So many of my favorite childhood memories took place in the 1970s. During what author and journalist Tom Wolfe called the “Me Decade,” the zeitgeist of the 1960s evolved across America and some wanted nothing more than to shut the curtains on the wars and social upheaval of the previous decade. For others, the 70s fueled an […]

So many of my favorite childhood memories took place in the 1970s. During what author and journalist Tom Wolfe called the “Me Decade,” the zeitgeist of the 1960s evolved across America and some wanted nothing more than to shut the curtains on the wars and social upheaval of the previous decade. For others, the 70s fueled an aggressive assertion of identity, especially for groups who had been relegated to the sidelines, or even worse, to the shadows. For me the 1970s was a darker palette than the avocado greens and perky oranges of the time. I remember grey skies, gas lines filled with brown corduroy figures and the peace sign being edged out by the symbol for female. The times I felt most alive and not just a silent observer of this strange time were spent at The Yellow Brick Restaurant in my home town of Shepherdstown, West Virginia. It was here that I’d discover my own That One Piece some 35 years later.
Illustration above by Viola Guerrero, @miyukuii

The Yellow Brick Bank was not yellow. But it was like a rainbow to me. It took the brown malaise of the decade and lit it up like a fantastic cabaret. Inside t...