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**I am a VERY SENTIMENTAL person and I was thinking about all of my childhood memories of growing up in Hampton Roads. In addition, I have included a lot of my own personal memories. I hope these bring back good thoughts for you too. If you have more to add to the list, I'd love to hear them**
Do you remember when...
* Northside Park had a skateboard ramp and a dirt bike trail. Also, I used to love to go swim at Northside Pool. I used to wish it had an outdoor pool instead of an inside one.
* When Burger King used to be across the street from Northside Park where the Pollards Chicken is now. Sarah and I walked up there to meet a guy named Jimmy who went to high school with me and then we snuck out the backdoor after he poured salt in my shoe ;-)
* When McDonald's used to have outdoor play equipment. I used to love to bounce in the big purple Grimace and climb up inside the Hamburglar.
* When Waterside first opened and they didn't have any clubs and bars. They used to give out free fudge samples at the fudge factory.
* When you could take the ferry from Waterside to Portside in Downtown Portsmouth. It was always fun when it was time to watch the fireworks.
* When you climbed up Mt. Trashmore for the first time and then the radio station dj's from FM 99 said Mt. Trashmore was going to explode. That was way before they built the skateboard park there.
* My Bubbie and Zaddie (Grandparent's) lived in Portsmouth, so I remember Mid-City and Tower Mall. Mid City had Rally's and I could eat some Rally's cheeseburgers. Tower Mall had a fountain that I would run around and throw pennies in when I was a little girl. Also, we would get ice cream samples on little pink spoons from High's. We would also go to Morrison's Cafeteria to eat after a long day of shopping. And here's some trivia for you...I learned how to drive in the old Woodrow Wilson High School parking lot.
* When Portsmouth City Park had the Pokey Smokey Train to ride around the park on.
* When Chesapeake Square Mall was built and it was the hottest mall in the area at the time.
* When Hampton Roads was not called The 7 Cities and Newport News was not known as Bad Newz. Chesapeake was not Chesafreak and Norfolk was not known as Naughty Norfolk. Portsmouth was not P-Town and now Virginia Beach is simply known as VA Beach. I'm still old school and it will always be Va. Beach to me.
* When Putt Putt and Flipper's Arcade by Military Circle Mall were the places to be.
* When there was a movie theater at Janaf Shopping Center (Will and I went to see Batman there) and also a movie theater in front of Military Circle Mall, which was called the Ring Road. Now the movie theater is inside Military Circle Mall.
*And who remembers the .99 cent movie theater all the way down Little Creek Road by Shore Drive? The bathrooms were always closed and would have tape across the front door so that no one could get in them...Scary! And Sarah and I went to see The Mighty Ducks there and she threw popcorn into some woman's hair.
* When everyone hung out at Lynnhaven Mall at the food court and arcade.
* When Military Circle Mall still had a Spencer's. That was the best store ever! And who remembers Military Circle Mall before it got renovated? Back when it didn't have a food court and the only food places were Chick Fil A and Wendy's.
* When Lynnhaven and Greenbrier Malls still had a Disney Store in them. I loved that store!
* Back when Pembroke Mall had an arcade and a candy store.
* When kids would ride their beach cruisers, skate boards and roller skate around the neighborhood. Now they all have trick bikes and rollerblades. Those were the days before computers and video games.
* When Friday and Saturday nights were spent rollerskating at Haygood Skating Rink which had a gum tree in the lobby to put your used gum on. They didn't have a sink in the bathroom, so you would have to skate outside and step up on a ramp to wash your hands. Then I would always skate into the cafe and get pizza. I loved playing 4 Corners and Shoot The Duck under the Limbo Stick.
* When there was a Game Room Arcade by the Farm Fresh right where the Hallmark store is at on Little Creek Road.
* When there was a skating rink behind the old Giant Open Air Grocery Store (now Farm Fresh). They used to see the best lemon heads candy there.
* When Giant Open Air Grocery Store had a restaurant that you could eat at. I remember my parent's taking me and as we would wait for our food, my mom would have me practice my multiplication times tables on a napkin. They also used to make the best homemade pizza and my dad would bring pizza home for us after work.
* When Shoney's used to be known as Bob's Big Boy.
* When there used to be a movie theater by the K-Mart on Little Creek Road. My Mom and I saw Terminator 2 there.
*When there was a High's ice cream in that strip mall by K-Mart. And around the corner was TCBY frozen yogurt....Yum!
