Once a year my family would travel down to Odessa Texas to visit my Grandmother. Typical West Texas woman with high hair, lots of make up, big jewelry and a southern drawl that would melt a buttered biscuit. She owned a local tavern called Marie's Drive Inn. Back in the 30's, it was a "white in front, black in back" restaurant and bar. Luckily, all that changed by 1950. Things were different in the South back then. I'm not proud of this fact, but it's important to the period of time. If she had her way, the place wouldn't have been set up like this. Her patrons liked it that way and she appeased them for a while until she had enough. Grandma was the owner, the cook and the bouncer. If you wanted an ol' fashioned chicken fried steak, creamed red-eyed gravy, collard greens and a ice cold beer, this was the place to be. I even saw her manhandle a 250 pound man and threw him out of her bar. She could beat anyone at pool. Domino's and poker were played in the back. Shuffleboard and pool in the front. Half the patrons used Marie's as their home away from home. A place where everyone knew your name and your business. A place where people swapped receipes for Okra fried with a jalapeno and cornbread coating or sat and talked about how the Dallas Cowboys were going to be doing in the upcoming season. Pickled Onions and eggs sat in jars on the bar. Cokes came in those minature 6 inch high coke bottles. Beer Nuts and Chips hung on racks behind the bar. Mavis was the bartender who called everyong Darlin', Sweetie or Punkin. This place was magical to me. The highlight of each year was taking a road trip to see Grandma. To have her cook for us, spoil us rotten and buy us anything that we asked. I swear my cheeks were covered in cherry red lipstick for five days straight. She was a wonderful woman. After closing her bar, her and whatever number of husband she was on at the time, would get their shit together and go dancing until 3 o'clock in the morning. Mixed with the loud, smokey and musty ambience of Marie's, was the music. Grandma stopped swapping out music in the jukebox around 1979. "I ain't playin' that shit in my bar" she'd say regarding newer country music. "That stuff is shiiiiiit". She could draw out the word shit longer then anyone I knew. I never cared for the music, but it fit with the overall mood of the bar. Twangy, nasal, silly assed lyrics. Now, I love it. I miss it. It's my guilty pleasure. Wish I could go back and sit there with Grandma and sing along with Tammy, Loretta, Dolly or Conway. Here's what you would have heard. Take a moment and listen: (Links removed after two weeks) The Pill - Loretta Lynn You're the reason our kids are ugly - Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad - Tammy Wynette It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels - Tammy, Loretta & Dolly Heaven's Just A Sin Away - Tammy Wynette Grandma passed away about 6 years ago. Her drinking, smoking and dancing days were over. You can still go to Odessa Texas, head down Texas Avenue and see her bar sitting there across the street from the empty Piggly Wiggly grocery store. Same place, same look and the same name.
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