The Original Freezo – Knoxville, Tennessee
In 2024, I walked past The Original Freezo on N. Central St. in Knoxville for the first time. They were closed. And each time I’d passed by in the year between December 2024 and December 2025? Closed. I was beginning to think they were only open every third Tuesday between 1 and 2pm.
But wouldn’t you know it? On December 22, 2025, the planets aligned. I passed by while the Original Freezo was actually open. Incidentally, that was on a Monday, so my operating hours theory was debunked. I simply had to stop if only for scientific purposes.
Against my better sense I devolved into the 8-year-old version of myself and ate a hotdog and cheese fries at a concrete table behind the Freezo under the winter sky. Next to the foot of the bench were I sat, a crudely opened half-eaten can of peas laid looking jagged and sad. At the neighboring table, a discarded King James bible sat face up, staring up at the sky. A choice had clearly been made.
These imperfect places and experiences feel right, feel correct to me. I’m not overly impressed by sanitized perfection where the marrow of life gets sucked out. I’m a hotdog from a wax paper bag kind of girl, I guess. Perhaps because I can choose that from a plethora of options splayed out before me.
Long live Freezo.
You Might Also Like
Discussion about the oldest restaurant operating in Knoxville with a surprising suggestion:
