Apple.”
   
   
Newspapers.com
11 June 1957, Asheville (NC) Citizen, pg. 12, col. 6 ad:
BIG “E”
for the BIG APPLE!
Sizzle and savor are the buy-words at the Big Apple, a new Drive-In Restaurant on Old Black Mountain Highway. And the owner’s handy helper is the BIG “E”...Electricity!
(Carolina Power & Light Company.—ed.)
 
Newspapers.com
25 December 1962, Asheville (NC) Citizen, pg. 50, col. 1 ad:
BIG APPLE DRIVE INN
573 Swannanoa Road   AL 2-6488
   
Newspapers.com
21 March 1965, Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times, Honor Roll sec., pg. 2, col. 4:
1957—EIGHT YEARS—1965
BIG APPLE RESTAURANT
“Where friends meet to eat”
573 Swannanoa Road 252-6488
 
Newspapers.com
23 December 1966, Asheville (NC) Citizen, pg. 19, col. 7 ad:
TURKEY AND HAM DINNERS
Big Apple Restaurant
573 Swannanoa River Road
 
Newspapers.com
7 May 1967, Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times, pg. 8D, col. 1 classified ad:
WANTED experienced waitress, for the Big Apple Drive In. For information call 252-7433.
 
Newspapers.com
10 April 1991, Asheville (NC) Citizen, “Crime Reports,” East Neighbors, pg. 10, col. 3:
Burglary reported by Big Apple at 573 Swannanoa River Road.
 
Newspapers.com
23 June 1991, Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times, pg. 7C, col. 3 ad:
Big Apple Restaurant
573 Swannanoa River Road
Asheville, N.C.
7 AM-8 PM Mon-Sat
298-6375
Good Home Cooking for the Family
 
Newspapers.com
23 May 1994, Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times, “Deaths/Funerals,” pg. 4B, col. 4:
ELIZABETH HENSLEY
Elizabeth Haynes Hensley, 72, of 573 Swannanoa River Road, died Saturday, May 21, 1994.
 
She was a native of Rutherford County and a resident of Buncombe County most of her life. She owned the Big Apple and Beachwood Restaurants along with Hensley’s Produce in Asheville.
 
Newspapers.com
24 August 2009, Charlotte (NC) Observer, pg. 5B, col. 3:
Constantine
George Koutris
“Gus”
ASHEVILLE—Mr. Koutris, 72, of Candler, NC, died August 23, 2009, at the Dickson Hospice House un Huntersville, NC, battling with Parkinson’s Disease.
(...)
He opened his first restaurant, the Big Apple, on Swannanoa River Rd., in Asheville, NC, ...