I keep wondering what makes a neighborhood.
I guess it is people with some common interests in a loosely defined geographic area.
Still I have lived in a small farming community, and it didn't feel like a neighborhood.
We moved to a slightly larger one with a couple of stores and some churches. Then it seemed like we were living in a neighborhood.
I can't figure out what makes a neighborhood for anyone but me. Still one of the important things that I seem to notice is a place to have breakfast.
In small communities some of the elders will gather in the local MacDonald's, Hardee, or whatever to get the day started properly.
In our corner of Southwest Roanoke County that breakfast place is Famous Anthony's at Southwest Plaza. We have been eating there since Anthony's opened.
I don't think it is world class food, but it is generally good food, reasonably priced and the breakfast waitresses as I have said a few times are some of the best around.
You walk in the door at Famous A's and you will likely see someone that you know. Part of the drill is walking over and saying hello.
Sunday night used to a time when you could find many of the families in our area taking a break from cooking and enjoying an inexpensive meal at Anthony's. We haven't made that special time in many moons, but we need to revisit it.
For a while we used to eat breakfast at Famous A's three or four times a week. Then we got to know some of the regulars, and the waitresses hardly brought us menus.
We are losing our Ace Hardware, mostly because of rising rents, I sure hope we don't lose Anthony's and the Printer's Ink next door. Those spots along with the Bagel Shop, a relative late comer, and Bratcher's Service Station have been a part of our neighborhood since 1989 when we moved to Roanoke.
As we have found out along the North Carolina coast, houses without businesses aren't nearly as people friendly as a mixed community. That is one of the reasons they are trying so hard along the coast to preserve some local waterfront businesses instead of watching them all turn into expensive condominiums.
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