Larry Hawkins
That Sandwich Place photos by Cindy Steele
Sometimes Nature takes its course, I reflected as I walked through Nashville after another hard rain, its power off, traffic lights out. I was here to talk with Larry Hawkins, owner of the venerable That Sandwich Place who, like the rest of town, was taking an unexpected afternoon off.
Nature has been hard on Hawkins this year, flooding his home earlier this summer while destroying much of his fabled collection of Indiana University basketball memorabilia.
“ I couldn’ t get anything else in here,” he says, looking, around his restaurant where framed pictures of Coach Knight and his players cover
” What I enjoy about the restaurant business is that I’ ve never had a day here when I didn’ t have fun. A lot of people go to work and hate their job.” every last inch of the walls.“ So I had it packed away in big tubs.” Water rose several feet in his store room, lifting the waterproof containers, turning them over, and popping open the lids.“ Anyhow, that’ s just part of life,” he shrugs, accepting what he can’ t change.
Born in Hazard, Kentucky, Hawkins grew up in New Albany. He was working as a buyer for the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant during the waning days of the Vietnam War when his brother Bill called. While reviewing plans for the remodeling of the Ramada Inn, which Andy Rogers had recently purchased and renamed The Seasons Lodge, Bill had
16 Our Brown County • Sept./ Oct. 2015