Mac’s Pizzeria was built and opened in 1979 but it was a work in progress for quite some time. We operated first as a bakery to make some much-needed money, we weren’t ready to open for pizzas until early in 1980. That’s how we ended up being called “Mac’s Pizzeria and Bakeshop” – the baked goods were so popular and in such demand that we decided to keep making them.
As soon as we started serving in the dining room it was obvious we needed more table space. Mac and his friend Nattie made a beautiful extension adjoining the main dining room where we were able to put four more tables. Mac also had plans to extend the kitchen and store room, there was always some kind of construction happening.
However, one area that had not been addressed were the front steps leading up to the restaurant. Mac had put down a line of rather uneven flagstones, promising that they were temporary. They were difficult to navigate and I complained about them a lot, but Mac always had other projects that had to come first.
One day I nipped down to the sea to have a quick swim, I did this often when the heat from the ovens got to be too much. On the way back up to the restaurant my wet feet slipped on one of the stones and I landed heavily on the ground. I was pregnant with our first child at the time and such falls were not recommended! I was lucky I hadn’t done any permanent damage, just a big bruise on my side that changed color dramatically for weeks. The fall had scared Mac though, enough that plans were immediately drawn for new steps.
The stairway was built with care and inventiveness, Mac really did have a good eye for detail. He used the pretty red bricks left over from the oven alcove for the steps, which were then lined with masonry. The stone walls rose with the steps, with a few level spots left for flower pots. It was truly a work of art and Mac was justifiably proud of it.
My mother and father arrived after it had been finished and dad exclaimed, “Look! Mac has built a stairway to heaven!” Dad’s name for the new steps stuck, it was called that for decades! Mac’s Stairway to Heaven.
Ha! You fooled me with that title … I thought the memory was going to be about the time Robert Plant vacationed on Bequia. But that was in the late 90s, so this story about a “stairway to heaven” is much better! I always admired the design of your stairs to the restaurant, by the way.
Robert Plant climbed those steps a few times well, he was ( probably still is) a
nice man, always pleasant even when he had to tell me that my homemade spinach pasta didn’t quite cut the mustard!