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Cofield on Oxford: The Run of The Place, Part XII
Jack and Willie would go through the Warehouse kitchen and dining room and end up at the bar. There was usually someone there prepping for dinner and the bar crowd.
The Warehouse Restaurant – Left to right: L. W. Thomas, Charles & Cornelia Henry, Frances Kopp, Willie Morris, Stacy Doolittle, Martha Cofield (hidden) and Jack Cofield / Photo by Mike Floyd
But ‘no help’ never got in the way of two tall scotch and waters at 2 in the afternoon! At first, Mom thought it was cool that the guys were visiting. And let me say that Glenn and I knew all along that when she got the skinny on this little tea party, that we would make sure we were somewhere else. Because Mom created the line…”Did you know about this!” And she knew if I was lying, she always knew.
But…when it happened I was there. She went over to ask Dad something and smelled it. She’d thought there was ice tea in the ice tea glasses. Mom wasn’t a lady to freak out and make a show but she damn sure wasn’t having them drinking liquor at 3 p.m., midweek. I saw her through the Warehouse window wagging her finger and wearing them out. She walked off, wheeled around and went back to dish out more. They just had their heads down. I couldn’t believe it.
When she came back in I was like…Mom you can’t talk to Willie Morris like that! Mom said she didn’t care who they thought they were, that this was ending right now, and did I know anything about this? “No, I did not!”, I said over my should as I left wondering where brother was.
The Country Village Mall, Feb. 17th, 1986 – Ole Miss annual
This should be the end of the story, but no. Dad and Willie weren’t to be underestimated. So from that point on, on those afternoons when Mr. Morris strolled in, they sat at a table by the windows and drank tall glasses of real iced tea. Mom would taste it. She was satisfied. But all the while the waiters were putting the Scotch & waters on the men’s bathroom lavatory. Everyone was happy, back when The Warehouse was in its hayday.
But this happiness, more so than most, was fleeting and fled with the wind. And though I wish to flee on my bike, the smoke clears from my eyes, and the years, as brother tells me to ‘come on’ and we climb through the fireman-chopped hole there on the little side street. The harsh light of day, and life, shines blindingly where it is not welcomed, into my father’s roofless charred-black dark room. It had never been so dark.
James Barr standing on the dock at the Ice House – Image Courtesy of Wesley Jones
Turning to go, postponing the comfort of riding the Square, the energy of the mind and legs both long for an easier remembrance and ride. Backpedaling and coasting by the Ice House, Billy Ross Brown and Ben Pettis shake hands on the dock, as James Barr chips away. Picking up speed with a hard-leaning left, I see the back of Hoka and hear the sounds of those Oxford glory years.
The Hoka Theater and Cafe’ sign.
No forced opening necessary, the theater’s moans of mischief mingle with the giggles of Ole Miss guys and gals. Ron “Ronzo” Shapiro smiles the smile of an outsider who tasted, and created, a southern hospitality, and dishes, that bore him to local iconship and the trappings of a living southern legend.
Ron “Ronzo” Shapiro
| Sat, Aug 31 |  | vs Furman | W, 76-0 |
| Sat, Sep 7 |  | vs Middle Tennessee | W, 52-3 |
| Sat, Sep 14 |  | @ Wake Forest | W, 40-6 |
| Sat, Sep 21 |  | vs Georgia Southern | W, 52-13 |
| Sat, Sep 28 |  | vs Kentucky | L, 20-17 |
| Sat, Oct 5 |  | @ South Carolina | W, 27-3 |
| Sat, Oct 12 |  | vs LSU | L, 29-26 (2 OT) |
| Sat, Oct 26 |  | vs Oklahoma | W, 26-14 |
| Sat, Nov 2 |  | @ Arkansas | W, 63-35 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Georgia | W, 28-10 |
| Sat, Nov 23 |  | @ Florida | L, 24-17 |
| Sat, Nov 30 |  | vs Mississippi State | 2:30 PM ABC |
Maralyn Bullion
August 19, 2014 at 8:02 am
lack Cofield’s old Oxford stories revive a lot of memories for me. I knew his grandfather and later his mother was a good friend. Once a week she and Tricia Brown Young and Annette Waite and I went to a Mexican restaurant and had a Margarita. I missed the Warehouse and Hoka days . I was being a military wife in various parts of the world. But the War years at Ole Miss and Oxford were very special. I am a huge fan of “Hotty Toddy” and especially the Cofield stories.
Ms Bobbye Wiley
August 19, 2014 at 9:30 am
John..LOVE YOUR ARTICLES!!! One question..I remember the “hippy hotel” but can’t remember which street it was on..was it
on Jackson coming up to the top of the hill? Thanks..
Bobbye Wiley (Hugh)
John Cofield
August 21, 2014 at 11:23 pm
Hey Mrs. Wiley, good to hear from you. The Hippy Hotel was the directly across Van Buren from the Ice House. Are you on Facebook? There is a huge crowd of Oxford folks on my page and we post photos and history everyday. Take care. John
Gary Allen
October 29, 2015 at 3:58 pm
John,
Great articles, I can still see LW and Frank Odom and Don Carlisle sitting at the cotton wagon (table) eating an early ( or late ) lunch, reading the newspaper …..as I came in early to set up for supper..and grab some popcorn…..or after serving folks on lunch shift at the warehouse…Mr Jack and your Mom always came in and had lunch , and I enjoyed them so much. Your dad took my resume’ picture , and told me the story of the camera that he took it with……Memories of the Hoka the Gin, and of course the Warehouse are always on my mind when i get to visit Oxford. every time I walk on the Square i want to go behind Neilsons, go down the steps…past the Ice House, and see if maybe, just maybe , the fire was a bad dream and the Warehouse was still there…of course I know it isn’t……but I still wonder how great it would be to go back there and see all the old guys and gals that bar-tended , bar-backed or waited tables with me during those great years I attended Ole Miss……I always knew we’d congregate there on those times we went back for Football weekends , etc…….I really miss that glorious place….and the folks that haunted it daily . Like me Thanks for keeping it alive ..there will never be another place like it .