"Remember When ...."
By Deanna Gallardo
November 14, 2004
"Remember
when..."was something that I would hear growing up as the older
generation would sit and reminisce about "the good
old times" of yesterday.
As a kid sitting in a room full of "old people" (or so I thought at the
time),
I would so enjoy listening to how great times used to be when these
people would talk about how times were so different
and they would
inevitably start a series of "Remember when..." questions. After a while,
though, the kid
in me would get tired of sitting around all of these "old
people" and I would get up and go play with my little brother
and cousins.
Little did I know that at that time I would be making my own "Remember
when...".
Now that I'm one of the old people (I'm 36 years young), I sit around
with my husband, parents, siblings, my own
kids and who ever wants to be a
part of the "Remember when..." game. I've spent most of my life living in the
South
Bay and so did my husband, which is a good thing when you play the
"Remember when..." game. It always helps when
someone has the same frame of reference as you.
The area has changed SO much since we were kids and family time has
changed as well. Kids don't know how to be kids anymore, even though we try to give them the same upbringing that
our parents did with us. The "Information Age"
has robbed our youth of their innocence. But that is a whole other
story.
Let's get back to our youth. I'm going to throw a "Remember when..." so maybe
you and yours
can sit and play and pass this game on to the next generations.
Remember when... The South Bay Galleria was
a series of shops with May Company being the center of the plaza?
Remember when... you could go to that same
shopping center and have lunch at
the lunch counter at Thriftys (Rite Aid now) or at Newbury? Newburys
also
had that wonderful candy counter with the great arrays of candies and that
heavenly aroma. Kids would
flock to that counter and press their nose
against the window just for a peek.
Remember when... you could
go to Thriftys for an ice cream treat that would
only set you back a nickel of a single scoop of ice cream, a dime
for a
double scoop, and a whole whopping FIFTEEN CENTS for a triple scoop that no
one could ever finish anyway?
Remember
when...a family outing to the Old Town Mall was a big deal? The rides
for the kids, the Dixie Land Band in the food
court, the arcade. That was
fun times.
Remember when...getting 'back to school' things meant going
to Zodys and
seeing all your friends there picking out their clothes and supplies as
well? Then when
you left you always got a bag of popcorn and an Icee.
Remember when..."Star Wars" first came out and everyone flocked
to see Darth
Vader in person at May Company, only to be disappointed to see a short Darth
Vader standing
on a box? Where was the larger than life Darth?
Remember when...there were only channels 2,4,5,7,9,11,13,28
and 52?
Remember when... getting up in the morning to watch shows like "Wonderama",
"Lidsville", "H.R. Pufnstuf",
The Tom Hatten Show with his doodles turned
pictures? (The Doodle game was something that my brother and I did for
hours
on end.
Remember when... you finally got channel 52 clear so that you could watch
"Speed
Racer", "Kimba the White Lion" and the "Three Stooges"?
Remember when...channel 7 had their afternoon movie and you
could watch horror movies like "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" (stuff you can't see anymore)?
Remember when...the
Helms Bakery Truck would drive around the neighborhood
with it's awesome donuts?
Remember when...the Redondo
Beach Pier was an exciting place to visit?
Remember when...your parents would dress you in your pjs and bundle you
up in
the back seat to go to the drive in movies? Remember the popcorn,
stomachache pizza and the Flicks
candy with the toilet paper tube covered in
shiny foil?
Remember when...instead of having to drive all the
way to Sea World (which we
would end up doing on occasion) you could drive to Palos Verdes and go to
Marineland?
Remember when... Malibu Castle was a fun place?
Remember when...you would go to Licorice Pizza for the newest
45 record and get free licorice? I remember collecting little, tiny bottle from there and
my brother and
I would go to the park and collect magnet dust.(Little did I
know that the bottles were for another kind of "dust"
but, hey, that's the
innocence of youth for ya.)
Remember when...you had birthday parties at Kiddyland and/or
Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor?
Remember when...Santa Claus was real and would ride down your street on his
sleigh
and give you candy?
I could go on and on with the "Remember when..."
game but I thought that
you and your loved one could make your own new ones. Youth is such a
valuable thing
and when you look back and see what a great time was had in
your youth, try and take the time to create new ones
for our youth today.
Now that you've read my article, I know many of your own "Remember
When..." have been flooding back to you. Share some of them on the message board and let's see where it takes us.
