Childhood Memories of OKC

[zachtaylor alum]

Who among you all remember Kaiser's Ice Cream, near the Katz Drug store downtown? The ice cream was homemade and the portions were huge. They had a special sundae for pregnant moms that was like a banana split but with pickles instead of bananas.

Carnation's Ice Cream was more frequented by my family. They were on 23rd across from the Citizens Bank. Carnations had multiple flavors and the scoops were 5 cents each. so a triple dip cone was 15 cents and we had to hurry to eat them before the last dip melted.

Mmmmm. Old time ice cream....

[solitude]

I just discovered this site and I am elated! I grew up in OKC and share a lot of the great memories everyone has described. I went to Zachary Taylor School in the 1960's. It was on NW 52nd and Shartel. It was torn down by the school district in the '80's. It was the greatest little Wally and Beaver elementary school...just one classroom per grade and the principal was also the sixth grade teacher. The school was on the banks of Deep Fork Creek and we played there and climbed the big oak trees on the school grounds and threw acorns at each other. Anyone else out there an alum of Taylor Elementary?

Welcome to OKCTalk - glad you found the site! If you like all the nostalgia threads here, you'll love Doug Loudenback's blog. Have you visited him yet? He's at Doug Dawgz Blog and also be sure and check out his old website with great OKC pictures and maps.

[Blazerfan11]

going to le mans and playing Dragons Lair over and over!!! Wow! the technology!!!

[Prunepicker]

Who among you all remember Kaiser's Ice Cream, near the Katz Drug store downtown? The ice cream was homemade and the portions were huge. They had a special sundae for pregnant moms that was like a banana split but with pickles instead of bananas.

I only remember Kaiser's being at N.W. 10th & Walker.

Prunepicker

[SoonerGirl26]

Some of my memories (this will give my age away!):

--Dancing on Channel 4's "The Scene" with Ronnie Kaye on Saturday mornings
--Sussy's Pizza in Capital Hill after football games
--Stores in Capital Hill: Peyton Marcus, John A. Brown's, Penneys, Anthony's Emmer Brothers, OTASCO, Humpty Dumpty grocery, Jack & Jill children's store.
--High school senior pictures taken at John A. Brown's
--Capital Hill Hospital
--The car dealership around 27th & S. Walker that had a car with 2 front ends.
--Going to movie theaters: Yale, Knob Hill, Redskin.
--77 Drive-in on S. Shields, Hillcrest Drive-in near airport, Riveria on 59th.
--Spartan's next to SE High School and Cloud 9 across the street.
--Jumping off 3rd tower at Elmwood Swimming Pool (I actually didn't do this!)
--Southside hangouts--Del Rancho, AAA Drive-in, The Spot
--Buying formals at Robert Hall's on S. Western; shoes at Kinney Shoe Store
--Wedding showers at Dodson's Cafeteria
--Proms and banquets at Val Gene's in Shepherd Mall
--Special dinners at Glen's Hickory Inn
--Going to the Black Brick near OCU
--A&W where you got those little plastic monkeys on your cups
--In the 6th grade dancing at the Lion's Center on S. Robinson
--The little TG&Y store next to Stewart-Wood Drug store on SE 44th.
--Butterfield's on NW Expressway with the swing
--The Blue Onion in Norman

This thread is great....brings back lots of old memories!!

[Lauri101]

Some of my memories (this will give my age away!):

--Dancing on Channel 4's "The Scene" with Ronnie Kaye on Saturday mornings
--Sussy's Pizza in Capital Hill after football games
--Stores in Capital Hill: Peyton Marcus, John A. Brown's, Penneys, Anthony's Emmer Brothers, OTASCO, Humpty Dumpty grocery, Jack & Jill children's store.
--High school senior pictures taken at John A. Brown's
--Capital Hill Hospital
--The car dealership around 27th & S. Walker that had a car with 2 front ends.
--Going to movie theaters: Yale, Knob Hill, Redskin.
--77 Drive-in on S. Shields, Hillcrest Drive-in near airport, Riveria on 59th.
--Spartan's next to SE High School and Cloud 9 across the street.
--Jumping off 3rd tower at Elmwood Swimming Pool (I actually didn't do this!)
--Southside hangouts--Del Rancho, AAA Drive-in, The Spot
--Buying formals at Robert Hall's on S. Western; shoes at Kinney Shoe Store
--Wedding showers at Dodson's Cafeteria
--Proms and banquets at Val Gene's in Shepherd Mall
--Special dinners at Glen's Hickory Inn
--Going to the Black Brick near OCU
--A&W where you got those little plastic monkeys on your cups
--In the 6th grade dancing at the Lion's Center on S. Robinson
--The little TG&Y store next to Stewart-Wood Drug store on SE 44th.
--Butterfield's on NW Expressway with the swing
--The Blue Onion in Norman

This thread is great....brings back lots of old memories!!

