Southside OKC Memories....anyone?

[Generals64]

Hey:...53rd/Drexel was an old fishing pond when I grew up there.

1. Al & Dub's was originally Potter's..Al and Dub were route salesmen who bought out Mr. Potter.
2. Grant's school name used to be the Eagles.
3. There used to be an old 3 story house on the S.W. corner before Almonte Shopping center.
4. Roosevelt cost $1,000,000.00 originally. Mr. Smith reminded the ninth grade class of this in August of 1960
5. I still have the Moose Head on my fireplace from Crystal's..See ya nxt time

[Prunepicker]

Hey:...53rd/Drexel was an old fishing pond when I grew up there.

1. Al & Dub's was originally Potter's..Al and Dub were route salesmen who bought out Mr. Potter.
2. Grant's school name used to be the Eagles.
3. There used to be an old 3 story house on the S.W. corner before Almonte Shopping center.
4. Roosevelt cost $1,000,000.00 originally. Mr. Smith reminded the ninth grade class of this in August of 1960

What was Al & Dub's and Potter's?
When did Grant change their name to the Generals?
Almonte was built after we moved to the southside. I don't remember the house. What did it look like?
Where did the students go before Roosevelt?

[SoonerDave]

yep... and after it was bonanza, i remember it being 'goldies' and then a home cooking restaurant called something like 'split peas' or 'black-eyed pea.' after that, it was dozed to make way for the now empty circuit city.

i don't remember the current burlington spot ever being woolco... not saying it wasn't, just don't remember it. i vaguely remember the 'mall' attached to the strip. it was situated in the inner corner of the "L" near where furr's is. i seem to remember there was a fountain as you walked in. the furr's entrance was accessed from within the 'mall' and was decorated in a heavy spanish motif and they had a piano for live entertainment.

-M

We used to go that Bonanza every once in a while. The Texas Toast was really good. Goldies was a restaurant chain that Barry Switzer was involved with several years ago. There was a Black Eyed Pea restaurant farther west on the south side of I-240 east of Penn, but it closed down several years ago and was taken over by Joe's Crab Shack. I don't know how well Joe's is doing these days, because my wife - who loves seafood - doesn't even like to go there anymore.

The Shields mall was attached to the Burlington building as recently as a few years ago. That theater became a horrible spot for drug dealers and thugs....I've heard stories from people who were in there watching a movie when the place would get raided by cops. Yikes.

There was a discount/consignment store adjacent to the theater, and after it went out, they just ripped it down and broke the "L" of the mall.

The Safeway that used to be there was of a vintage back when you knew the butcher and could watch them package the beef; alas, those days are long gone.

I do not know this for a fact, but I believe there may have been an intent eons ago to have that Shields mall simulate in some way what used to be known as (and I guess it still is) French Market Mall on NW 63rd and Western.

That reminds me of another long-time strip-mall in S. OKC that is still very much alive - at SW 59th and Western. On the NW corner is what used to be Southwestern Bank (I think it is now something like First United), and they used to have a contest to predict what time/day in the summer it would hit 100 degrees first. They had a time/temp sign when those were unique.

That mall, "Southwestern Plaza" also had one of the coolest toy stores around, called "Kiddie City." They had all kinds of games and toys...just one space over from a photography studio, Zales, Stockton's (I think), another Safeway, McDonald's Drug, OTASCO, a Merle Norman cosmetics store, Radio Shack, a small TG&Y, and Kips Big Boy Restaurant at the far southwest end. There was also a cool self-service US postal service island in the parking lot, where you could drop off parcels, buy stamps, or just drop off mail. The mall was just adjacent to a placed called "Car Wash City...." My grandmother lived the bulk of her life in a neighborhood just north of that mall. Sadly, that area is deteriorating, too....Southwood Baptist Church moved, and the building was sold/torn down, and now there's a pathetic used car lot there with a trailer as sales office...really, really ugly.

