Some places we remember
for the atmosphere, other places it was for the food, and perhaps a
good memory of sitting around the table eating and enjoying good
company with friends, such as one of mine. It was at the Coffee Shop
on Main Street, when Bill and Kory Wheeler were owners. Two regulars
at our table were Orman Hunt and Ozella Bailey, they are both gone
now, but the good times around the Coffee Shop round table remain
with me always.
The 88 Dip is the only
eating place that is still operating today under the same name it
started with back in 1952, most locations are even gone, but they are still part
of our past collective culinary memory.
The Sunrise Cafe' was
located on N. Main Street behind where the Western Auto Store was and
now the Marion Fire Department is there.
This restaurant had several
owners and from what people have told me each had their own eating
place personality. Guy and Edith Drennan owned it and their blue
plate specials were very popular with the community. Mr. Drennan
like to hire local girls to work in the restaurant so they would have
a job.
Another
owner of the cafe' was the Baker family, I was told they turned the
eating place into cafeteria style. Still remembered and talked about
today as a popular place to eat and gather.
***
Lots of people have
memories of the tiny eating place known all these years as the "Hole
In The Wall." It was located in a small room behind the Farmers Bank,
close to where the steps are on W. Carlisle St.. The area now is part
of the expanded Farmers Bank. It had only one small booth and a few
stools at a counter, but was big on its reputation for good
hamburgers and short orders. Owned by Dewey and Sylvia McDowell. Mr.
McDowell ran a taxi cab that was located across the street from the
restaurant. Besides her regular customers, Sylvia would fix box
lunches for some of the local miners.
***
Another place around the
court house square that is talked about was Gene Beard's grocery
store located in the area of the former Alan Stout office. His lunch
counter food is still talked about today. A lot of county people
that came to town on Saturday's to do their weekly shopping always
loved to eat there. When Gene moved his store to the later location
on 641 South where state offices are located now, his lunch counter
was still a popular place to eat. It seems two of his lady cooks
couldn't get along so he just stopped that by closing the eating area
and turned it into the produce department. The good food in the
small area was missed daily by faithful patrons.
One cannot think of
eating places in Marion without the Marion Cafe and Cap and Edith
Cline being at the top of the list. The Clines first entered the
business in September of 1945 as partners with Boyce Belt. At that
time, the menu consisted mainly of ice cream and sandwiches.
Through the years they
worked with several partners in the business, not taking sole
ownership until 1957. As the years pasted the menu was expanded and
the business grew until it became known throughout western Kentucky
as one of the area’s outstanding eating establishments.
The day’s work for Cap
began about 4 a.m. each morning as he prepared a portion of the food
for the day along with donuts for the hungry breakfast group which
began arriving at the 5:45 opening hours.
At about 11 a.m. Mrs.
Cline would arrive to assist with the plate lunches for the noon
crowd. She would remain until around 9 p.m. that evening, serving
everything from charbroiled steaks to deep fried oysters. So many
memories surround the name of the Marion Cafe' and have carried down
through several generations. The Botanical Flower and Gift Shop is
located in this building today.
***
Rohrer and Johnson's Drive-In on Gum
Street was another well remembered and popular place to eat. The
menu was well-rounded with plate orders and short orders and fountain
service. Rohrer & Johnson first opened the Drive-In restaurant
in 1950.
Later this was a favorite place for the high school crowd to
gather in the 1960's and find out who was dating who.
They had car
hop service, where several local high school girls would find work.
Lots of good memories here.
The popular place was last a coin
operated laundry and a few weeks ago (June 2019) this old building was torn down. Nothing there now to remind us of those good times spent there all those years ago.
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