Sandy's Homeplace Cafe

I never go to Hanger Hill. Hardly anybody does, although it is one of the oldest parts of town. The town went up the river and Hanger Hill is down, so even after a century of modern sprawl everywhere else, go a few blocks through Hanger Hill and you are outside of town. I've lived in Little Rock all my life and I've worked for three years only blocks away, but I've never been in Hanger Hill till this week.

My friend Evin is an obituary writer for the Democrat Gazette and sometimes we have lunch. He shows me snippets of lives he has enjoyed researching or curious turns of phrase submitted by families or just eye catching names that once were current enough for a baby but now are no longer used. He suggested a recent find, Sandy's, and when he crossed I-30 and continued more than a block I had the sensation you might have when you dream discovering an extra wing of your house or an unexplained forest in your backyard, which might have nothing in them but which are exciting to walk through and look about because they weren't there a minute ago. The overgrown lots and moldering houses seemed neglected even of the ghetto, central to nothing, but some were clearly very old and once even fine. And then in a second we were down by the railroad tracks and the edge of town. There were several industrial yards looking small and unimportant in the way old industry does and next to a Budweiser distributorship was Sandy's Homeplace Cafe.


Evin calls it the best deal in town because he likes the food and it is all you can eat for $6.50. Inside there is a small buffet, and a hot box for rolls or cornbread, and a table with pieces of the daily pie, although the pie is not included in the $6.50 and will cost you $1.50 extra. You get a plate and a plastic pitcher of ice tea, unsweetened. The glasses are lined up with long tea spoons in them so you can mix the sugar or sweetener in yourself. There are no other beverages.


Evin and I had lunch. The food was just OK, but then I am not a big fan of beef stroganoff, so I plan to try it again some other time. Evin showed me his clippings.







I think I'll go back to Hanger Hill, just to look around, see if I can determine the oldest homes and whose they were. It's no bother about the past inhabitants, surely now joined up with the Church Triumphant. But it's nice to discover something around you that you didn't know was there. I'll go back to Sandy's too.