Fresh Loaf

“What y’all have?” Louis Jones has heard this greeting nearly every day for 57 years. Born and raised in Atlanta, Jones has served up chili dogs and frosted oranges at the downtown Varsity since before the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

What is the first you do when you come into work at the Varsity?

I have to get the curb set up and get ready to wait on tables. We have to be ready to roll at 10 am.

What made you choose to work at the Varsity? And what made you stay here for so long?

The Varsity was a place that everyone worked at. During the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, this was the place to come if you wanted to make some fast money. And a lot of the time, we had a lot of young ladies that worked here, too, so that was another reason.

How has Atlanta changed since you started working at the Varsity?

Everything we have now in Atlanta is just about brand new. Atlanta used to be nothing but a country town. There was nothing here but red mud. During the days that I was coming up, we raised our own chickens and plowed the fields

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From WSB-TV, emphasis mine:

Two robbers held up two men outside the Varsity drive-in Monday night in downtown Atlanta.

The victims told police there were in the parking lot behind the Varsity on North Avenue at 11:05 when they were approached by an Hispanic male and a black male armed with a gun.

See, we can all get along.

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MITT ROMNEY AT THE VARSITY: I’m just like you, only richer and with thicker, more lustrous hair.”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Candidates for president are typically wealthy and privileged people, insulated from the demands of everyday life (shopping, bill-paying, dog-walking) by support staff.

Nevertheless, the American voting public (and the profoundly petty political broadcast media) seems to demand of candidates that they affect sympathy with perceived habits, hobbies and lifestyles of Joe and Josephine Sixpack. Millionaire lawyer John Edwards makes a point of telling people he celebrates his wedding anniversary at Wendy’s. Millionaire lawyer/lobbyist/actor Fred Thompson successfully campaigned for Congress in 1994 from the back of a rented Chevy pickup. Aw, shucks, indeed.

Last Wednesday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney played faux-folksy (fauxlksy?) in Atlanta with an appearance at the Varsity in Midtown. The 250-million-dollar man delivered a short stump speech and a stiff comedy routine about naked dogs and PCs (plain chocolate milk) before heading to the airport for a no doubt similarly populist event in Florida.

Romney’s Georgia campaign is in desperate need of populist appeal. Though he’s raised more money in Georgia than any other presidential candidate, polls show him at fourth place behind Thompson, Giuliani and McCain. If Romney’s poll numbers improve, expect Barack Obama to be welcoming us to Moe’s any day now.

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IS it Holy Bishops? People Praying? Good Catholic Education? Devotion to the Virgin? All the above?I think this can be duplicated.

-James H. at Opinionated Catholic on a report that Catholicism is booming in Atlanta while it declines elsewhere in the nation

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I have no idea what happened in there, but I can only imagine a few circumstances. A) There was a fight between the driver and at least one passenger. B) The driver had a seizure. C) It was intentional. All of these are pretty bizarre circumstances in my book.

-Olaf at Gradin.com witnessed a car accident.

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The AJC said there would be free hot dogs. I got there about 12:30, and there was no indication of free food or how to get free food. So I listened to the latter half of the speech, and then had to pay for my own naked dog.

-Loren, commenting about Mitt Romney’s visit to the Varsity on Peach Pundit

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