Ruth Lockhart Bean and Chamblee’s Musicland

Discover Ruth Bean and Musicland in Chamblee. This story is part of our series of Stories from the Archive Stacks. Please consider supporting the DHC Archives by donating here.

By Valerie Biggerstaff, DHC Board Member and author at Past Tense GA  

I wasn’t familiar with Musicland in Chamblee, but when Jennifer Blomqvist reached out to me in 2020 to see if I had history on the business, I wanted to learn more. DHC had received a collection of notes, photographs, and newspaper clippings from a former Musicland student who was currently living in Florida. 

I began by visiting the DHC archives to review the collection. A newspaper clipping titled “Atlanta Girl on Network” tells the story of Ruth Lockhart. She graduated from Girls High School in 1935, then entered the Ray Perkins National Amateur Hour singing competition in New York City. She won the contest and went on to sing for a week at The French Casino on Broadway. 

Lockhart was a singer and radio personality for WSB radio in Atlanta for nine years. She played ukulele and guitar. In 1935, she sang “Home on the Range” for President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Warm Springs, Georgia, and was later invited to visit him in Washington, D.C.

Young Ruth Bean, early 1930s. Ruth Bean/Musicland Collection, DeKalb History Center.

Ruth was born in 1917 in Atlanta to Oscar and Nelle Lockhart. Her family operated Lockhart’s Pharmacy, with two locations, Lakewood Heights and Grant Park. 

In 1936, Lockhart married Albert M. Bean. Albert and Ruth lived in her parents’ Chamblee home in the 1940s and a Chamblee location of Lockhart’s Drug Store was opened. Albert Bean worked for an oil company while Ruth’s father, uncle, and a lodger named Mr. Gorley operated the drug store. 

Home at 4630 Chamblee Dunwoody Road where Ruth’s parents lived. Ruth and Al Bean moved in after their wedding in 1936. The house has been demolished. Ruth Bean/Musicland Collection, DeKalb History Center.

The store later became Gorley-Lockhart drug store and was located at 5370 Peachtree Road in downtown Chamblee. This historic building was recently home to Eugenia’s Antique Hardware and today houses Antiguo Lobo Restaurant and Personify Shop.

Ruth Lockhart Bean stopped her music career after she married, but continued to love music. In the 1960s she returned to work, opening Musicland with the help of her husband and parents. She taught ukulele and guitar.

Lockhart Drugs in Chamblee on Peachtree Road. Ruth Bean Collection.

After I wrote about Musicland for the Dunwoody Crier newspaper, a few readers contacted me to share their own memories of Ruth Lockhart Bean and Musicland. They recalled her beautiful voice, the experience of Bean as a ukulele teacher, and her kindness and love for others.

Bean began playing ukulele at age six. She said music brought joy to her as a child and in her adult life. The Bean family formed a group of ukulele students from Musicland to perform for local clubs, civic organizations, and student groups. 

Ruth and Al Bean later moved to Sebring, Florida and continued to teach music to children at their new Musicland location. Ruth passed away April 11, 2000. 

You can read more here.

Ruth Bean with students. Ruth Bean/Musicland Collection, DeKalb History Center.

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