Surge in neighborhood’s popularity continues as sense of community draws new residents
Native Knoxvillian Gary Koontz has been ordering the same meal at Rankin Restaurant on North Central Street since the early 1960s. He remembers well growing up in North Knoxville’s Oakwood-Lincoln Park neighborhood, attending Christenberry Junior High and Fulton High School. And he remembers eating at the diner.
Gary, a realtor with Realty Executives, still drops in from time to time at Rankin’s, a North Knoxville staple since 1953. On Rankin’s Facebook page the diner is described as “the oldest operating restaurant in Knoxville.” The restaurant is not far from The Original Freezo, another retro restaurant in the neighborhood. It opened in 1942 and is the home of a great swirled soft-serve cone.