greenwood, day one

 Know what's under here? Yep. The Greenwood Pool. Now it's a parking lot for Greenwood Utilities.

 

Mayor Carolyn McAdams went to school with my friend Marianne Richardson. Here they are outside Giardina's Restaurant.

Carolyn was elected in 2009. She was mayor for one hour (yes, hour) before a six-alarm fire broke out in Greenwood, destroying three old buildings...

 But not this one. Greenwood Junior High. Sunny would go here in 1964 for every town event that required a stage (it has a huge auditorium and even an orchestra pit) -- recitals, plays, the Jackson Symphony which visited, any kind of ceremony (graduation, etc.) -- so I needed to see the auditorium.

 The original chairs are still there.

 We ate lunch at the Crystal Grill, which became a private club in 1964, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act...

 

..and which today is open to people of all shades of all colors. Marianne said the thing to do in the early sixties was come to the Crystal Grill after church. You took a packet of melba toast out of the cracker basket and slathered it with butter while waiting for your veal cutlet, french fries and lemon icebox pie.

 And still serves the best pie in Greenwood.

 I ate some of this. No calories when you are sampling the specialities of the house from 1964.

 Marianne and I went to Baptist Town, a Greenwood African-American Community in 1964, and now.

 Robert Johnson died in Baptist Town.

Sylvester Hoover is the proprietor of Greenwood's blues history as well as a convenience store and the "Back in the Day" Museum. He and Marianne would not have know each other in 1964 Greenwood, but they met yesterday.

 Folks were so generous with their time. Sylvester locked up his store to take us to the "Back in the Day" Museum next door, then had to scoot back to the store to let folks in, so they could claim their laundry and shop.

 Back in the middle of downtown Greenwood, here are Bobby, Mike Nix, and Johnny Young who work for Greenwood Utilities. They are standing on what was the pool in 1964. Thanks for letting us into the old pool house, guys.

 

Lusco's never closed or became a private club in 1964. It's still open today, still serving from the same menu, and still full of the same colorful atmosphere. Sunny's family might have gone here for a special occasion.

Yesterday was a day full of conversation, too. Allan Hammons opened his archive to me, and Mary Carol Miller once again lent her voice to "how it was" in Greenwood in 1964... we had a full day. Today will be more of the same. I'm documenting the trip in photos here, and will have time for more thoughts later. Off we go into the day --