Sad to say that others don’t seem to be able to get the place out of their heads either. I found all kinds of stuff about this shopping mecca including a song of tribute: but, dude, it was Taco BuenO! Just by the fountain. I know because my boyfriend took me there on a date. And then informed me he was allergic to dairy, leading me to think--I remember this clearly--"Why are we eating here, then? Land of sour cream, shredded cheese, oh yeah and mounds of grease."
(The picture on that last link is rather sad--taken through the fence with only the shell of the Blue Room still extant.)
The Blue Room was in the center, between the short legs of the W.
Underneath the Gold Mall, I believe, was CinderAlley. Sin City was built at the end of the 60s; I think CinderAlley was added a couple of years later...anyway, picture the early 70s. Counter-culture meets consumerism in a collision of he@dsh0ps, beads, bongs, video games, magic shops, and Sears. I wasn't allowed to go into CinderAlley even with Mom. Thank God we lived just five blocks away, close enough to walk once I reached my teens!
Stores I remember: Joslins (love that store--I think I'd still shop there if they were around here), the Singer sewing machine shop and the fabric store (the latter was a bridge over the parking lot entrance, so I'd watch the cars while Mom picked out hideous fabric to make hideous clothes that I'd refuse to wear), Penney's, Orange Julius (nope, not allowed), Thom McAn, Kinney's (but only if Thom McAn didn't have what Imelda, er, Mom wanted), Woolworths, Perry's Pizza (the best salad dressing ever!), Denver Dry Goods (till they cut up Mom's card in front of us), The Village Inn(Mat Maids' breakfasts), Lerner's (not allowed: "cheap" according to Mom).
And Farrells Ice Cream!! Where J0hn F^nk loosened the lids of the salt & pepper shakers as we left once. [Guess how old we were.] They had great ice cream and did this horribly noisy and totally embarrassing birthday thing with a calliope, bells, whistles, trumpets, and a sparkler in a giant bowl of ice cream. They had candy jars at the pay station too. Yum.
The library was right across the street from Joslin's. We'd shop, then go to the 'brary (passing the Cherrelyn horsecar and the statue of Prometheus), where I could check out as many books as I wanted. I loved that place.
Then we'd either hit King Soopers, or go home, occasionally coming back down to Wyatt's Cafeteria for dinner (adjacent to both the library and King's).
"Those were the days, my friend. We thought they'd never end. We'd sing and dance forever and a day. We'd live the life we choose. We'd fight and never lose, for we were young and sure to have our way." --Gene Raskin~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
And now my Snapfish order is done (finally!) and vac. photos are on the way to my house sometime next week, so I need to switch laundry, start dinner and generally be little miss housewife (odd, I can't even TYPE that word!).
No comments:
Post a Comment