Wow - I remember all of those - guess I'm telling on myself

Any recall the "Beef and Bun" on 23rd and Western? We used to call it the "Barf and Run"

I went to NE High School, but hung out on south side a lot!

[Prunepicker]

--Sussy's Pizza in Capital Hill after football games
--Stores in Capital Hill: Peyton Marcus, John A. Brown's, Penneys, Anthony's Emmer Brothers, OTASCO, Humpty Dumpty grocery, Jack & Jill children's store.
--High school senior pictures taken at John A. Brown's
--Capital Hill Hospital
--The car dealership around 27th & S. Walker that had a car with 2 front ends.
--Going to movie theaters: Yale, Knob Hill, Redskin.
--Southside hangouts--Del Rancho, AAA Drive-in, The Spot
--Buying formals at Robert Hall's on S. Western; shoes at Kinney Shoe Store
--Proms and banquets at Val Gene's in Shepherd Mall
--Special dinners at Glen's Hickory Inn

Where was Sussy's in Capitol Hill ? That dealership was just north of Eskridge Olds, or was it Eskridge ? Thurman Black's "The Spot" ! That was wonderful. I can't tell you how many times we went to Robert Hall's. We got our shoe's at Loveless on SW 29th. Capitol Hill was a thriving district. I don't remember the Val Gene's in Shepherd Mall, only in Penn Square :-(

I just saw Mel Lee. He was Capitol Hill's band director from 1953 until about 1967. He's doing great.

Prunepicker

[Lurker34]

We always called Carey Place the Twilight Zone. In the early '70s there were some old people that would wear overcoats in the summer. They looked like bag people but lived there. It was weird.

Prunepicker

My brother told me about Carey Place. I don't think it's true, but makes a damned good Halloween story. Many years ago a neighbor went bezerko and started hacking up children in the neighborhood. The house the murderer lived in is identified by the hatchets cut outs on the shudders of the house he supposedly lived in. Also in that neighborhood, there's a half burried merry-go-round. Each one of the horses represents each one of the kids that were killed.

[OKCMallen]

Sliding down the hill on the 3rd base side of All-Sports Stadium on cardboard boxes durinr 89ers games and thinking Abner 89er was cool.

Fun Skate.

[SoonerGirl26]

Where was Sussy's in Capitol Hill ? That dealership was just north of Eskridge Olds, or was it Eskridge ? Thurman Black's "The Spot" ! That was wonderful. I can't tell you how many times we went to Robert Hall's. We got our shoe's at Loveless on SW 29th. Capitol Hill was a thriving district. I don't remember the Val Gene's in Shepherd Mall, only in Penn Square :-(

I just saw Mel Lee. He was Capitol Hill's band director from 1953 until about 1967. He's doing great.

Prunepicker

Sussy's was located on the NE corner of Robinson and SW 24th. Just a little hole in the wall place but it had that great pizza that became my standard for pizza. We went there after football games, but after it closed we were going to "Across the Street" at SW 59 & Agnew. I think Sussy's shut down there sometime in 1966 or 1967 and rumors were that part of it upstairs became a "not so nice" place...if you know what I mean. I'm pretty sure that the Val Gene's we had our proms at was at the north end of Shepherd Mall. We had to go up some stairs to get to it. I could be wrong...since that was back in the late 60's my mind could be playing tricks on me!! Anyone else remember where is was?

Yes, the car place was north of Eskridge Oldsmobile but on the west side of the street. That car with the 2 front ends was always parked there.

[zachtaylor alum]

Wow - I remember all of those - guess I'm telling on myself

Any recall the "Beef and Bun" on 23rd and Western? We used to call it the "Barf and Run"

I went to NE High School, but hung out on south side a lot!

I recall the Barf and Run myself, located where the former Carnation's Ice Cream was. I went to NE too for a while during the cluster era where we went to one school for math and another for everything else.

[Lauri101]

Val Gene's was at the north end of Shepherd Mall - I remember it well. We always ate there after going to JC Penneys for new school clothes.

zachtaylor alum - I was in the cluster mess also. We did Northwest Classen for math, and Northeast was the science. What a waste of time and money - on cluster days, it seems we spent more time transporting than learning.

[SoonerDave]

There used to be a Carnation Ice Cream on S. Pennsylvania, around 81st or so on the west side of the street. It was the north-most store in a tiny stripmall that had a 7-11 on the south end, back when 7-11's had the alternating green/red blinking neon logo.

