Jim's Cafe and Greenville's Historian

The day began with breakfast at Jim's Cafe with a table full of good old boys who meet there every week. Benjy knows everyone and we sat with these guys for breakfast and heard stories, old and new, in their distinct slow Mississippi drawl. Gun Johnson owns the place that his father opened sometime in the 1920s. Oscar, an 81 year old Navy veteran and Greenville resident since age 9, told me that the cafe was his first stop when he arrived in town with his mother in the 30s. His family's store, Bradley Signs, made the sign for Johnny's Place, which was the blues club where BB King played one of his first shows. Then there was the man who 'stepped out' on his wife, which pissed her off so bad that she shot at him 11 times with two different guns, hitting him 5 times. She felt so bad that she called him an ambulance and (at her lawyer's suggestion) checked herself into the hospital for a nervous breakdown. The whole thing was ruled an accident and they're still together. This exchange carried on for about an hour. Guys trading stories and introductions being made; it seemed everyone wanted to tell us a piece of history that only they knew.

We drove across the street which, in all honesty, is post-apocalyptic at best, to Benjy's musuem- The Greenville History Museum. In an art deco storefront he has created a shrine to Greenville's past. There are detailed displays of the town's development and history, decline, rejuvenation, and second decline. He has yearbooks, high school newspapers, photographs, and artifacts enough to make a Smithsonian curator drool. The Greenville High School class of 1963 was displayed on the wall of the entrance hallway and I found Dad, looking pretty much exactly like he does now, just a bit younger. There was also mention of him in the PICA, GHS's newspaper, for his athletic prowess; his kicking ability earned him the nickname 'golden toe' Williams. He loves that. Another GHS graduate happened to be in town, Jay Stein whose family created Stein Mart. He stopped into the museum while we were there and the three of them traded names and stories of the classmates whose whereabouts they knew. I'm not sure who they were talking about but at one point Benjy said, "well, he's been dead since 1970, but his body just died 'bout six months ago".

Finally Benjy took us on a drive through town and over the bridge in his 'Jew Canoe', a white Escalade. He explained the car was necessary to "keep up [his] image". We drove to the levee, saw the riverboat casinos, and drove across the bridge to Arkansas. A new bridge is being built beside it because the towboats can't seem to stop running into the old, lower bridge. Throughout the drive, Benjy provided us a running commentary of the people and places in the town. I'm not kidding when I say downtown looks post-apocalyptic and it is truly sad because not only are there wonderful people here, the buildings are just itching to be restored. Beautiful early 20th century architecture that has endured decades of abuse and would make a beautiful rejuvenated downtown. But it might be too far gone. White flight, a terrible public school system, a lack of industry, and poor public management have desecrated the town's ability to function as such. Benjy's still here, along with a few others that would like to see the redevelopment efforts materialize, though he claims he'll be the last one to leave and the one turning off the lights. With all of that in mind, he is incredibly lighthearted about his work and takes serious pride in his efforts to maintain a sense of the town's history. If nothing else, there is a movie theatre just outside town, an archive of the town's past, and two excellent eating establishments that have lasted this long, so why not 60 more years.