Faces of Hall County: Audrey Duke and Connor Smith, City Park Pizza

Question: Please tell us about your family.

Audrey: “I am the youngest of four daughters. My family and I grew up in Pendergrass, so I’m a little local to this area. I went to Jackson County High School.”

Connor: “My dad is actually a UNG graduate from North Georgia, and my grandparents used to live in Gainesville. My mom lives down in Augusta. I’ve only lived in Gainesville since 2019, but I’ve been coming here my whole life. I went to Evans High School in Augusta.”

Q: What do you do for a living, and what do you like most about it?  

A: “I’m the general manager of City Park Pizza. I would say my favorite part is getting to meet new people every day. Every day is different, which keeps things exciting and fun. 

C: “I’m the kitchen manager at City Park Pizza, and I love cooking pizza. I worked as a welder for three years, but I left that job to come back and run this restaurant. I just really enjoy cooking.”

Q: What advice would you give to others? Or, if you could go back and talk to your younger self, what would you say?

A: “I would say, don’t go to college until you know what you want to do and do what makes you happy.”

C: “She stole my answer. To my younger self, I would say: as a young person, it’s easy to get wrapped up in what everybody else thinks or wants you to do. Try to focus instead on what you believe will bring you joy and fulfillment in the future, rather than worrying about whether others think what you’re doing is the right thing.”

Q: Where do y’all see yourselves in five to ten years?

A: “Hopefully, I can make this restaurant very successful and eventually buy into it. That’s our goal.”

C: “I hope that one day we own our own pizza place. I have a dream of one day having a little shack where we serve late-night pizzas, just a small, cozy place.”

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

A: “I haven’t traveled much, so I would probably go anywhere in Europe. I have family in Scotland, so I would probably start there.”

C: “Korea. I love Korean food and their culture, and I’ve just always wanted to go. I haven’t been anywhere that far east before.”

Q: What has been the most beautiful place you’ve been to?

A: “I went to Oregon a couple of years ago, and it was beautiful. We also went to Seattle, and I got to see the coast and all the beautiful scenery out there. It was really pretty.”

C: “When I was 18, I went to Austria, and we went snowboarding and skiing in the Alps. Driving through the mountains and seeing the towns felt like something out of a movie. You don’t realize how beautiful it is until you see it in person.”

Q: “If you could choose anyone to have lunch with – someone who isn’t a relative and is alive today – who would it be, and where would you go?

A: “I’m going to go with Hayley Williams from Paramore because she just released a solo album, and it’s really good. But there are a lot of breakup songs on it, and I want to know if Paramore is going to break up or not. So, I would invite her here to interrogate her about the future of Paramore.”

C: “I think it would be cool to have lunch with someone like Samuel L. Jackson, just because I feel like it would be a very entertaining lunch. I’ve never really met anybody famous before, so it would be exciting.”

Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in the community?

A: “My favorites? City Park Pizza is number one. I also really like Pure Pho & Grill, it’s off Dawsonville Highway, and it’s really yummy. I love Pho a lot. There’s also a place called Eat at Thai, that’s where we go for many of our anniversary dates. It’s a little hole-in-the-wall Thai place, but it’s so good, and they have the best Thai tea.”

C: “I eat at Greens almost every other day. I usually get their chicken and whatever else they have ready. I would also say Alpha Gyro is probably one of my favorite places in town because you can’t really find a lot of authentic European food around here.”

Q: How long have y’all lived or worked in the community?

A: “I started working in Gainesville in 2018. I was a student at UNG Oakwood at the time, and this Sliced location opened. There had already been a Sliced in Jackson County, so I knew some people who worked there, and they needed staff for this location. I helped open Sliced here, and then I think I moved to Gainesville in 2020.”

Q: Who would y’all like to nominate for our next interview? Someone with a happy, positive attitude.

A: “Melissa, our assistant general manager.”

Q: What current or former local business makes you feel nostalgic about the community?

A: “I would probably say Inman Perk. I grew up coming to Gainesville a lot because my dad played music there. He worked a lot in Gainesville, and we would always go to Inman Perk to get ice cream, this was before I drank coffee. So when I first started coming to Gainesville, that’s where I would go to get coffee, because I thought, ‘Oh, this is where my dad used to take me to get ice cream.'”

