[Alumni-chat] Antiochiana! -- The location of the "68 Cafe!":in Yell

Mon Sep 24 11:15:28 EDT 2007

Neal, Thanks for the updates.  I remember you, although I think you were keeping your superman uniform well hidden.

Jo's Star swept away--I missed the news of another tornadoe striking Xenia.  It is almost as tough to accept as the Oriental Pharmacy and lunch counter no longer in Milwaukee--but as they say nothing lasts forever.

So, Paul is still with us.  I would be glad to write him a letter--I doubt he will remember me but I certainly remember him.  He was like Thoreau or Jonny Appleseed.  I am glad to hear he is still of sound mind.  May he find in imagination what he no longer has in his legs.  There is more than one way to ramble. 

I am sure there have been many tears.  As I have said about Antioch--it is about place and it is about character.  Paul certainly embodied both--as have others.

Paul's tears remind me of an Andean shaman describing the melting glaciers which are changing the culture of his mountain village--in translation he said he went to the soul of the mountain and she told him it was dying.  The melting glaciers were her tears.  It is very sad to experience the loss or change of a place that has succored many people.
Paul's tears are like the soul of the mountain, crying.  

Have we been good stewards?  Have we walked the ground in a sacred manner?  Paul certainly did.  He walked lightly, humbly and he knew how to dance.  I seem to remember his gaze as always being on a far horizon despite his local presence--but perhaps it was just his solitary nature.

Good to hear your voice, Neal.  Thanks for caring for Paul in his declining years.
All the Best, 
Lesley

> Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 23:36:58 -0500
> To: alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu
> From: alumni-chat_forum at antiochians.org
> Subject: Re: [Alumni-chat] Antiochiana! -- The location of the "68 Cafe!":in	Yell
> 
> Gabby's Underground Restaurant died when Gabby did....however the little Blue House is still on Stafford Street....I would give anything for some of Gabby's chicken and fries...but most of all his coleslaw!
> 
> It's Nice to be Nice picnic no longer occurs at Ellis Pond....it sort of grew into the annual AACW Blues Festival as everyone who organized the Nice to be Nice picnic organize and volunteer to make the Blues Festival a success on the Antioch Campus....
> 
> Clean Gene no longer has a radio program but he does spin his tunes at Peach's Grill on Tues. and Wed. evenings and occassionally at the Dayton Street Gulch.  He is sure needed back on the air at WYSO.....(Peach's is located where the beer and wine drive through used to be on 68 next to HaHa Pizza.
> 
> Fireworks on the 4th of July and "YS Times Square" continue on......
> 
> The man who lived in the Vale and rode his bike or walked everywhere is Paul Ihrig.  He was famous for participating in the Red Square Folk Dances....Paul is now 94 yrs. old living outside of Yellow Springs near Young's diary....with Neal Crandall and Pam Davis.... almost totally bed bound...however his long term memory is fine...when he heard the news of Antioch College closing he cried.
> 
> A letter would definitely lift his spirits from any Antioch Alumni who remember him......Paul Ihrig
>                                                                                                                                       2779 W. Jackson Rd.
>                                                                                                                                       Springfield, Ohio 45502
> 
> Com's was converted to a home when the liquor license was taken away by voter's....
> 
> Jo's Star Diner was swept away by a tornado in 2001....and now a used car lot.....
> 
> 
> 
> >John:
> >
> >Thanks for your reminiscence.
> >
> >I do remember the lunch counter off the drugstore--although we never called it Erbaugh's.  (Did Erbaugh own the house across the street and proudly posted Mike Dewine for state senator and Ronald Reagan signs on his well tended lawn?) or was that a different owner?
> >
> >We called the lunch counter Dick and Tom's.   I liked to get a milk shake and a BLT after the am smoke settled a bit--or
> >else a scoop of chocalate ice cream in those stainless steel bowls to
> >keep it chilled.
> >
> >Does anyone know why it was called Dick and Tom's?
> >
> >It was the place all smokers went both townie and oldster professors.
> >I remember more than one young bohemian reading and smoking at the lunch counter.    One of my classmates made a film of the short order cook at work--a great homage to the place--De Sica could have done no better.  Those films were the last remnants of BFA/ film majors/ senior projects.
> >
> >It was the end of an era when Dick and Tom's shut down--I always wonder what happened to the old waitress who used to live in the apt upstairs--I think she wound up in a nursing home in Xenia.  I seem to remember her name was Dot--but my memory could be failing me.  Does anyone remember her?
> >
> >My all time favorite diner was down 68 in Xenia--It was Jo's Star Diner--with the big Star.  They had better home cooking and coffee than Dick and Tom's or any of the local YS joints.  There seemed to be more love and less smoke.  They also had country on the juke box before it had its renaissance.  I remember getting my first lesson in Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, and Tennessee Ernie Ford at Jo's Star diner.  I hope it is still there.  I loved those ladies and all their knick knacks--it was like my Great Auntie's house.
> >
> >I also remember Ye Olde Trail Tavern as more of a local bar hangout. It had a Thursday Night spaghetti special and Green Beer on St. Patrick's Day.  It also still had juke boxes at each of the booths--along with a big one so if you didn't like the public selection you could play your own at the booth. Antiochians were few and far between in 80's Ye Olde Trail--most went drinking at Com's.
> >
> >Does anyone remember Coms?  I have fond memories of dancing with old Russell (RIP--originally from Springfield) and looking at his IWW union card.  Russel knew how to Dance and keep the ladies laughing.
> >
> >Does anyone remember:
> >--Gabby's Underground Barbecue at his house?
> >--"It's Nice to be Nice" Community Picnic out at the Park?  Does that tradition last?  What was that Park called--not far from Dewine's estate and the duck pond/cemetary.
> >--Clean Gene's radio show and DJ ing?  Is Clean Gene still spinning the discs and shining the dance floor?
> >--The "Good News" thrift store? and Ott's Shop?
> >--Walt's Auto Wrecking when the barn was pink?
> >--Young's when it had no tables? no petting zoo or minature golf?
> >--The man who lived out in the Vale and walked everywhere well into his 80's.  What was his name and what happened to him?  Has the Vale community completely folded?
> >--Beyers Butter bars and expresso at the Little Art before there was a concession stand?
> >--The town tradition of fireworks at Gaunt Park (my most intimate experience of collective uhhs and ahhs--sitting on our little hill watching fireworks)  OR the town New Years "Time Square"  when everyone came downtown to watch the ball drop from the bank clock?  I think that stopped when the corporate banks came in and removed the clock sometime in the late 1980's.  Or else the digital clock was too short.
> >
> >
> >I have been reassured that they did not build Antioch McGregor on the farmland with the "Jesus Loves You" on the barn on the outskirts of town.  Fortunately some icons seem to have eternal life.
> >
> >Memories how they linger.
> >
> >Lesley A. Pownall Bahr
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:46:11 -0500
> >>To: alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu
> >>From: alumni-chat_forum at antiochians.org
> >>Subject: Re: [Alumni-chat] Antiochiana! -- The location of the "68 Cafe!":in	Yell
> >>
> >>I remember the 68 Grill firsthand — my father used to take me there to eat in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  I don't recall if it was frequented by tough truckers or not.  I do remember a light and airy eatery where I had cheeseburgers and milkshakes and cherry pie in a booth with my dad.  I distinctly remember the slice of pickle on the plate with the cheeseburger, although I don't eat pickles.  It gave me a lifelong love of highway diners, which had an ambiance that MacDonald's and Howard Johnson's were never able to capture.
> >>
> >>Another favorite place to eat was the lunch counter attached to Erbaugh's Drug Store.  You could eat in a booth or sit on a stool at the counter.  Same fare as the 68 Grill — cheeseburgers, milkshakes, pie.  I liked the food better than the place that's there now.  It was homey, comfortable place.
> >>
> >>My dad also used to take me to the Trail Tavern, but I don't remember much about eating there.  It seemed like a very mysterious place when I was there as a child, although it seemed pretty innocuous when I ate there as a student in the late 1960s.  Is it really a biker hangout now, or is the sign about checking your firearms just bragadoccio?
> >>
> >>John Hevelin '68
> >_________________________________________________________________
> >Capture your memories in an online journal!
> >http://www.reallivemoms.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM&loc=us
> 
> 
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