Since 1989, I’ve been walking past stored cardboard boxes,
trying to decide: “Is this procrastination or hoarding?” Maybe it’s a little of
both. There’s excess space in the Lavonia warehouse, so I prefer to call it
“out of sight, out of mind.”
But last week, I
cracked open a couple dusty boxes of the magazines. Thumbing through some
editions from the 1970s and 1980s, I wondered what to do with these copies of Brown’s Guide to Georgia.
For whatever
reason, the previous owner of our company bought all un-circulated editions of
the popular travel guide. Over the years, I’ve been tempted to haul the
mini-mountain of magazines to the recycling center. And then nostalgia genes
cloud my thinking. Do we have a stockpile of treasures, or do we have a cargo
van of trash?
Best I can tell, Brown’s Guide died and was later revived
on the internet, only to die again. If I am wrong, please correct me.
I am right about
this: “I have a dilemma.”
Here’s an example
of why I can’t hurl the inventory during this year’s spring cleaning.
As I leafed
through a November/December 1976 edition, I skidded to a stop on page 96. The
heading was “Places and Pleasures.” I
had dined at four of the five featured establishments: Ray’s Mill Pond (Ray
City), Southern Cafeteria (Vidalia), Reedy Creek Cabin Restaurant (K’ville) and
Paloma Court (Nahunta.) I had not been to Big Jim’s in Enigma, east of Tifton.
Longtime Southeast
Georgia residents will remember the excitement the Jones family (Clifford,
Nina, Gene and Dorothy) stirred when opening their quaint eatery on the western
edge of Wayne County. Reedy Creek proved good food will pull hungry folks over
the miles.
That’s why the Paloma Court flourished in
Nahunta, too. Nelio Porcile’s motel restaurant was a culinary adventure in our
rural landscape.
Here’s how Brown’s Guide introduced its readers to
Neilo’s:
“He runs the
strangest restaurant we’ve ever been to anywhere. If you call ahead, you can
order a mammoth four-course dinner for $5.50 that includes food from many
countries and in several styles, none of which resemble the dishes of the same
name you may have tasted elsewhere … .
“… The décor is
similarly eclectic—a mélange of items from the New and Old Worlds, and the
spelling on the menu is a whimsical delight. … Eating here is both a
stomach-stuffing adventure and a bargain.”
During its
operation, we enjoyed taking out-of-town guests to Neilo’s. One night, I asked
our server about the dessert. “Well, they
call it Baked Alaska,” she said,
“but it’s really ice cream with likker
poured on it and set on ‘far’.”
You can’t make up
memories like that.
And you can’t make
up literary “desserts,” a la old copies of Brown’s
Guide to Georgia, either. That’s why I can’t “set on ‘far’” all these editions.
Do we have a stash
of treasure or trash?
You tell me.
dnesmith@cninewspapers.com
