On Needham Street in Coleman a man named Hale Griffin owned a pit barbecue place.  You could not eat there he just cooked it for people to take with them.  He had a large brick pit.  He would place a ½ or ¼ cow on it or sometimes a pig on a spit or rod.  Underneath he would build a wood fire.  The spit was turned often on this low fire until it was done.  On rare instances my father would buy barbecue from him.  The story told to me was that when I was very young I had curly blond hair.  When I was about three years old my mother and father and me drove to Hale Griffin’s for some barbecue.  Mr. Griffin saw me and said “Uncle Charlie, (everyone in town called my dad Uncle Charlie) you have a fine looking young daughter with some pretty curly blonde hair.”  This might have been a perfect compliment had I been a girl.  The next day dad took me for my first haircut.  My hair since then has been neither blond nor curly.

No, I did NOT carry my brother on my back five miles through ten feet of snow to school.  We did always walk to school and to home for lunch and then back to school for the afternoon.  For the first eight years of my life we lived on Needham Street.  That was in the south part of town.  There were two grammar or elementary schools in town for whites.  One called South Ward School for those who lived on the south and east side of town and West ward School for those who lived on the north and west part of town.  These schools taught through the eighth grade.  There was one high school for whites.  The town was segregated.  There was also a school for Blacks and another for Mexicans.  The Blacks lived in a separate part of town and the Mexicans in another part.

When I was in first through part of third grade, as I said, we lived on Needham Street which was in the South ward School boundaries.  Our house was about 20 blocks from the school.  We walked to school in the morning, to home for lunch, then back to school and then back home after the end of the school day.  When I was eight we moved to Ninth street.  That was only about 15 blocks from South Ward.  Then when I was 10 we moved to Commercial Avenue.  That house was only 11 blocks from school.  Everybody walked.  After grammar school we went to the high school.  The high school was about 23 blocks from the house on Commercial.  My dad build a house on Fifth Street.  From that house to the high school was 19 blocks.  Once in a great while someone would have their parent’s car and many would pile in to it.  But for the most part everyone walked.

The kids in the country went to different grammar schools in the county.  When it came time for high school they attended the one in Coleman or one in the southern part of the county called Mozelle.

The only school buses were for those country kids.  Usually the bus driver was a high school senior.  The bus was kept at his home.

There was no cafeteria in the high school.  The only ones who could bring a lunch to school were the country kids.  The boys ate in the vocational agriculture room and the girls in the typing room.  Everyone one else was expected to go home for lunch.

There was no government school lunch program.

If a high school kid had a little money instead of going home for lunch they might go to the Owl Drug Store or Coulson’s Pharmacy.  Both of these had a soda fountain and served sandwiches.  Growing up I do not recall ever going to a restaurant or café.

A little geography seems to be appropriate here.  The main street in Coleman was a six lane street called Commercial Avenue.  At the north end of the street was the court house.  It ran for about three miles south but the developed area was about 20 blocks with Needham street on the south.  The street east of Commercial was Colorado Street and on the west was Concho street.  The main business section was only those three blocks wide and six blocks long.

There were several eating places in town.  Going south on Commercial from the courthouse in the first block on the east was Blackie Congers Café.  Blackie had stools at a counter.  On the same side in the third block and across the street from the Owl drug Store was Fatty Thames.  Fatty’s was a unique place.  There were two big windows facing the street.  In each window there was a grill opening.  He served mostly hamburgers cooked right open to the street.  Those were the best hamburgers I ever had.  In the next block on the opposite side of the street was the Manhattan Café.  The Manhattan had stools at the counter but also tables with real tablecloths.  That was really uptown.

The principle business district ended four blocks south of the courthouse at Walnut Street.  Between Commercial and Colorado facing Walnut was the Dixie Pig.  The Dixie Pig had a few booths inside but it mainly was a drive in place.  The waitresses were called carhops.  They carried food from the kitchen to cars on roller skates.  This too, was primarily a hamburger and hotdog place.  A similar place was the Village Grill located on Needham street between Commercial and Concho Streets.   Two blocks west of the Village Grill was the Silver Inn.  The Silver Inn had carhops also and a counter inside with about 15 stools.  It was in a silver colored railroad car that had been moved to that location.  There were two other eating places in town.  The White Rose Café was located just west of Commercial on the second street south of the courthouse.  None of these could really be called restaurants.  The cafes had what were called blue plate specials.  Some entrée was featured each day and served with vegetables all on one plate.

On the far north side of town on Neches Street was Grady Comedy’s.  This was another mostly hamburger place.  Grady ran the place all by himself.

All of these were segregated.  I do not know where Blacks or Mexicans ate.

I mention all these eating places but I do not ever remember being inside any of them until I was a teenager and in high school.  By that time I was working and had my own money to spend.

There was one other thing I must mention.  There was a Mexican named Felix.  Felix had a push cart he moved around town usually fairly close to the Owl Drug Store.  As he pushed it he would say “Hot and Cold.”  He sold homemade tamales and ice cream bars from his push cart.