* When Taco Bell used to be across the street from where it is now on Little Creek Road and it was really tiny and had no drive thru. And Zero's Subs used to be right beside it. The old Zero's Subs was at the same strip mall as the old TCBY by K-Mart.
* When Hardee's was across the street on Tidewater Drive from where it is now. Now it's a video rental store.
* When Burger King was on West Little Creek Road across the street from Feather N Fin. Neither of them are there anymore. Who remembers when Burger King came out with Spooners (ice cream mixed with either Oreo or Heath Bar...So Yummy!)
* When Krispy Kreme Donuts was on Little Creek Road. And when I would see the flashing Hot Donuts sign....Oh Wow...Yum!
* When there used to be a Little Caesar's Pizza down Little Creek Road going towards Shore Drive. Now the only one left is inside the small K-Mart.
* When KFC used to be known as Kentucky Fried Chicken and they had another location further down Little Creek Road.
* When Ocean View was called Ocean View and not OV.
* When Ocean View was all about the Bay and Ave Streets and there were no million dollar homes there.
* When Ocean View used to have a Rec Center (Amy C. and I went to it the day my ankle got twisted)
* When my parent's would take me to the amusement park in Buckroe Beach in Hampton. I also went to the amusement parks in Ocean View and Va. Beach.
* When Ocean Breeze in Va. Beach used to be called Wild Water Rapids and Busch Gardens was known for The Big Bad Wolf. Now they have a million different roller coasters.
* When my parent's would take me to the Zoo as a little girl before it got completely remodeled.
* When Chuck E Cheese was at Janaf Shopping Center and Show Biz Pizza was by Lynnhaven Mall.
* When Tarrelton Rec Center in Norfolk was the place for all the kids to go and hang out.
* When my favorite restaurant Chi Chi's was still open and my Mom would take me there every year for my birthday so that I could drink my Nada (non alcoholic) Pina Colada.
* When the ice cream man would sell ice cream that was cheaper then $1 and fake tattoos for a penny. I used to love to get the green frogger ice cream with the M&M eyes.
* When Atari and the first Ninento were popular. I loved my Super Mario Brother's Game and The Legend of Zelda. And don't even get me started about how much I loved my Game Boy with Tetris on it.
* When my parent's waited for hours to get me Cabbage Patch Dolls at Toys R Us. I still have my Jeralee and Matthew :-)
* When my Mom and I waited overnight in front of the old Track's Record Store (now Wherehouse Music) in the freezing cold for tickets to see New Kids On The Block. Good Times! Those were the days when tickets were first come first served. They didn't do the lottery and no one ordered tickets online. Online didn't even exist yet.
* Back in the 80's and early 90's when perms and big bangs curled with the curling iron and tons of hairspray were the thing to do. I miss those days!
* When 17th Street Surf Shop was the place to buy your t-shirts, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, shoes (which I had in every color) and Billabong jackets. I loved that store!
* And who had jellies in every color (the shoes)
* Friday nights (TGIF) were all about the following tv shows...Boy Meets World, Dinosaurs, Family Matters, Full House, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, Just The Ten Of Us and Step By Step.
* When Saturday mornings were spent watching Alvin And The Chipmunks, The Flintstones, The Jetsons and The Smurfs. I also used to love a show called Scratch. And you can't forget American Gladiators and Saved By The Bell.
* I used to love my Nickelodeon shows such as Clarissa Explains It All, Double Dare, Family Double Dare, Fifteen, Figure It Out, Guts, Legends Of The Hidden Temple, Mr. Wizard's World, Nick Arcade, Salute Your Shorts, You Can't Do That On Television, Welcome Freshman, What Would You Do and Wild And Crazy Kids.
* Other favorite tv shows of mine growing up were 227, A Different World, Baywatch, Beverly Hills 90210, Dallas, Falcon Crest (My Mom and I would watch both of those shows every Friday night), Full House, Growing Pains, Happy Days, Melrose Place, Roseanne, The Cosby Show, The Facts Of Life, The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air and The Wonder Years. Does anyone else remember a dating show called Studs and game shows for kids called Fun House and I'm Telling (Will, do you remember how you said we were going to get on that show)
* The days when MTV had a game show called Remote Control and they actually still played music. Headbanger's Ball, anyone? And back when the first season of the Real World wasn't scripted and it was actually real.
* I loved watching old games shows such as 25,000 Pyramid, Hollywood Squares, Joker's Wild, Let's Make A Deal, Match Game, Press Your Luck, Sale Of The Century, Scrabble, The Newlywed Game, The Weakest Link, Tic Tac Dough, To Tell The Truth, and Win Lose Or Draw.
