Harold Taylor White, Jr. is as much a fixture in Hal & Mal's as his 28-year-old restaurant is of downtown Jackson. On most days, patrons will find White perched at the corner of the bar, where he can watch the kitchen, dining room and behind the bar.

"I thought at my age that I'd be over this, that I'd be gone," White says over a plate of chicken tenders and a salad. White, a northeast Jackson resident who celebrated his 63rd birthday March 13, is far from being gone.

In addition to wanting to keep the place open so his 30 employees won't join the jobless ranks, White just loves the restaurant business. Born in Hattiesburg, he studied culinary arts at Northeast Mississippi Community College. He and his brother, Malcolm--or Mal--first wanted to open their restaurant in Hattiesburg, but Hal was making too much money as a drilling fluid engineer to walk away from the oil business.

After Hal spent a decade as an oilman, the White brothers settled in Jackson and opened Hal and Mal's in the former GM&O freight depot building in 1984, a time when downtown Jackson had few eateries. As a result of the lack of competition and 36,000 square feet, Hal & Mal's flourished as the city's No. 1 live-music venue.

Leon Russell, B.B. King, the Average White Band, and Omar and the Howlers are a few of the big acts White remembers playing there. He also recalls Mal being unimpressed by a young band that later achieved international rock stardom as 3 Doors Down.

In the early 1990s, the Mississippi Legislature legalized dockside gambling along the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast, which dramatically changed the state's entertainment landscape. Hal & Mal's could no longer compete to draw national acts because casino operators could triple the Whites' offer to artists.

"You live and die with the times. One time you're the big fish and the next time you're the little fish. And now we're the little fish. We just try to hang on and bring good music to Jackson as best we can," White said.

It's not uncommon for White to spend 18-hour days at the bar or to see him jump in the kitchen when a cook calls in sick. He actually doesn't mind the long days--as long as he can take a Caribbean vacation with Anne, his wife of 25 years, once a year and play a round of golf on Sunday. A father of three and grandfather of three laments the few extra points that age has added to his handicap of 15 or 16 (it used to be closer to 10), but is quick to add that he does not take the game seriously.

"The game of golf is hard enough without worrying about beating the next guy," White said. "It's a game. Enjoy it as a game and don't get excited. That's really the way life ought to be, don't you think?"