Michael Wilson/The Ledger
Carl Allen poses with one of his many artifacts on display at his cafe.

Blasts from the past

Cafe honors old timers

By Rob Cambias
The Ledger

AUBURNDALE - Tons of iron, wood, leather and colored glass hang from the walls of Allen's Historical Cafe.

Each antique has a story to tell, but for many of the thousands of artifacts, only Carl and Jewel Allen hold the key that brings them back to life.

Sunday, the Allens will play host as they have for the past 23 years to hundreds of old timers who come to the U.S. 92 restaurant to be among their peers and to hear tales from their pasts unfold, inspired by the cluttered walls.

It's Old Timer's Day: the one day out of the year that is set aside to celebrate those who have lived through the Great Depression, three wars and 20th century innovations that radically changed the way people live and work.

"This is our way of sharing history with people," said Jewel Allen, who will be busy Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. serving up bowls of Florida Cracker-style baked beans and mason jars of "Hard-Time Punch."

"When me and her goes, a lot of this is going to go with us," said Carl Allen, who at 77 is in his second year of qualifying under his definition of "old timer."

Being an old timer at Allen's on Sunday - anybody 75 or older - will fetch that person a free dinner to go along with the free bluegrass, country and gospel music that will be performed live on stage at the rear of the restaurant.

Besides the food and entertainment, there's the lifelong collection of antiques, memorabilia and curio clinging to the walls and taking up floor space, to frame a conversation about the past.

Ed Crackel, an octogenarian who has spent most of his life in Auburndale, said walking through Allen's brings back old memories. Some know what the antiques were used for and others don't, depending on if they were raised in the country or the city, Crackel said.

"It's very interesting," Crackel said. "Carl's done a good job of collecting.

Whether it's an aluminum fowl killer, a slave hobble (ball and chain), a gold and silver coin scale, or a whale oil lamp, Carl Allen knows how and why the device was used.

"Everything I have, I collected some history with it," he said, fingering the yellowed paper tags hanging from or taped to the old objects.

For example, a gold beaded purse from the Roaring '20s called a Charleston purse because it was clutched by women engaged in the lively dance - triggers memories of the day when skirts came up from the ankles to just above the knee.

Allen claims he knows the background to everything he displays where it was found, who used it and how it helped make life easier for those who used it.

One day, he says, he will write down everything he has committed to memory so future generations will know what the items are.

But Allen doesn't have time to catalog his collection because he's forever gathering more to add to it. Most of the stuff, he said, people bring in and donate to him after a relative dies or they're tearing something down or cleaning an attic out.

"No, I ain't going to stop. Collecting is like cocaine," Allen said. "You get addicted."