* Back when WaWa was never even heard of and 7-11 was the place to go for everything.
* When People's Drug Store was the only local store open 24 hours. Then it closed and became Revco, then Eckerd and now Rite Aid.
* When stores were closed on Sunday's and 24 hour Walgreen's and Walmart were not even heard of. How did we survive without 24 hour stores?
* When MacArthur Mall was never even thought of. Who would have guessed it would cost money to park your car to go to the mall?
* When they built a Ruby Tuesday's at Southern Shopping Center and closed down Uncle Louies's at Ward's Corner.
* When Suntrust Bank used to be called Crestar.
* When people still used pay phones and it cost 25 cent to make a phone call. Back in the days when people had pagers and they would have to use pay phones to return their pages.
* When you had to pay a toll to go from Norfolk to Va. Beach and from Norfolk to Portsmouth which my Mom would always say to me "Pay the man a Quarter and she would always let me throw the money in
:-) I remember some people would throw pennies in or just run through the toll without paying and then the alarm would sound.
* When Pizza Hut actually had a good buffet. Now it's gotten so small. And everyone knows I'm a buffet girl :-)
* When some of us still used VCR's and VHS tapes. Yes, I still use mine daily. I'm old school like that!
* When cassette singles were popular. I only have about a million of them :-)
* When I would make slam books for everybody to sign and I would write 20 page notes to all my friends which I still have by the way!
* When Z-104 and The Z Morning Zoo still played rock music. And then there was 97 Star with Paul Cubby Bryant who now hosts a national radio show with Whoopi Goldberg.
* When I was addicted to listening to Homie Al B on 103 Jamz every single night. People would call in with their dedications and he would say "What's up? What's it gonna be? Who's on the line with Homie Al B?
* When 2WD with Suzanne Snowden and Dan Reese would let you make radio dedications and my friend Sarah and I would dedicate "That's What Friends Are For" and "You've Got A Friend" every single night and they would would always put us on the air :-)
* The days before SOL's existed when the big tests that I had to take in school were the Monitor, SRA's and the Literacy Passport Test. And then there were the SAT's to get into college which have totally changed now.
* Who remembers the Book It Program in elementary school? You would read a certain amount of books and then you would get a button which had stars on it. Once you got so many stars you could get a Personal Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut or a Whopper from Burger King.
* Speaking of elementary school, who remembers reading Weekly Readers on Friday and ordering books from the Scholastic Book Club? And you can't talk about elementary school without all the door to door selling you had to do at holiday time. Hey, if you sold about $1000 worth of merchandise you would get a .25 cent bouncy ball or maybe if you were lucky a pizza party.
* And since we are on the topic of elementary shool, who doesn't remember field day? I loved the bean bag toss :-)
* Why did none of my schools...Crossroads Elementary School, Oakwood Elementary School and Surburban Park and Azalea Gardens Middle School not have air conditioning? Do you see a theme here?
* Who from Azalea Gardens remembers having English and Social Studies in the Outback?
* When Granby High School (Go Comets!) had no air conditioning and the math hall would always flood. And don't forget about the trailer's that we had Spanish class in. And all our football games were played at Norview's Chittum Field. Speaking of Granby though, I have to mention all the fun we had on Yearbook and Newspaper Staff. Oh, and all the fun I had when I would do the morning announcements over the tv with Kris. And I can't forget how I would give out Werther's Original's to all my classmates (especially Tasha :-) And who remembers Channel 1 that would come on every morning during homeroom?
* Speaking of places that used to be, what ever happened to restaurants such as Mama's Italian Kitchen in Ocean View? Also, who remembers Peter Piper Pizza down on Little Creek Road by Shore Drive? Those were the days before Cici's even existed. And what ever happened to Milton's Pizza? And where are the restaurants such as Annabelle's that used to be inside Pembroke Mall and Darryl's? And what happened to all my old buffets such as Bonanza, Duff's at Janaf Shopping Center, Ponderosa, Ryans, Saxby's, Sizzler and Western Sizzler? And my old fast food joints like Blimpies, Hot N Now, Rax, Roy Rogers and The White Tower?
