Jackson Jambalaya

I remember our family eating at The Green Derby on Ellis Avenue and Tuminello's many times. Driving to Vicksburg at night just for dinner was a big deal for us kids, and our mother made us dress up like Sunday school.

Does anyone remember the man who sold hot homemade tamales from a handcart somewhere in downtown Jackson east of State Street not far from the RR tracks? It was an occasional treat to ride with Daddy in the green Rambler station wagon to go get tamales. I think they were Delta tamales rather than true Mexican tamales, but either way, they were always fresh, warm and delicious.

I ate at Tuminello's years ago. All I remember is that they had ice in the urinal. This is a great way to maintain some semblance of order in the men's room when the water is out at your office.

Your helpful hardware man.

ACME SEAFOOD COMPANY was advertising in the Clarion Ledger in January 1946. (January 31, 1946 page 11):

"ON THE HALF SHELLS AT OUR OYSTER BAR SEA FOOD. ALL KINDS RIVER CAT FISH, BUFFALO WHOLESALE & RETAIL ACME SEA FOOD CO. East Jackson Across River Day 4-499; Night 3-2653"

The Green Derby was not a place a north Jackson family, which almost never went out anyway, went to eat... but then that would apply to anything south of downtown back then. At lunch there a handful of times in the late 70's to early 80's, but can't honestly say I remember anything except it was pretty good and it as also good to mark it off the list before it was gone. Very nice experiences (2?) at Tuminello's around the same time, maybe even a little later. Assume it was a casualty of the casinos in the early 90's but don't know, ditto for Vicksburg's old Glass Kitchen.

Wish I could say something about Acme, but never heard of it till this post. We didn't go to "that" part of town... except maybe when I was with a friend and his dad needed to get a bottle. :)

My father owned a business and worked six days a week. Sundays were always special because he closed the business on Sundays. In the 1960s when I was a child, we went to Sunday School and church service, then would eat lunch “out,” usually at Dennery’s, Primos, or the Green Derby. The food was really good at the Green Derby and if I remember correctly, they had hot homemade rolls.

2:38: There was no "north Jackson" back then. Everyone of merit and means lived in south Jackson. Things have changed since then which is what this thread is all about. Stop lying and putting on airs.

4/16 @ 5:16, "everyone of merit and means lived in south Jackson" back then? I'll mention that to the people I grew up with, whose dads were all doctors, lawyers, engineers, college professors, etc. I didn't know there was anything in Jackson south of Hwy 80 till I was in college. I learned better, that that's pretty much what anyone who grew up north of Woodrow Wilson Blvd. thought back then.

Never ate at the Green Derby but remember the sign. Wasn't it at the corner of 80 and Robinson? Saw it when we used to go to Metrocenter when I was a kid in the 80's. Haven't driven in through that area in years.

4/17 @ 2:15, it was Hwy 80 & Ellis, not Robinson. That's actually the corner where MetroCenter is, and there never were any restaurants (that I recall) on any of the other three corners of that intersection. Back then there were still several restaurants on Hwy 80.