Top Ten Things I’ll Miss about Jackson

I admit it: I give Jackson a pretty hard time. If you’re among my circle of friends, you’ll know my relationship with “The City with Soul” (heh heh) is a rocky one at best.

That said: there are things I’ll miss about living in Jackson. Here’s a list of the top ten:

1. The places where we met. Clyde and I met in Jackson — at a tiny community church that met in a tired little office complex in an iffy part of town. The house we first lived in together is here in Northeast Jackson, just a block or two from where I’m sitting right now. Neither of these places have aged well, but driving past them still makes me smile.

2. W & D. Our friendship with W & D makes J-town a lot less lonesome. Good friends — the kind you keep for years — are hard to come by, and we wouldn’t have met these guys had we not lived in Jackson.

3. Thai House. Clyde and I frequent dozens of restaurants in the area, but Thai House is home. For more than a decade, we’ve been seeking out Wat and Tim (and now Toon’s) spicy home cooking at least once a week (and usually more often than that, especially now that their new location is blocks from our house!). There are many great Thai restaurants in Atlanta, but none of them are Thai House, and none of them will be able to match Mama and Toon’s pad thai, larb gai, or gai pad prik.

4. Any and all of Jeff Good and Dan Blumenthal’s restaurants. I am still stunned that a restaurant of BRAVO!’s quality and consistency can be found in Jackson, MS. You can spend more in Jackson — at Char, at Schimel’s — but you won’t get a better meal than you can have at BRAVO!.

Sal and Mookie’s unbeatable combination of hearty pizza pies and gourmet ice cream is very hard to beat. (My nephew, Walter, who has traveled the world eating pizza with me, claims the pies at Sal and Mookies are the best on the planet.) The great food here absolves the few service-related sins that still need to be ironed out … and a meaty slice of Sal and Mookie’s Hamilton Avenue pie is as close as Jackson can get you to Heaven.

We’re not much for routines, but Broad Street Bakery has been our Sunday morning spot for more than a year. I’ll miss racing to Broad Street to beat the Catholics to the best seats in the house.

5. Pizza Shack. Sal and Mookie’s pizza is part of an overall dining experience — sort of like dinner and a show. When you’re in a hurry, though, or when you just want “pizza as comfort food,” you can’t beat a Carnivore from Pizza Shack. The tiny dining room is always packed for a reason: the pies. Piled high with savory toppings, a Pizza Shack pizza is a true thing of beauty. It really is the world’s fifth-best pizza.

6. Video Library. Three years before I fell in love with Clyde, I was in love with his video store. Video Library was the last of the grand old video emporiums, with aisles and aisles of titles attended by people with a real passion for movies. Clyde ran the place for more than a quarter of a century, starting back when stores had to carry both VHS and Beta. The store is history now; still, I wish I could make just one more visit to Video Library in its heyday.

7. New Vibrations. How in the world did Jackson, Mississippi, get one of the nation’s very best personal growth, self-help, and metaphysical shops? By virtue of Karen Parker’s hard work, that’s how! New Vibrations is a bright, friendly oasis of New Thought, drawing seekers of every stripe from miles around to its eclectic blend of locally-made jewelry, incense, books, Tarot decks, and unusual gifts. This place is as serene a retail environment as you’ll ever visit … and just sitting in the back room with a cup of tea will drop your blood pressure ten points, I swear.

8. Campbell’s Bakery. Once in danger of fading away, a new owner and baker has restored Campbell’s Bakery to its former glory … and then some. If you’re still living in the “City with Soul,” you’re crazy for not stopping by for tea cakes, cupcakes, or orange brownies on a regular basis.

9. Fondren Beverage Emporium. One of Jackson’s best-kept secrets, the Fondren Beverage Emporium never fails to delight our out of town guests. Where else can you sip a Thin Lizzy sparkling beverage while shopping for Chic-a-Stix and Mallo-Cups? All your favorite candy from childhood is here, along with hard-to-find treats and beverages you won’t find anywhere else. Wanna be a kid again? Step through the door.

10. SkyTel — in the old days. Before Uncle Bernie bought and shrouded the joint and a poorly-chosen CEO crushed employee morale, SkyTel was a remarkable place to be. Right here in Jackson, I got to work with a young, hungry, cutting-edge company that invented two-way text messaging (!). Surrounded by smart, dedicated folks, I loved my 9-to-5 job — but when our clueless WorldCom overlords smothered the company’s innovation and creativity, the Old SkyTel withered on the vine.

* * * * *

Today, as I write this, I’m surrounded by piles of boxes. This little condo feels less like “our house” and more like an abandoned movie set. We close on the new place tomorrow; on Thursday, the truck comes to whisk our little family away. As of Friday, we’ll be in our new home, among the spires of Midtown.

Clyde’s been here forever, it seems, and I’ve lived in Jackson, all told, for fourteen years. I met my husband here. I enjoyed good friends and good meals. I learned a lot about what I do — and don’t — want in life. But Atlanta is — and, in a way I can’t explain, always has been — home, even though I didn’t live there until the year 2000.

And so: goodbye, Jackson.

We’re going home.