* And where are the local stores and department stores such as Ames, Bradlee's, Drug Emporium, Hecht's, Hills, Hofheimer's, HQ, Leggett's, Lerner's, McCory's (where I would buy these gum cigarettes that would blow fake smoke out of them), Miller and Rhodes, Montgomery Ward's, Rices Nachmans, Rose's, Smith and Weltons, Thalhimers (where my Mom and I would eat in the Tea Room) Tinee Giant, and Woolworth's (which had a counter where you could eat at)
* And where are all the old grocery stores such as Be-Lo (which is now Fresh Pride), Food Carnival, Rack N Sack, Pantry Pride, Safe Way and Winn Dixie.
* When Little Creek Road used to lined up and down both sides of the streets with bars such as The Green Wheel Inn and Gary's.
* And I think it's wonderful that all of my old childhood toys are making a comeback now such as Barbies (which never went out of style), Beanie Babies, Carebears, My Little Ponies and Strawberry Shortcake.
* When Halloween was fun and exciting and all the neighbors would give out candy. Now no one takes their kids treat or treating anymore. And none of the neighbors even give out candy. They all turn their lights off. No fun!
* Who remembers the old Thoroughgood Inn Comedy Club that is now closed?
* Anyone remember the old Cinema Drafthouse that has now been renamed Cinema Cafe?
* Now who remembers having their hair crimped? And who else wore a ponytail on the side of their head? I know I did.
* And I'll admit it, I still rock my tye-dyed shirts. That was the fashion back in the day.
* Who remembers Teen Talk on Infoline?
* And what about when you could call the old weather number and before the weather update came on it was a party line with everyone yelling all at once.
* Who remembers those wonderful blue and white Norfolk Public School PE uniforms? The shorts were so short that you had to wear biking shorts under them. And what about those Physical Fitness tests we had to take for PE...push-ups, sit-ups, the v-sit and reach, a pull up, and that dreaded mile run. And if you went to Granby High, then you had to run where all the cars could watch you going down Newport Ave.
* And if we are talking about clothes, yes I loved my 4 X sweatshirts with my stretch pants leggings. Hey, it was comfortable!
* Now what would a memory list be without asking who had a jean jacket? I had three of them. And since all of you know how sentimental I am, yes I still have them all upstairs.
* And the days before the Va. Beach Amphitheater was built and all the concerts used to be held at the Norfolk Scope or the Hampton Coliseum.
* And who remembers Hampton Coliseum Mall and Patrick Henry Mall?
* When going from Norfolk to Portsmouth or across the water from Norfolk to Hampton and Newport News you knew to avoid the base traffic or you would be sitting in your car for hours. Oh wait, that still happens!
* Back in the 80's and early 90's when wrestling was all about the WWF and NWA. My parent's used to take me to all the matches at Scope. I would always watch wrestling on Sunday afternoons.
* When Costo used to be called The Price Club.
* When Ward's Corner and Southern Shopping Center were the places to shop. Now everyone goes to Janaf Shopping Center.
* When the Dollar Tree opened and it didn't have all the name brand things it has now. And there was a Dollar Tree inside the strip mall at Ward's Corner instead of the outside.
* When First Landing State Park was known as Seashore State Park.
* When Kay Bee Toys became Toy Works (Sarah...Two Words...Paul A.)
* When there was not only Toys R Us, but also Kids R Us and Babies R Us.
* When The Outlet Mall opened near Pembroke Mall. I think they are practically closed now.
*When Sai Gai Chinese Restaurant was not a Chinese Steak House. And Chi Chi's near Janaf was torn down and made into a buffet.
* When Old Dominion University (ODU) had bars lined up and down across the street from it. Now that ODU is going through major renovations, all the bars are gone and The Ted Constant Convocation Center is there.
* When the Tides used to play baseball at Met Park instead of at Harbor Park.
* When concerts were held at the Boathouse. They put on some great shows!
* When Suffolk was considered to be the country and it seemed so far away. Now it is the place to live.
*When the popular dances The Electric Slide and The Macarena first came out and then they got played out.
* When every year I went to the circus at the Norfolk Scope or The Hampton Coliseum.
* When nobody wanted to go to Downtown Norfolk after dark. Now it's the place to be!
* When Calz was the best known for their wings. Now Hooter's is the place to go for wings (even though I've still never been there...UPDATE: I finally was able to sample some delicious Hooters Wings when Cory and I went to the Hooters at Janaf)
*Until Jillians opened at Waterside, Flipper's was the best known arcade in town.
* Every Christmas season, going to Coleman's Nursery in Portsmouth to see all of the decorations!
** I LOVE all of my old memories and I look forward to making lots of NEW ones**
Feel free to add your memories of Hampton Roads to the list...
