CLARKSDALE, MS (abc24.com) - He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but he's down to only one restaurant.
All the contents from Morgan Freeman's Madidi Restaurant in Clarksdale, Mississippi are gone. Everything from shot glasses to the kitchen sink was auctioned Tuesday.
The restaurant closed its doors nearly a year ago, this was the final goodbye.
"All the glassware, stemware, all utensils, everything," says co-owner Bill Luckett. They're selling it all except for the memories. "All the contents, but the artwork and the framed memorabilia -- a hundred different magazine and newspaper articles about our business."
Luckett called it bittersweet to watch the restaurant he owned with Freeman auctioned off one lot at a time. "This is the second emotional hit we take," he tells abc24.com. "The first one was closing and then selling out is the next one."
There were all kind of shoppers. Most were in the restaurant business and looking for a good deal, but a few just wanted a glass Freeman may have touched or a chair he sat in.
"He's probably sat in every one of them in there," Luckett laughs.
Madidi was Clarksdale's only fine dining spot. The area has been reborn the last decade with Freeman's celebrity status being a big draw.
"Tourists pull in from all over the world," says Luckett.
"Paul Simon came into our establishment one time," adds local restaurant owner Carol Crivaro. "You never know who's going to be in this town and walk around."
Madidi also set the course for entrepreneurs like Crivaro. "We've been here six years we came from the Miami area." Crivaro came Tuesday to get a piece of Freeman's restaurant to take back to hers.
"If it wasn't for him I don't believe the town would be growing like it is. It was very sad to see Madidi's go."
While the restaurant is gone, Freeman isn't. "The last time he was here in town on this block was last Thursday," says Luckett.
Freeman and Luckett still own Blues Club Ground Zero located just down the street. The two say that's not going anywhere.
Neither are the changes they've seen and the memories they've made.
"Usually after 5 o'clock in afternoon you wouldn't see a car downtown then suddenly we have revitalized the area."
