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Monday, June 15, 2009

THE SYLVA COFFEE SHOP 1929 - 2009



Most small southern towns have a place like The Coffee Shop - a cafe that has become a local landmark. I hopped curb here in 1950 when it had a wooden frame exterior and the juke box had both "Put Another Nickle in"(Theresa Brewer) and "A Fool Such As I" (Jim Reeves). At night, the parking lot was always full of WW II veterans in souped-up cars, Sylva was "wet" and life was good. Just up the street, the Ritz had just begun showing Sunday movies and I never missed a Cagney, Mitchum or Bogart. I got my salary docked every Sunday because I insisted on seeing the final fifteen minutes of the movie before I came to work for Cicero Bryson. I would stand in the back of the theater with the door open, and when the credits started sliding down the screen, I would run like hell.

Now, 60 years later, The Coffee Shop has morphed into a kind of nostalgia museum where you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner under the benevolent stares of multiple John Waynes, Clint Eastwoods, Dale Earhardts and The Three Stooges. There are tattered Confederate flags, Robert E. Lee and his generals, James Dean, Bogart, Elvis and Marilyn frolic in period shots of drive-in cafe parking lots and all-night restaurants (a parody of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks")- their images interspersed with vintage Coco-Cola signs, Uneeda Biscuits ads and hundreds of [personalized license plates (RAMB-FEV, BADABANG, NOTKNOWWN POISINUS), with every state (and Aruba) accounted for. Adversisements for fresh strawberry pie sit cheek to jowl with a seating section labeled "Police Officer Parking." A collection of vintage pop bottles (Sunspot, Grapette) mingle with potted plants and bird houses. Johnny Cash, a photo of the Brothers of the Bush (1950's Centennial) and a photo of Popcorn Sutton. the sheer magnitude of this display causes visitors to stand, mouth agape staring at the walls, while the constant clatter of spatulas, the sizzle of butter, bacon, hamburger, and the shouts of the "breakfast crew" mingles in a kind of grand, roaring symphony of sound, smells and color.

The majority of The Coffee Shop patrons are local. Elderly couples eat dinner here and the daily menu reflects local preferences: fried okra, cabbage, meatloaf, trout, slaw, potato salad. A significant number of Cherokees eat regularly, and there are the WCU college students who often stare about as they eat as though they had found themselves in an exotic, primitive village in Russia or Germany. But The Coffee Shop endures like a primal life form that simply acquires an additional layer of scales and armor: a protective coating of ... history and pop stars, Uneeda Biscuits and Coke - a shield that deflects "the changing world."

14 comments:

  1. Hey, Gary, Is this place located down at the end of the main street? It looks like where I had breakfast before the Sylva book fair a few years back. Terrific country cooking and ambiance!

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  2. Yes, Vicki, that is it. The bridge is next to it, where I used to drop the cheeseburgers into the Tuckaseigee River that Cicero dished out, but no one ordered. He made you pay for "mistakes" which were always your fault. The place is now run by Gary Gibson, one of my favorite people.

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  3. Gary,you ,me and Vicki need to eat dinner here sometime! That is my kind of place! :)

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  4. My favorite breakfast place in all the world! I always get the fried steak with gravy and just about anything else I can pile on my plate having to do with my favorite meal of the day.

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  5. Okay, Carol, let's do it. We could eat here during the Sylva Book Fair this fall when Vicki will be in town, and my play will be part of the Book Fair. Thursday is my favorite night: cabbage, okra, black-eyed peas and either stew beef or chicken and dumplings. Runs around $8.

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  6. Get me the dates on that?? Sounds like a plan!

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  7. I really liked this post, Gary. Such nostalgia gets to me and I want to eat at this place one day.

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  8. Carol, I'll see what I can find out. The City Lights Book Store in Sylva is the primary contact for the book fair. I just signed "a contract" for the affair, but I don't remember the date. Stay tuned. Glenda, eat breakfast and get a booth.

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  9. Gary,
    I haven't been there in years, but remember that the coffee was pretty good.

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  10. Well, I love the burned hashbrowns and bacon. On Thursday night, I love the okra, cabbage, pinto beans and cornbread muffins. Best of all I love a back booth where I can watch the action. This is no place for food snobs!

    Carol, the Book Fair is November 14th.

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  11. Gary,

    Can we eat here instead of LuLu's on 17 July? I think this is a better fit for the likes of you, me, Cheryl and Ludy. What time does the Sylva Coffee Shop close on Friday evenings?

    Judy

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  12. Gary,
    I don't know how to use this blog-thing. Excuse me while I learn...which will be to mess it up, learn how, forget what I learned, and have to start over...bear with me , please.

    Judy

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  13. Judy,
    Don't give up. We need you. Just got your email about preferring the Coffee Shop to LuLus for our proposed dinner date, and I mentioned the Ironstone Restaurant, which is filled with vintage photos of Sylva.

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  14. Gary,

    Okay, I'll persevere with this blog. I enjoy reading all the entries; I'm just not sure how to get my comments onto this blog-thing.

    And let's go to the Coffee Shop. I can hear that fried okra sizzling on the grill right now. Although I would like to go to the Ironstone, too, just to see the photo of your Dad. Think we can fit both of them in?

    Judy

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