Seth Bradley July 2010

Last Updated on Thursday, 15 July 2010 13:43 Written by Showcase Magazine Thursday, 15 July 2010 10:03

American Graffiti

One of my all-time favorite movies is American Graffiti. This is not going to be the subject of this month’s rant. I made it the title mostly to get your attention. I wanted to draw you to the fact that kids today have nowhere to hang out unless you count the tattoo parlor or maybe one of the wing joints in town. It does not matter to me if the kids choose to hang together. It does concern me that kids are sporting tattoos that won’t wash off. However, that is another rant.

No love for the automobile may be a reason that kids do not migrate towards hangouts like we did in my teenage years. Now, I know that times are different. I know that what my father liked and what his father liked are two different things. I just do not have a way to share my feelings about the way life used to be and make the kids of today appreciate it. My wife says I am starting to sound like my old man. As much as I love him, I do not want to become him in my old age. But where is the fun in staying home on facebook, or playing some computer game against someone in China, or playing Guitar Hero alone? I just don’t get it.

Our American Graffiti hangout was a drive-thru in Greensboro, North Carolina called the Boar and Castle. You could not eat inside, but bar hops brought your food to the car. The food was cheap, delicious, and featured a sauce concocted by the owners called ‘Castle Sauce.”

Even though the Castle closed down in the eighties, people still talk about it as if it were still located on Market Street. I met my first wife there, but that again is another story. I do not have enough paper to tell that story, even if the lawyers would give me permission. My main purpose is to make you understand the camaraderie of the teenagers of my day. Everyone cleaned up their cars, got dressed in their finest casual clothes, and drove to the Castle. The object was to be seen, to meet girls or boys, and to date. There was a lit up side where everyone ate and hung out. If you were lucky enough to meet someone, you took her to the other side, which was dark and romantic. This sounds mischievous or somewhat evil, but really it was just good clean fun, with some kissing or necking as we used to call it.

You knew all the car hops by name and they knew you and your date’s name if you were going steady. This is another old term that people do not use anymore, but for us it was a sign that the person you dated belonged with you and only you. Seems to me that today everyone dates in groups, or at least meets their date out somewhere. When I asked someone about this they said, “It’s safer to meet this way.” Safer from what? Is everyone afraid that their date may be a killer? Have we become so callous as to worry about who we are dating?

I am sure no one wants to go back to the good old days. But, if the days when cokes were a nickel, gas was thirty cents ,and a cute girl would meet you over on the dark side of the Castle and smooch for a while, or at least until her curfew could be resurrected at least one person around here would be happier.

I guess I couldn’t construct enough word on this page to bring back the idea of young people getting together for fun instead of sharing tattoos. Of course I am from another generation and maybe I need to get a tattoo that says, “I Love Mom,” then maybe this would turn out to be more fun than I thought. The wife says just try it and she is out the door. Could someone please send me the address of a good tattoo parlor?

Seth Bradley

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