I remember Dodson's for Sunday lunches after church. I always got the same thing - veal cutlet, mashed potatoes and cream gravy, with a hot roll. I can still remember how it tasted. They also had THE best chocolate ice-box pie you ever ate.

I miss the ol' Putt Putt golf courses which used to be all over town. My ol' haunt was the one on S. Western north of 74th, and the land on which it once stood is now occupied by Bryan's Carpets (which, itself, is moving). On Friday and Saturday nights, it used to be packed. Never quite understood why minigolf seemed to lose popularity.

I also miss the old TG&Y stores. The biggest one anywhere used to be at I-240 and Penn, and my mom and I used to go there just about every Saturday morning for errands and odds-and-ends....

Sadly, there will never be another Glen's Hik-ry Inn. If you never got to go there, you truly missed something special; the aromas, the blueberry muffins, everything. I always thought it would be a place to take a girl I really wanted to impress, but by the time I was old enough to start dating, it was gone.

Hans BBQ on SW 15th (or was it 29th?) was a favorite place of my mom's but I have only faint recollections of going there one time...

How about when Sears used to have a candy/nut counter? At the Sears on S. Western, it was on the east side, actually fairly close to the middle of the store (and very close to the old coffee shop), but you could smell hot popcorn and nuts all over the store.

I remember visiting Elmwood once or twice when I was *really* young, but then it was gone....my mom won a portable vacuum cleaner playing Bingo at a company picnic hosted for my dad's employer at the old Springlake amusement park...

Also remember Buchanan's Food Mart at SW 89th and Penn, back when it was the ONLY grocery store in site and SW 89th was practically the south edge of civilization...their blinking neon sign was about the only thing that would light up the night landscape in that area back in the late 60's/early 70's.

I'm getting too nostaglic now....am I supposed to be this waxy at 43?

-dew

[Prunepicker]

There used to be a Carnation Ice Cream on S. Pennsylvania, around 81st or so on the west side of the street. It was the north-most store in a tiny stripmall that had a 7-11 on the south end, back when 7-11's had the alternating green/red blinking neon logo.

I also miss the old TG&Y stores. The biggest one anywhere used to be at I-240 and Penn...

Hans BBQ on SW 15th (or was it 29th?) was a favorite place of my mom's but I have only faint recollections of going there one time...

How about when Sears used to have a candy/nut counter? At the Sears on S. Western, it was on the east side, actually fairly close to the middle of the store (and very close to the old coffee shop), but you could smell hot popcorn and nuts all over the store.

We drive by where the Carnation Ice Cream shop used to be on our way home from Church. Loved that spistachio.

I used to walk through the TG&Y just about everyday on my way home from Jefferson Jr High.

I remember the Han's BBQ on NW 10th. I never cared for it...

Hey, the Sears at 23rd and Penn ! The candy counter was on the west side and the aroma of popcorn and chocolate drove us kids crazy, while we would drive our mom crazy. What a great smell :-)

Does anybody know the name of the Ice Cream shop in SE 29th and near the Capitol Hill district ? A date and I found it one night in 1969.

Prunepicker

[zachtaylor alum]

There used to be a Carnation Ice Cream on S. Pennsylvania, around 81st or so on the west side of the street. It was the north-most store in a tiny stripmall that had a 7-11 on the south end, back when 7-11's had the alternating green/red blinking neon logo.

I remember Dodson's for Sunday lunches after church. I always got the same thing - veal cutlet, mashed potatoes and cream gravy, with a hot roll. I can still remember how it tasted. They also had THE best chocolate ice-box pie you ever ate.

I miss the ol' Putt Putt golf courses which used to be all over town. My ol' haunt was the one on S. Western north of 74th, and the land on which it once stood is now occupied by Bryan's Carpets (which, itself, is moving). On Friday and Saturday nights, it used to be packed. Never quite understood why minigolf seemed to lose popularity.

I also miss the old TG&Y stores. The biggest one anywhere used to be at I-240 and Penn, and my mom and I used to go there just about every Saturday morning for errands and odds-and-ends....

Sadly, there will never be another Glen's Hik-ry Inn. If you never got to go there, you truly missed something special; the aromas, the blueberry muffins, everything. I always thought it would be a place to take a girl I really wanted to impress, but by the time I was old enough to start dating, it was gone.

Hans BBQ on SW 15th (or was it 29th?) was a favorite place of my mom's but I have only faint recollections of going there one time...

How about when Sears used to have a candy/nut counter? At the Sears on S. Western, it was on the east side, actually fairly close to the middle of the store (and very close to the old coffee shop), but you could smell hot popcorn and nuts all over the store.

I remember visiting Elmwood once or twice when I was *really* young, but then it was gone....my mom won a portable vacuum cleaner playing Bingo at a company picnic hosted for my dad's employer at the old Springlake amusement park...

