When I was a teenager two events happened, not too far apart either, which were catastrophic to everything I held near and dear. My allowance at the time was $3.00 a week. Not a whole lot, I know, but the median income in 1965 was only $6,800.

Now, I supplemented my allowance by mowing two yards in the neighborhood for $5.00 each. I was saving as much of the money as possible to buy a 5 speed English racer that I had fallen in love with at the local bicycle shop.

I had allotted $1.00 of my weekly allowance for comic books and another $1.00 for my favorite hamburgers, White Castles. White Castle hamburgers, bellybombers, or sliders depending on the part of the area you were from are very similar to Krystal Hamburgers found all over the Southeast.

At the time Comic books and White Castle …