Middletown and the Brownstone

 

The Brownstone Café, which sits in the center of Middletown, Pennsylvania, always does a brisk business and serves as a gathering place for locals. The restaurant is always busy, it is a question of will we have to wait for a table. It is good for serving uncomplicated, but good food with friendly service. Located in a former bank, the building retains many of the accoutrements of its former tenant, including the safe and tellers’ windows. The music is appropriate for the clientele, for example, a week prior to Christmas, Merle Haggard’s “Santa Claus and Popcorn” was barely heard above the din of conversation.

The locals who frequent the Brownstone can be interesting. An elderly man sitting behind me was engaging our server in a prolonged conversation about her background. She remarked that she had moved to Middletown about eight years prior with her boyfriend. It was difficult to hear the entire conversation, but the man eventually asked if her parents knew she was living with her boyfriend. She noted that she had been with her boyfriend for eight years, so yes, they were well aware of her living situation, in a assertive yet not quite caustic tone. A couple seated behind Angie were engaged in odd conversations as well, with the woman complaining that her male companion had gotten her drunk the night before. She had previously worked at the restaurant and had, at some point, left her purse, prompting the manager to comment, “some things never change.” At yet another table, a young couple were feeding each other, perhaps in the spirit of the season like a budget conscious holiday movie.

Walking through town on a cold and cloudy afternoon, the lights at Hoffer Park did not seem to dispel the gloom of winter. Likewise, the sign inviting people to take the Santa Train from the M&H Railroad was not tempting either. The overcast skies and the damp cold, mixed with a persistent wind made being outside less than appealing.