My, I was a little cataloger at an early age! My father bought me this pin on Aug. 4, 1966 at Archie’s Lobster House in Roanoke, Virginia. I know this because I wrote all the details on the back of the paper it is pinned to! It was my mother’s birthday; I wrote Mommies birthday, 35 years old. wow

We loved going to Archie’s. It was way down Williamson Road, near our church. They had the BEST fried shrimp I have ever had, period. This was a celebration restaurant! I went there for my 16th birthday too. I can’t say enough how good their fried shrimp was. I wonder if it was a family recipe?

Here are a few pictures of the pin and my writing:

On the subject of restaurants in Roanoke, the one we went to a lot was Bailey’s cafeteria, in Crossroads Mall. Here is a picture:

The restaurant was upstairs. You would enter, and walk down the lane, and then get a tray and start choosing your dinner. My mother loved coconut cream pie, and always got that for dessert. I usually did too! There was a row of tables and chairs on the edge where you could eat and look over the mall and see all that was happening on the lower level. We liked sitting there. We usually went here on Friday nights, when we weren’t eating hot dogs from Tastee-Freez . I always got a foot long hot dog when we got dinner from there. I have loved hot dogs ever since. They had great ice cream cones too. Here is a picture of Tastee-Freez:

The other restaurant we went to, usually on Sunday nights, was The Roanoker. Definitely a Sunday night restaurant. We ate there with some frequency. Nick Spichek lived in the house behind us; we shared the backyard fence. He was a barber, but also worked as the bar tender at the Roanoker. Every time we came, he gave my sister, Diane, and me a Shirley Temple. We felt so grown up! And we ate the soda biscuits there like there was no tomorrow! I also ordered their fried liver and onions there a lot. The Roanoke is still there and still doing a booming business.

I believe eating out was a big deal to my parents. It was a way of us enjoying each other as a family and creating traditions. It has always been something I have remembered fondly. We had fun. Well, of course we did! We were Silcoxs!