Oh, Darlings, Please Bring Back The Old Lunch Counters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     They weren't just for lunch, darlings. though that was their function most of the time.

                                     I can tell you they were pertinent to my childhood and youth.  In childhood, Mother and I would head to the Brunswick Mall on Georges Road in North Brunswick, New Jersey, not far from where my grandmother lived.  We would head to the counter at Woolworth's, where I would always order the same thing--a hot dog and a milkshake.  In those days, unaware of my health issues, all I knew was that I was a fussy eater, and my mother was grateful to get anything into me.  As I got older, I sat up straight in my seat, wanting to get discovered like Lana Turner, after hearing the story about she and Schwab's.

                                    Then youth came along, and I realized I did not have what Lana had to show what it takes.  So, my mother and I began hanging out at the lunch counter at W.T. Grants store on Route 27 in Edison.  There I always ordered the same thing--a cheeseburger, French fries, and a coke.  We knew some the waitresses' names--Helen, Rose, and others I forget.

                                     Girls, they wore the most exciting, colored uniforms with their names on them.  At this age, I decided I wanted to work behind a lunch counter, wearing maybe a pale green suit, carrying a pad and pen, and saying things to customers, like "Waddya have, hon?"  Oh, I thought this was the height of glamour......then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         Alas, that phase of mine did not last, and eventually even the lunch counters.  Looking back there was something of the social niceties about them; customers learned to respect each other, and one's boundaries.  Where did that go to?  Why can't it be brought back??????????????

                                          The old days, the old ways.

                                           Some of those need to come back, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!