The wallet was "chock full of history," Escobar said
Concealed behind a bathroom wall at the Plaza Theatre, untouched for decades, were treasures such as a raffle ticket for a 1959 Chevrolet, credit cards lacking a magnetic strip, and black-and-white family photos. This hidden space was discovered by contractors 65 years later during renovations when a wall crumbled.
Beneath a layer of dust, within what used to be a closet, rested a preserved burgundy wallet, frozen in time. Plaza Theatre owner Chris Escobar was determined to return the wallet to the family.
"It was a portal back in time," Mr Escobar told CNN. "And then realizing that this has been missing from this family of real people who lived in this neighbourhood for 65 years, imagine if we could find them."
The Plaza Theatre, Atlanta's oldest cinema and a significant cultural landmark houses a variety of vintage items. According to Escobar, they've come across antique popcorn displays adorned with marquee letters and bottles of spirits that have gone out of fashion. However, discovering this wallet, unseen for fifty years, carried a distinct sense of significance.
The wallet was "chock full of history," Escobar said, giving him a good starting point to find its owner's family.
The wallet's owner was identified as Floy Culbreth, as indicated by a license found inside. However, Escobar encountered an initial challenge - during that period, women were often identified by their husbands' names. Consequently, searching for "Culbreth" yielded limited results.
To solve this, Escobar enlisted the help of his wife, Nicole, whom he affectionately calls an "internet sleuth," to locate the wallet's owner. Nicole successfully uncovered Roy Culbreth's obituary, revealing Floy's husband. This discovery led them on a journey through the Culbreth family's lineage, eventually leading to a website for the Culbreth Cup, a charity golf tournament benefiting a cerebral palsy nonprofit organized by the family. Through this, they were able to trace the family line to Floy Culbreth's daughter, Thea Chamberlain.
"I already feel like it's a privilege to be able to watch over and operate this historic space," Escobar said. "But to hand back family history. That's such a gift."
Describing her mother, Ms Chamberlain said that she was as beautiful as Myrna Loy and had the personality of a "spicy June Cleaver." Mrs Culbreth was also involved in the community, teaching Sunday school and being involved in the garden club.
Ms Chamberlain found a few insurance cards and a doctor's appointment note. Now 71, she was only 6 years old when her mom lost the wallet.
"It was quite touching," Mrs Chamberlain said. "A flood of memories came back, and it kind of brought her back again."
"We had kids, grandkids and great-grandkids there with us," Escobar said. "So several generations of Culbreths were there to recover this lost piece of family history."