So. A recent phone interview put me in touch with one Lauretta Hannon, aka the Cracker Queen.
Southern Living recently dubbed her the funniest woman in Georgia.
In our conversation, we lamented the slow but steady loss of lunch counters. The places where you can have and help create community. Unlike the family dinner table or church (if that applies), the lunch counter/diner is where you might learn the daily news; and share tales (tall or otherwise) from your own life, all the while enjoying the fare. (I'm also thinking of places that serve breakfast. It's not just a lunch thing.)
Mostly I blame the chain places that have knocked out the Mom and Pop's. Efficiency and largesse have replaced intimacy and charm.
Thankfully we still have a few of these where I live but they're definitely smaller in number than just 20 years ago.
What are some of your favorites? What makes them so?
2 comments:
Some of my favorites in Georgia are Valley Pharmacy in Dillard and Clayton Pharmacy in Clayton. For me it's also the sensory experience: the smell you get when food mingles with the aromas of vitamins, lotions, and medicines. The cool feel of the counter on your arms. The sound of the locals swapping tales. There was a counter in Cleveland, GA, that is now gone, but they used to keep a police scanner on. It was great fun to listen to the activity on the scanner.
A cafe with a scanner--how cool is that??
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