One of the oldest businesses in Savanah is as though you mixed the two televisions show Twin Peaks and Cheers. It started in 1883 when Simon Bradley arrived via steamboat to Savannah with forty cents in his pocket. He noticed how everyone seemed to be carrying keys and he knew that making keys would be a profitable way to make a living. So he signed up with another key master and learned the trade and then started his own business which has survived as a family-owned business until this very day.
When his son Aaron married, he handed over the business and worked around the place for basically free. Aaron continued to sharpen scissors and pinking shears, repair guns and duplicate the silver and bone handles of umbrellas.  He was once quoted as saying ''We have every key but whiskey.'' Such puns would become a staple of the business.
It has been said that Aaron was attracted to the occult and was a talented hypnotist who performed with Harry Houdini on occasion. He even had séances performed at the business for the general public. Because Houdini was such a good friend he named his son William Houdini Bradley. He even had a picture of Harry Houdini and a wife hanging in his office.
William Harry Houdini was the one who, in 1967, moved the business to its current location. It is in a home that was built in 1885. He is also the one who is primarily responsible the ‘interior design’ which is full of antique keys even in the concrete at your feet and the many signs and curiosities that have been gathered by the family and him over the years. He would also increase the family fortune with a tool that could open bank lockboxes. Bank boxes were designed to be difficult to break into which became a problem when a customer lost a key.  The banks would have to wait for someone from the manufacturer to come and use a drill to break into the box in a matter of hours. The whole process would take days.
It started when ‘Dini’ who was sitting in a dentist chair with his mouth open as a dentist pulled off a crown.  He stopped his dentist "Let me see that tool," "Dini" mumbled. He had a found a solution to a problem that was in the back of his head for some time: how to open a bank box easier. Back at his workbench he configured a tool to open the bank boxes inspired by the dentist tool the dentist was using. He then went to a bank to see if it would actually work. He opened the bank box in 60 seconds.
His teenage son, Paul, who had come along to watch and had been soaked in the life of machines and key making all his life, stated "You need to sell that," Paul said. "I don't have time," his father answered, "I just wanted to make my life easier."  "Can I sell it?" the entrepreneurial Paul asked. His father must have agreed because he invented a tool useable for all to open bank boxes. This invention made the family a few dollars.
Today the store and its laid-back nature is a Savannah staple. Signs with their famous knack for puns are found throughout “We fix anything but a broken heart,'' and ''We sharpen anything but your wits,'' reads another. They can make keys even out of nothing. "We have $2 keys, but the average is about $1,” said George Seckinger, who has worked at Bradley's since 1975. “Mr. Bradley and myself been known to make them out of drill bits and pieces of metal because some of the older locks. You can't get the key blanks for anymore.”
It is also a place that ghost hunters of the professional nature say is one of the most haunted in America. Ghost hunters have measured many paranormal events, which makes sense in a place that has antique objects hanging all around and looks more out of a Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley shop than a real shop.  
The store now has become a gathering place for eccentrics and others who like a comfortable place to be and to be known. Stories are told about keys and objects that hang from everywhere. It is also a grand place to get a key made. But don’t be upset if it takes a wee bit longer than you want it to. After all that is Savannah time and there is nothing wrong with that.

It is a wonder when a company survives a lifetime but when a company is about to enter a fifth generation it is an elite company. That would be the description of the Byrd Cookie Company founded in 1924 and still going strong. Ninety-three years ago Ben T. Byrd, Sr. began baking cookies in Savannah. He would pack them in wood crates and deliver them to markets across Savannah in a Model T Ford truck. People of Savannah and visitors would see him and his cookies coming and would stop and have a taste of what became called “Byrd’s Famous Cookies”.
The business grew and Byrd’s son BT Byrd, Jr took over from his father. Byrd Jr. would earn his nickname “Cookie Byrd” as he took the company to a new level. He started the practice of packing in what would become the signature packaging in tins. Then came the Benne Wafer and the Benne Seed and the business began to ship all over the Unite States.
When it came time for Byrd Jr. to pass the business on it went to his daughter and son-in- law Kay and Benny Curl. The company continued to grow and they were responsible for the company’s all-time best seller and my favorite: Key Lime Coolers. Nothing says Savannah like Key Lime. Its fame, besides being the best seller, won the Dessert of the Year Award at the NASFT Fancy Food Show.
Benny Curl was named by Southern Living Magazine “Outstanding Southerner”. He was also inducted into the Specialty Food Association’s Hall of Fame for his service in the industry.
Today under Stephanie Lindley’s (fourth generation) leadership the company makes 58,000 cookies an hour or 143 million cookies a year. That is a mountain of cookies made at their warehouse on Waters Avenue. They supply a wide range of major retailers with their delights including LL Bean, Bergdorf Goodman and Delta Airlines. The company also creates private label items for companies including Neiman-Marcus, Ritz-Carlton and Cumberland Farms. International sales are in six continents. They have even received the kosher seal of approval from the largest kosher certification agency.
But never being satisfied with a Byrd in hand, the company is currently undergoing a four million dollar expansion. They are preparing for increased sales and the future. Jamie Lindley, the fifth generation, has graduated from the University of Georgia with a business degree. He has also worked in every department in the company as he prepares to become the CEO. You University of Georgia football fans might recognize him. He is a former UGA kicker where he did not miss an extra point.
 
