Those 70ish Girls

Part 1, The Star Cafe, by Valerie Halla

Lots of memories, feelings, happy thoughts and good stories come to me and my SANDERSON family when anyone mentions the Star Cafe on old Highway 16 in Murdo. I recently got to go there with a guy named Ralph after the School Reunion had wound down and we were all losing the ebb and flow of a high tide of emotions after people left the reunion festivities to go back to their homes around the country. The Star brought back the past.

In the 1960’s I went with my Mom, Aunt Loretta and Aunt Elna who were all taking their adorable petite Mom – my Grandma Sanderson – out for pie and coffee at Cafe 16. It was like being asked to attend the Battle of the Chefs 2026 in Malaysia with an afterparty for all the great food experts, except this was just pie and coffee at the most expensive and popular restaurant in all of Murdo, South Dakota. We all thought it was a special place to eat even though Mack’s was numero uno with delicious downhome food like ham and beans or hot beef sandwiches. Their gigantic homemade cinnamon rolls were to die for.

I felt included as a young 13 year old going out with my adult aunts, Grandmother and my Mom. I was special, worthy and old enough to be asked for that big people outing. But the best most loving part was seeing how Grandma Sanderson laughed as three of her four daughters joked around with her and made her giggle like a young girl. My aunts and Mom also gossiped freely, which was what you did in a small town back then. Grandma ate it up – the gossip – along with enjoying her cherry pie and coffee, which for a change she didn’t have to bake. You see, Grandma always loved lording it over on Grandpa that she knew new gossip before he did. What a day. I’ll never forget it.

Then fast forward to another trip to Murdo when we had moved to California and Mom and I visited there. Mom always had new dresses and shoes on these trips and looked all stylish that day.

Uncle Jeff took us to Cafe 16 for lunch because we were special. We walked through all the tables crowded with tourists and sat in an AC cooled back table. A young waitress served water which she promptly spilled down the back of my Mom’s lovely new summer frock. After apologizing and cleanup, we went on with our food orders, chatting and enjoying another great meet up with family.

So that’s why when Ralph set up a meeting at the Star Cafe with four seniors from Murdo on a bittersweet day in July of this year, the same day I was flying home, I jumped at the chance to attend. We talked about, what else, the good old days and funny stories they recalled. Ralph wrote it down old school style because he wanted to hear Sammy Seymour and his wife Marilyn tell about Ralph’s brother Paul and about some homeless guy and many other characters he had known. It was entertaining and brought to mind what this cafe had meant to me and my family and my past.

Part 2, Cafe 16, by Mary Francis McNinch

When I was growing up in Murdo, SD, Cafe 16 was the place to go if you were looking for the best atmosphere. It mostly catered to the thousands of tourists who traveled through Murdo each summer. Murdo was a good place to spend the night if you were traveling to the badlands and the Black Hills.

At that time, Highway 16 went right by Cafe 16. This was before Interstate 90 was built. Most of the motels sat along Highway 16, too.

Many Murdo girls put themselves through college by working at the Cafe summers during their high school and college years. Those waitressing jobs were coveted because the tips were fantastic! It was a hard job, but more than worth putting in the work.

I never applied for a job there because my parents had a motel along Highway 16 and I always worked there.

Cafe 16 became the Star Cafe sometime after the Interstate was built which went around Murdo. The tourist trade was still good because there were two exits into and out of Murdo.

Yes Cafe 16/The Star Cafe was an iconic place in Murdo. It still operates there today.