From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 21, 1971:

• Ralph Kirby, who proclaimed himself no fan of long goodbyes, stayed home to avoid witnessing the final day of his restaurant’s operation. Kirby’s Lunch, 616 Mass., had been serving up hamburgers and bowls of chili for 22 years. He defined his two decades of clientele as “working men – construction and factory workers.” Describing some changes over the years, he remarked that most businesses now had their own coffee pots, but when he had first opened his cafe, “coffee breaks were a big occasion. We usually had a whole mess of people in about 9 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon.” Kirby claimed to have been the last person in town to have raised the price of coffee from a nickel to a dime. At his original restaurant at 19th and Mass, which he had operated in 1928 and 1929, Kirby had sold hamburgers at six for a quarter, nickel bottles of pop, and double dip ice cream cones for 5 cents each.
• Movies showing in Lawrence this week included “Catch-22,” “Patton,” “I Love My Wife,” “Flipper,” and “Fantasia.”