Club Fantasy

Club Fantasy was listed in the Green Book as “Club Fantasy—603 E. Washington, Out for Fun–Good Food–Pleasant Atmosphere” in 1961.¹

Club Fantasy Restaurant was open at 603 E. Washington Street in High Point, NC for about a year. The restaurant offered meals to walk-in customers as well as event space and catering for larger groups. The business was owned by Mrs. Mary F. Wallace, who also offered furnished rooms in her home at 309 Taylor Street in 1960 and at 302 4th Street in 1961.²

Club Fantasy was located in the Williard Building at 603-605 Washington Street. The commercial building was constructed in 1949 by Coy W. Willard, a white businessman and developer. He maintained ownership of the building, which passed to his wife after his death and, after her death, to the couple’s son. The Williard building housed several businesses as well as the High Point Public Library. Club Fantasy closed in 1961. Gnato’s Children Clothing Center, Gnato’s Janitorial Services, and Gnato’s Enterprise, owned by Fletcher N. Walden, Jr., were all open at 603 E. Washington Street by 1963.³

The Williard Building is still standing and is part of the Washington Street National Historic District.⁴

Essay by Brandie Ragghianti, 2024

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1961 Green Book, 69.
2.  Hill’s 1958 High Point City Directory, classified listing, alphabetical listing; Hill’s 1959 High Point City Directory, classified listing, alphabetical listing; Hill’s 1962 High Point City Directory, classified listing, alphabetical listing; Coscolluela, Nicole, Malorey Henderson, and Claire Kempa, “North Carolina Green Books Historic Preservation Study Report: Beaufort, Bertie, Caldwell, Davidson, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Guilford, Iredell, Nash, Pasquotank, Pitt, Rowan, and Wilson Counties,” HI 587: Cultural Resource Management, North Carolina State University, Spring 2016; Hill’s 1960 High Point City Directory, classified listing, alphabetical listing, street listing; Hill’s 1961 High Point City Directory, classified listing, street listing, alphabetical listing.
3.  “603 Washington Street Property Card,” Guilford County Real Property Data, Guilford County Tax Department, http://taxcama.guilfordcountync.gov/camapwa/BuildingDetails.aspx?PARCEL…; Heather Fearnbach, “Washington Street Historic District,” National Register Nomination, North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, January 2010, https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/GF2290.pdf;  “HPOWEB: NCHPO GIS Service.” Accessed October 6, 2018. http://gis.ncdcr.gov/hpoweb/default.htm?center=-8905590,4295300&scale=4…; Glenn Chavis, “The Washington Street Branch was not the First Negro Library,” Greensboro News & Record, August 14, 2006, https://www.greensboro.com/news/general_assignment/the-washington-stree…;
4. Heather Fearnbach, “Washington Street Historic District,” National Register Nomination, North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, January 2010, https://www.ncdcr.gov/state-historic-preservation-office/nr/GF2290.pdf link is dead, obtained through Wayback Machine.