GOD I MISS THOSE DAYS

BY: Michael A. Aun, FIC, LUTCF, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame

Growing up in the little town of Lexington, SC was much like it was in many other down-home southern communities. Chain stores and other big city stuff like McDonald's ® didn't exist.

As a ten year old, I was actually a carhop at the very first fast-food franchise drive-in that came to Lexington. It was an A&W® hamburger joint. Terry Richardson's family owned the business, located in the intersection of SC Highway 6 and US 378. I began carhopping, working on tips alone. I didn't exactly get wealthy but how many jobs were available to a ten year old?

I actually made a lot more money speaking to the A&W® Restaurant Franchises later as an adult. An entrepreneur named Roy Allen, who mixed up a batch of creamy root beer and sold the first frosty mug of this delightful beverage for one nickel, founded A&W® in June of 1919 in Lodi, California. Now, nearly ninety years later, A&W Root Beer® is the world's number one selling root beer and is still mixed fresh daily and sold at hundreds of A&W® restaurants.

The good news was I could peddle my bike the 1.5 miles from our home on South Lake Drive to the A&W® on North Lake Drive (Highway 6). Some days I cleared $10 in tips, not bad for a ten year old. In addition, I got a free hamburger, a coke and an order of fries for each shift I worked, but I had to haul out all the trash and police the entire parking lot for the free meal.

My younger brother Fred worked at another fast-food restaurant in Lexington called Hite's, operated by Harry and Betty Ann Hite. There were actually two Hite's establishments and they were located next to one another right in front of what used to be the Lexington High School football field in the intersection of US 378 and US Highway 1 next door to Harold Looney's Chevrolet dealership.

They had a terrific business that featured a sit-down restaurant and the famous Hite's Dairy Bar. The restaurant had some of the best barbeque pork you've ever eaten. I miss the mustard-based barbeque. Now that I live in St. Cloud, Florida, Yankees surround me. They think you have to put ketchup on everything, including barbeque.

Probably the best barbeque joint that ever existed was Oak Grove Barbeque, located in the Oak Grove area between Lexington and West Columbia. People would literally come in from other states to eat at Oak Grove. One sad day, it burned to the ground. I suspect they didn't have fire insurance because it was never rebuilt. It's not surprising; you probably couldn't even buy fire insurance on a lightening keg like a barbeque house.

Others like Maurice Bessinger's Barbeque in West Columbia, SC and Shealy's Barbeque in Batesburg-Leesville, SC still thrive and survive today largely because they remained committed to the mustard-based menu.

Hite's was more than just good food… it was a way of life. Adults cherished the place because they could go in and get a grand sit-down meal. The kids loved it because they could grab a burger from the drive-in and sit in their cars and make out in the parking lot. Kids like my brother, Fred, hustled burgers and fries to them from inside the larger restaurant.

As a teenager, we treasured Hite's. We didn't have a mall in those days, other than the dirt mall, our affectionate term for the local flea market. So you just congregated at Hite's, told lots of lies and tried to make time with your date before heading out to Lake Murray to "suck face," as later generations would term it.

Or you grabbed a burger before heading out to Gibson's Pond to shag the night away. This was our ritual in those days because there was little else to do. We sat in our cars and listened to WCOS AM radio in Columbia, which featured all the great beach music or WOIC AM radio, which played soul music and blues music…. Bobby "Blue" Bland, the Temptations, Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions and others.

God I miss those days.