So people line up for the Famous Byrd Cookie Companies offerings of Scotch Oatmeal, Key Lime Coolers, Ginger Snaps, Lemon & Butter, Peach, Chocolate and Chocolate Chip and the list goes on. And that (wait for it) is the way the cookie crumbles for five generations and ninety-three years.

A city is no greater than its people and the businesses, arts, and creativity that spring from them. Every city has businesses that have existed for decades and even centuries that help them define themselves. Savannah has been specifically defined by its food businesses. Names such as Gottlieb’s Bakery, Byrd Cookie Company, Mrs. Wilkes, and others can make a Savannahian go all nostalgic. But today probably one of Savannah’s oldest and most recognized businesses has been around since 1919.
Leopold’s Ice Cream was founded that year by three Greek brothers fresh from Greece. They were George, Peter, and Basil Leopold. They went under the tutelage of an uncle who had already established himself in America, created their secret formulas and started a business that today has been called by the Toronto News one of the ten best ice cream parlors in the world.
Johnny Mercer, a native of Savannah and famed lyricist who penned Savannah’s theme song Moon River, worked there as a boy. In fact he grew up only a block away from the original shop. He once told Peter Leopold he would write a song about the flavor ice cream Tutti Frutti. Unfortunately, Little Richard would write the song Tutti Frutti about something else. Mercer was said to have visited Leopold’s every time he returned from Hollywood.
Peter’s son Stratton Leopold took over the business after his father died. Stratton would catch the Hollywood bug and move there. The establishment closed the doors and Stratton Leopold stored his family’s legacy of iron chairs and marble topped tables, and the long black marble counter for 35 years.
Stratton would become a major film producer. He produced such films as the Big Chill, Mission Impossible 3, The General’s Daughter and many other movies. But Stratton never forgot his hometown and the business he left behind. In the summer of 2004 Stratton and his wife opened the new Leopold Ice Cream Shop on Broughton Street in downtown Savannah. He brought with him the countertops and all the former store’s furnishings he had so diligently stored. He also more importantly brought back all the recipes the three Greek brothers had concocted those many years ago. And if that is not enough to get you in the doors he filled the store with posters and movie props from his time in Hollywood.
He brought his Hollywood cohort Dan Lomino, a nominated Academy Award designer, to give the store a circa 1935 diner vibe. The store has a free ice cream festival once a year to celebrate its anniversary and on July 4th has children recite the pledge of allegiance and receive a free scoop of Leopold’s ice cream.
Leopold’s has captured the hearts and taste buds of Savannah and even the world. So if you are ever in Savannah go to Leopold’s Ice Cream Shop and order a scoop of ice cream and who knows it may be served up by a famous Hollywood producer.

Fore! Yes you guessed it: Savannah has a historic golf history. Savannah had the first golf game in America. We have the oldest golf club. The Savannah Golf Club was started in 1794 and later incorporated in 1899. The golf club’s current course was designed by prolific designer Donald J. Ross in 1927. Ross, between 1900-1948, would design over 400 courses. Ross was a founding member and first president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977. One of the challenges with the Savannah Golf Club design was the Confederate line of fortifications that ran across the property. He incorporated the fortifications into the design to preserve their history. This course and club still exist on President Street.

Savannah also hosted the Legends of Golf Tournament for eleven years between 2002-2013 on Hutchinson Island. Golf legends Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player among others played at the Westin Harbor Golf Course during these years. Today the tournament is held in another city and called the Bass Pro Hops Legends of Golf in Big Cedar.

One of the golfers who played in the tournament was Savannah native Gene Sauers. Sauers’ storied career consisted of three wins on the PGA tour. He had four dozen top ten finishes in PGA Tour events. He also won the U.S. Senior Open in 2016.

But let us not leave the ladies out: another Savannah native Hollis Stacy is considered one of the greats of the LPGA. Stacy won four major championships and 18 LPGA Tour events in a career that started in 1974. She was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in November 2011. She was also a remarkably great amateur player too. Stacy won the U.S. Girls' Junior three consecutive times, the only player to accomplish this feat, in 1969, 1970, and 1971. In 1970, she won the North and South Women's Amateur at Pinehurst, and played for the 1972 United States Curtis Cup team.

Currently, on the PGA tour is one of the new generation of golfers, Brian Harman, who is also a Savannah native. Brian was a three-time, 2nd Team All-American on the University of Georgia golf team. He saw tremendous success as a collegiate golfer, winning the 2005 NCAA Preview and the 2006 Isleworth Invitational. He also won the US Junior Amateur in 2003, as well as the Players Amateur in 2005, and the Porter Cup in 2007. His impressive collegiate and amateur resumes earned him a spot on the victorious 2005 and 2009 Walker Cup Teams.

He is in his sixth full season on the PGA Tour. He has already had two PGA Tour wins at the 2014 John Deere Classic and the Wells Fargo Championship held at Eagle Point Golf Club. In 2015, Harman held the 54 hole lead at the Travelers Championship, but would miss the playoff, won by Bubba Watson, by one stroke and finished in solo third. 

Savannah has also been the setting for the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance; it is a 2000 sports drama film directed by Robert Redford. The movie stars Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron. The film also served as the last movie for Jack Lemmon who died shortly after its premiere.
So while Savannah has every right to say ‘Land Ahoy!,’ we also have a unique right to say Fore!