C: “As a kid, when I would come visit my grandpa, we would always go to the Outdoor Depot. It’s on Pearl Next Parkway. My grandpa would take me there for fishing supplies, and then we’ would go to the movie theater right there at the mall. So when I moved here and saw that the movie theater was gone, it really broke my heart. I was pretty upset about it.”

Q: What’s your favorite thing, or something unique, about our community?

A: “I like that even though it’s a smaller town, we have a decent-sized music scene. With Black Strap opening, it’s not just country anymore. I feel like Gainesville is broadening its music scene. We’ve got the Boot Barn Hall now, and all that.”

C: “I would say I love the lake community feel of it. You meet a lot of different people from many walks of life in Gainesville, partly because we’re so close to Atlanta and people are drawn to the lake. There’s a lot of opportunity to meet different people and experience new things. The mountains are right there, and Atlanta’s in the other direction.”

Q: What’s your favorite movie or TV show?

A: “My favorite TV show is ‘New Girl.’ I’ve seen it all the way through and probably watch it in its entirety at least three times a year. As for movies, this one’s just on my mind because it’s starting to feel like fall. We’ve been watching scary movies, and one I love is ‘Donnie Darko’ with Jake Gyllenhaal. It has a weird cult following, and it’s a movie that doesn’t entirely make sense, but it’s great.”

C: “My favorite TV show is ‘Adventure Time.’ I watched it when I was a teenager, and then as I got older, I watched it as an adult. There’s just a lot of good messages in that show. My favorite movie growing up was ‘Gladiator’ with Russell Crowe, so I was somewhat disappointed with the second one recently.”

Q: What’s something interesting about yourself that even your friends and family might not know?

A: “I can sing, but I will never do it, so never ask! It runs in my family. No karaoke nights for me; I always sit out.”

C: “I was ranked in the top 100 in the world at Halo 2 for a couple of weeks.”

Q: What’s something y’all would rate a 10 out of 10 every time?

A: “Hearing people talk about something they’re passionate about. Even if you don’t know what they’re talking about, you can see it in the way they talk about it. That’s a good 10 out of 10 moment.”

C: “Live metal music, going to Black Strap or Masquerade in Atlanta.”

Q: What’s your go-to band when you can’t decide what to listen to?

A: “Recently, it’s just been Paramore.”

C: “Four Year Strong.”

Q: If a movie or series were made about your life, who would play you?

A: “I’m just thinking of every brunette actress I’ve ever seen. I’m going to go with Zooey Deschanel. She obviously has different colored eyes than me, but, like I was talking about New Girl earlier, she’s a brunette.”

C: “I’m going to go with Michael Cera because he always seems a little awkward, and I can relate to that.”

Q: If you had one extra hour in your day, how would you use it if it were just for yourself?

A: “We actually practice this thing we call ‘taking back time.’ We justify staying up late by saying we’re taking back our time. Like, we work all day, so if we’ve worked 12 hours, that means we can go to bed at 2 a.m. because we need to take back our time. But I would say I usually spend that hour scrolling on my phone, which I wouldn’t really want to do. I’d would rather go play pickleball.”

C: “Disc golf, for sure. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s much cheaper and easier than regular golf.”

Q: What’s something on your bucket list?

A: “I just want to travel in general. Other than going to Oregon a couple of summers ago, I haven’t been anywhere outside the Southeast. So I would like to travel to Europe.”

C: “I want to go to Alaska and see the northern lights in the sky, without all the light pollution, and just take it all in. It seems really beautiful.”

Q: What’s your favorite month? Your favorite holiday? And the absolute best day of the year?

A: “Favorite month? April. Favorite holiday? Halloween. And the absolute best day of the year? April 2nd, it’s my birthday.”

C: “Favorite month? November. Favorite holiday? Halloween. And the absolute best day of the year? October 31st, Halloween.”

Q: What are three words that come to mind when you think of home?

A: “Family, comfort, and stability.”

C: “Cats, food, and sleep.”