We didn’t eat out at restaurants very much when I was a kid. There was one main reason for this: the nearest restaurant was approximately 16 miles away from Star up Highway 49 in Pearl. There are plenty of restaurants now in Florence and Richland (which was then known as Plain), but other than a couple of hamburger stands like the Chuck Wagon, there was nothing closer in my early childhood. Occasionally, though, the six of us would pile into the white, two-door Gran Torino and eat out as a family at McDonald’s, Dog ‘n Suds, Pasquale’s Pizza, or Bonanza.

I have memories peculiar to each of the restaurants I mentioned. I remember opening the door at M...

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