At Myra's, Get History On The Side

The Charlotte Observer, Catawba Valley Neighbor -- June 26, 2002
MARY CANROBERT

I took a little road trip a few weeks ago to Myra's Little Italy, a restaurant in Valdese. What a treat!

The place is eclectic, with a bit of Italy here and there mixed in with a bunch of other stuff that makes a visitor want to wander around, trying to figure everything out.

Next door is Myra's Ice Cream Sandwich, a hamburger place with a '50s feel. Larry and Audrey Earp and their daughters, Annette Hatley and Daphne Helms, own this place as well as Little Italy and Myra's Catering.

First question: Who's Myra? Larry said Myra Walker was an aunt who lived in Valdese. Larry grew up in Lenoir. His family didn't visit "Valdese"; they visited "Myra's" -- hence, the name of choice when the Earps moved there in 1977 and bought the ice cream place. Next came the catering business.
In 1984, the Earps built a produce stand next to Myra's and rented it to Lewis Duckworth. When he retired, they had a building to deal with. At the time, Valdese was in the midst of revitalization.

"We wanted to make (the building) a tribute to Valdese," explained Audrey. They turned the produce stand into an Italian restaurant, a place that reflected the area's history, traditions and commerce.

They put the word out that they needed memorabilia. Townspeople offered pottery, antique ad signs and old cookware. The family also wanted to include things of interest to them, such as Larry's train, dubbed the Little Italy Express, that circles a track suspended from the restaurant's ceiling.
Little Italy opened in November 2000, and people started coming from far and wide to sample the Earps' good food and stroll through what has turned out to be a combination Italian restaurant, museum and country store with a decorative garden.

The Earps did it all-- construction, decorating, landscaping and creation of the recipes. Audrey said she went "all over the place" looking for things made in Italy to display, such as the lovely wine decanters in the windows.
There's a little nook with items representative of current local industry, such as textiles, the bakery and the winery. There's a wall with mementos from the now-defunct Valdese High School. There's a country store and, in the garden, a little pond and metal Christmas trees that are lighted each Friday and Saturday evening, the two days Myra's Little Italy is open.
There's one other, unexpected part of Myra's: Larry's shoe shop. He said the town was going to do away with the old shoe shop across the street, and he couldn't bear it.

Said Larry: "I just wanted it for nostalgic reasons."

He trucked everything, including antique machinery that still works, a cash register that goes no higher than $9.99, and a bunch of unclaimed shoes, to a small room next to the restaurant and arranged it all to look like a shop. It even smells like the real thing.

A quick drive through Valdese and you'd think there were simply Myra's food places, but a closer look reveals Myra's restaurants that do more than serve great food; they serve history.

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