Abilene Christian College - Prickly Pear Yearbook (Abilene, TX)

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cyaUces of ‘Ifie City's cufture’

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Cuftuw (U SlCW stu mts {now tf e cj)its ancf TficTowiv Culture in Abilene? In that wine city situated in the West Texa; plains among the prickly pear cacti, the mesquite and rattlesnakes? In the dusty town where the cowboys and city folks have finally met, finding that chaps and couture, Cadillacs and cattle cars really can (and do) blend? In a town that has been known as the pits of Texas? Yes, even in the midst of all this you can find culture in Abilene. Oh, it may not be your every-day, run-of- the-mill culture found in such out-of- the-way places as New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, or even Dallas, but it's there with a flavor all its But, just what is culture? One author has said that culture is the study of perfection, and another has said that -culture is no better than its woods. Yet another author describes culture as “the sum of all the forms of art, of love, and of thought...” Still, even that doesn’t quite explain culture in Abilene. Abilene culture is all wrapped up in its agriculture and petrolem operations, in the Larry’s Better Burgers and Kiva Inns, the Paramount Opry and Thouvenal String Quartet performances, the religious atmosphere created by three church-related colleges and churches on almost every corner and the shopping sprees in such extremes as The Mall of Abilene and the St. Vincent de Paul Salvage the city that more than 100,000 people from around the globe have come to call home — the Key City. Located 1,738 feet above sea level in the heart (well, almost the heart) of the Lone Star State, Abilene is the central city of the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area that includes Taylor, Jones and Callahan counties. Established in 1881, the city’s economy originally was based on agriculture, and while much of the activity in the area still hinges on ag- ribusiness, the economy since about 1960 has shifted more to oil and manufacturing related operations. Plants in the area manufacture aircraft parts, building materials, apparel, trailers, electrical ap- pliances, as well as many other products, and the area continues to expand annually. In addition to its three colleges — ACU, Hardin-Simmons and Mc- Murry — Abilene is the home of a $100 million strategic air command installation, Dyess Air Force Base. The mixture of personalities and backgrounds brought together by this combination is a large part of Abilene’s unique culture. Vifflinq Oub Those “statistics” are all im- portant in the city’s culture, but getting to the heart — or, more appropriately the stomach — of the matter, we find restaurants for A favorite for all college students after those long hours of study is a piece of pie. And what better place for the delicious pastries than Virginia Lee’s Pie Shop, located at 3266 S. 14th. This family-owned business offers more than 40 kinds of pie, priced between 69 and 89 cents per piece, including the usual fruit varieties, several kinds of cream pies (all topped with whipped cream, of course), the house specialties (lemon chess, custard, millionaire’s delight, caramel- banana. blueberry-banana) and everyone's favorite, fresh According to the owners, Bobby Green and Alton Davis, fresh strawberry “is the big thing,” far outweighing any other kind as a “favorite. The next most popular kind, they said, is caramel banana. Although a good deal of Virginia’s business comes from McMurry students, a large percentage” is from ACU. The busiest times as far as student patronage is concerned are “after movies and later at Virginia Lee’s isn’t limited to pies, however. The menu also offers old- fashioned fasting bowls of soup or beans, with crackers or homemade cornbread, starting at about $1.50, and the grinder sandwich with three meats and three cheeses for $3. Other baked specialties include birthday and wedding cakes and cookies, all made and decorated in the shop. Nothing could be better to top off a good piece of pie than some good homemade ice cream from Larry’s Better Burger Drive-In, another array of culture is

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This page, top left: Tobe, of Harold’s Pit Walnut St. Top right: Sparkling fountains family-owned business, located at 1233 N. Treadway. Although the drive-in offers the usual fast food items of hamburgers (four large ones for $3.50 and six small for $3) and french fries, its speciality by far is ice cream. Ask anyone in Abilene where the best ice cream comes from, and you’re sure The homemade ice cream flavors include chocolate, strawberry, banana nut and peach, with plain ol’ vanilla coming from a machine. Cones sell for 30 and 40 cents, while dishes of the cold stuff are 45, 65 and 85 cents. Another of the local restaurants, Harold’s Bar-B-Q, at the in- tersection of North 13th and Walnut, has a culture of its own. Familiar to almost everyone who claims to be a West Texan, this dilapidated, smoke encrusted cafe is frequented during the noon hour by students, doctors,