Dispatches from Home – Helen’s Coffee Shop. A Passing Icon.

A Passing Gulfport Icon: I saw in today’s fish wrapper that Helen Cranford passed away on August 7, 2014. Her obituary was short, as was she, but it did not begin to express what she once meant to downtown Gulfport.

Her café, Helen’s Coffee Shop, was a local watering hole for the Gulfport breakfast and lunch crowd. It was located in the Abstract Building and sported a black-and-white checkered floor, a jumbo space heater suspended from the ceiling, tables and chairs, a lunch counter with stools…and postcards. When her customers went on holiday, they sent back a colorful postcard to adorn the café. I enjoyed looking at them, as I enjoyed the food that was served!

My favorite day was Friday…fried chicken day! At lunchtime, lawyers, judges, law clerks, businessmen, reporters, and the like all jostled for a seat. I often wondered how many court decisions were decided over fried chicken, turnip greens, and sweet tea at Helen’s Café. The breakfast crowd even had their own coffee mugs, which were kept safe in a wall shelf filled with little cubby holes.

Miss Helen had an effervescent smile that only augmented her dashing blue eyes. When the café closed, it seemed to me to be the passing of an era; her’s was one of the last of the old-time, downtown cafes. Now that Miss Helen has passed away, I know Gulfport has lost one of its icons.

Big hug, y’all!

(Originally posted August 24, 2014)