“Our world was 20-some tables and a stove top with six eyes—it held and holds an expansive and enduring significance far beyond what its dimensions would suggest.”
--Mary Rocap, 1104 Broad Street
Last November, I wrote a Food Pilgrim review of Mary Rocap’s memoir, 1104 Broad Street. The book tells the tale of a food revolution in Durham. Somethyme Restaurant, which may have been the first vegetarian restaurant in North Carolina, opened its doors on October 17, 1973—exactly fifty years ago this week.
More than two hundred mostly gray-haired people in their sixties, seventies, and a few in their eighties, showed up for four different events to celebrate this small eatery which only lasted thirteen years before changing its name, recipes, and management.
The first night of the half-century celebration began with rock and roll music and dancing at Durham’s Blue Note Grill, featuring bands that once played on Somethyme’s tiny stage. Walkers and wheelchairs were being used by some band and audience members, but there was no lack of energy in the room.
The next afternoon, the Somethymers gathered in Hillsborough for an art exhibition of works—painting, photography, books, CDs, and 3D pieces--created over the years by cooks, waitstaff, and loyal customers, many of whom made long careers of their talents.
On Saturday, the party ran all day and into the night at the Hill House in Durham
--the Italianate mansion built in 1912 by the founder of the long-gone Central Carolina Bank. The ornate entrance to the house was chock-a-bloc with restaurant memorabilia—a place setting of Somethyme’s sturdy white diner china; bulletin boards of black and white photographs, tacked up T-shirts; a jersey from the restaurant’s championship women’s softball team, the Red Zingers; and a raft of menus laid out on fancy library tables. An iPad ran a tribute slide show of Somethymers departed to other realms.
A food truck delivered brunch before the acoustic music began. Among the performers was restaurant co-founder Mary Rocap; the Joni Mitchellesque vocalist Pattie LeSueur, accompanied by bouzouki player Bob Vasile (formerly of the Pratie Heads); and the multi-instrumentalist Lightning Wells, a weekly regular at Somethyme, who learned his chops from Durham blues greats John Dee Holman, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGee. A story-filled panel discussion about Durham back in the day honored Mary Bacon, a co-founder whose signature recipes would enliven many more menus beyond Somethyme’s. Then came toasts and a righteous catered dinner featuring chickpeas, baked chicken, salmon, salad, and more. The wine supply almost lasted to closing time.
The next day, Chapel Hill Creamery welcomed the alumni to meet the cows and sample cheeses at their farm north of Chapel Hill. Owners Portia McKnight, the former short order cook and shortstop with the strongest throwing arm on the Somethyme Red Zingers, and Flo Hawley, a baker, who worked at both Somethyme and the original Wellspring grocery, hosted.
So that’s the society column version of the story, but down deeper, the story is one of a community physically nourished for little more than a decade but preserved and very much alive in mutual love and formative memories still strong after fifty years.
Somethyme changed hands and changed its name in January 1986, but I can’t think of a restaurant that could draw together such a distinguished and passionate group 50 years later.
During the panel discussion, Somethymers told stories of how much they appreciated working at a place that let them negotiate their hours so they could explore other possible identities--in the healing arts, fine arts, cosmology, agriculture, politics, community organizing, retail bookselling, and more. Former Durham leaders who were regulars at Somethyme before they ran for office were present for at least some of the weekend—two mayors of Durham, several city council members, a state senator, and local county commissioners. The gathered group also reminisced about the sweet smell of tobacco in downtown Durham back in the day, the first gay and lesbian dances at the restaurant after hours, and the early challenges of authentic racial integration in Durham. We laughed about the awkward assimilation of long-haired Dukies into the social fabric of a once blue-collar mill town that’s now four times bigger, and we mourned the ongoing struggle for equity and justice that’s still here.
Elmer Hall, the restaurant’s third co-founder, who taught Comparative Religion at Duke and served as as the acting chaplain at Duke University from 1972 to 1973, offered this blessing for the meal shared Saturday night.
“Blessed be this reunion of friends and comrades bringing shared memories of that special time and place, half a century ago, where we together learned the craft of hospitality and the art of community. We named it Somethyme, and it seasoned our tastes, our values, and our lives in so many ways for the rest of our days. Blessed be our memories of amazing dreams and ideals of delicious, beautiful, healthy food—lovingly prepared, graciously served, and gladly received. Blessed be our sense of shared work and family, of joyous celebrations and incredible music, poetry, and art. Blessed be our memories of accomplishments—of loving conflicts and painful failures. And blessed be the staff and the guests, the saints and the sinners. As we break bread together again, may we savor those splendid meals we cooked and shared and ate at Somethyme.”
Amen.
Beautiful. Delicious to be reminded of this rich history.
I wasn't here for the golden age of Somethyme, but my sister, Linda, was. I wish she had been around for the celebration. She would have relished it. You were her people.