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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Jon Waterhouse has worn many crowns: filmmaker (“Basically Frightened”), magazine publisher/editor (Sideshow), wrestling manager (“Monopoly Man”), rock star (Van Heineken), actor (Retch, Silver Scream Spook Show) and freelance journalist (AJC, Esquire, Paste). But last week Waterhouse assumed the throne as the “The Pop Culture King,” a one-hour radio show on all things pop and entertainment in Atlanta, Friday nights at 8 p.m. on WMLB (1690 AM), “The Voice of the Arts.” (Full disclosure: Creative Loafing has a partnership with WMLB.)

Tonight, Waterhouse (pictured, with a portrait of one of his sons, Levi) interviews Nancy Simms, the heiress to the Varsity drive-in restaurant — which celebrates its 80th anniversary on Saturday. (The show will air again on Saturday at noon.) Nancy Simms tells delightful stories about growing up in the family business. “It’s all action,” she says, according to a press release. “There’s always something going on. You see friends, you make new friends, you see presidents and movie stars.” That includes an order by a presumably famished President Bill Clinton, as well as a multiple-burger addiction by Elvis Presley. Simms will even share with Waterhouse the incredible value of her onion rings. (“Actually,” she says, I traded one of them for an emerald!”)

(Photo by David Lee Simmons)

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