Also remember Buchanan's Food Mart at SW 89th and Penn, back when it was the ONLY grocery store in site and SW 89th was practically the south edge of civilization...their blinking neon sign was about the only thing that would light up the night landscape in that area back in the late 60's/early 70's.

I'm getting too nostaglic now....am I supposed to be this waxy at 43?

-dew

The TG & Y stores were the best! My sister and I walked to the one at NW 36th and Western to buy candy and toys. I could spend a whole morning there trying to decide what to buy: windup toys, paper dolls, friction cars, those walking animals on strings, superballs, etc.

I also remember Buchanan's from a time when we lived on the SW side in the early 60's. They had a tiny movie theater where parents would park their kids to watch cartoons while they shopped. What parents today would leave their tots unattended like that? But it was a different time and we always felt safe.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

The main thing I remember about the "Toys, Guns & Yoyos" on 240, was that it was bi-level...And there was a ramp in the middle of the store. I used to run up and down it. Not sure why, but I sure enjoyed it.

And I miss Buchanan's. I was a stocker at the one on 4th and Eastern in Moore when I was 16.

Anybody remember the small theater on S. Western? It only had two screens if I recall correctly...I saw War Games there.

Oh...and they also had...midnight showings of...ROCKY HORROR!

[Martin]

anybody remember the small theater on s. western?

yep. i believe you're referring to park terrace which originally consisted of one single screen. the theatre was later split into two auditoriums and in my time it was therefore called the park twin. i remember seeing **wait for it** ernest goes to camp there.

-M

[SoonerDave]

Yeah, the Park Terrace was "the" place for movies until the Almonte Cinema 6 went up over on SW 59th and May. I remember taking a date to Park Terrace once to see a James Bond movie, but the place was a pit by then, sadly.

The Almonte was quite a place in its day. It was kinda the last gasp between nice standalone theaters and stripmall theaters, because it still had at least some of the "old theater" ambiance but still was in the middle of a mall. I think the only other significant theater was the South Park on May, which in retrospect wasn't a very nice theater, but MAN was there a crowd there in Dec 1979 when the first Star Trek movie came out - the line wrapped around the mall and south along May avenue - never forget that.

I remember standing in line at the Almonte in June of 1982 when the *second* Star Trek movie came out...huge line then, too...

The TGY on 240 had several "ramps" that changed the floor level about, oh, three or four feet. What was *really* fun was to get on a shopping cart and push it down one of those ramps, and watch it accelerate...hopefully not into anyone

A guy named Homer Brock used to own a Radio Shack in the far east side of that shopping center. The later owners moved it to the new 240 Penn Park shopping center, and they dozed that small mall area shortly thereafter. There also used to be a laundromat there, and before that Radio Shack was a Radio Shack, it was an OKC library of all things....man, the weird memories that come back on ya..

[flintysooner]

ValGene's that I remember was in Penn Square. I may have imbibed some there.

I also loved Dolores Restaurant.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

I think Reding 4 is where I saw Superman.

[FRISKY]

TG&Y had a 16-stall automotive shop on the NE corner of the parking lot. It was there before the Sirloin Stockade*, car wash, Radio Shack and laundry. I was a mechanic there in the 1960s.

We used to race cars in that big parking lot.

*Infamous for the 1978 mass murder by Roger Stafford. Sirloin Stockade murders

[Prunepicker]

I also loved Dolores Restaurant.

Dolores Restaurant was before my time. Didn't it close in the 50's ? I saw a postcard of the restaurant a few years back. Wasn't it on N.W. 23rd near Robinson ?

Prunepicker

[traxx]

I think the only other significant theater was the South Park on May, which in retrospect wasn't a very nice theater, but MAN was there a crowd there in Dec 1979 when the first Star Trek movie came out - the line wrapped around the mall and south along May avenue - never forget that.

I think you mean Northpark. That was a decent theater at one time. Not sure if it's even still there. I remember standing in a long line for a movie (don't remember what) at Quail Twin at may and Hefner.

A&W where you got those little plastic monkeys on your cups

I'd totally forgot about that. I used to love getting those monkeys when I was a kid.

Does anyone have or know of any old pics of Penn Square before it was enclosed?

[Martin]

i think you mean northpark.

no. i'm certain he meant southpark. it was located at sw 44th & may.

-M

[traxx]

no. i'm certain he meant southpark. it was located at sw 44th & may.

-M

Oh. A little confusion on my part I guess. There was also a four screen cinema in Northpark Mall back in the day as well. I just saw that he was talking about a theater in a mall on May and just assumed it was Northpark mall. Last I heard the one in Northpark was a $1 movie and according to the Northpark website it's still there.