[Martin]

soonerdave... the 'black-eyed pea' i was thinking of wasn't part of the national chain. it was just some greasy spoon mom-and-pop... like the ashley's that recently closed near i-240 & western.

i remember the black-eyed pea on penn... not bad, but overpriced. the food isn't bad at joe's, imo, but the place is a bit loud for me. kinda hard to carry on a conversation when the servers are jumping up on tables, singing, etc.

-M

[Generals64]

1. Potter's/Al & Dub's was a local drive-in located on the corner of s.w. 44th/Penn. There's a pawn shop there now.
2. Grant originally (while being built) was uner an actual circus Big top tent. The church on the west side of Penn (opposite old band room) was where a number of the Junior High kids went for class. The name was changed around 1957.
3. The old house (Horse training facility) was just an old fashioned looking white frame house. There was a pretty good sized training track and stable however. When we were kids, it was a neutral ground for everyone. Drugs were not thought of then but there were lots of cigarette butts and "Girlie" magazines hid there.
4. The kids went to Grant, Capitol Hill Jr. High or Jackson Jr. High

[SoonerDave]

soonerdave... the 'black-eyed pea' i was thinking of wasn't part of the national chain. it was just some greasy spoon mom-and-pop... like the ashley's that recently closed near i-240 & western.

i remember the black-eyed pea on penn... not bad, but overpriced. the food isn't bad at joe's, imo, but the place is a bit loud for me. kinda hard to carry on a conversation when the servers are jumping up on tables, singing, etc.

-M

Yeah, I recall something being in that spot like what you're talking about. Black Eyed Pea was a strange beast...better than you might hope for, but never as good as you thought it should be. And, yes, they were a bit overpriced, which is why I think they got out of OK. They're still alive and well in Texas.

Any chance you remember the Arthur Treacher's fish-n-chips that used to be just east of Wendy's on I-240? It was built from scratch, opened maybe six months (and that's being generous, actually) before it burned to the ground. It was never rebuilt, and that "fire" always made me suspicious.

I worked at the Chi Chi's restaurant that was located on the spot where Krispy Kreme is now, farther east on the I-240 service road, and that was in the pre-liquor-by-the-drink days where things like restaurant bars were strictly illegal. As I think of it, that had to be my junior year in high school (fall of 1980), and they had me working as a busboy unti 1AM weeknights. When my grades slipped even a bit, mom informed me I was quitting. Heck, even remember the manager's name - Robbie Smart. I worked there when it was first built, and as we went through our training by serving local VIPs, I remembered a guy stopping me in the hallway and handing me a $20 bill for a tip. He said, "Son, that's for you. Don't you share that with anyone, because I've been watching you work your *** off all night." The compliment meant almost as much as the money...almost

Probably the biggest thing I miss from my days growing up in S. OKC is the Putt Putt golf course on Western just north of I-240. Seems like every kid in town was packed into that place on a Friday night...seems like everyone had a date but me..now the guy who bought that land after Putt Putt closed down and put in a flooring store is moving over to the old Sight-n-Sound at I-240 and Santa Fe...

You know, a book about south OKC memories might be a fun project...lots of people here seem to have a long breadth of knowledge of the area...

-sd

[Martin]

hmmm... don't remember the arthur treacher's... the only thing east of wendy's that i recall was the big, l-shaped strip that og&e occupied. must be before i started taking notes.

i do remember chi chi's, but frequented the place more in the building's iu sports grill days. we were a nino's family and mostly went there for tex-mex. cool story about the tip!

remember putt putt, too... the jingle "putt putt for the fun of it" still sticks in my mind. i was just a kid when it closed. went to school with the kids of the guy who owns that flooring store. kinda glad to see someone move into the sight-n-sound building. looks like aaron's (the folks who bought out sight-n-sound) moved to the southern hills shopping center.

a south side book would be great... surely somebody has some pictures of what the southside used to look like. i'd especially like to see what 74th looked like prior to the existence of i-240.

-M

[Generals64]

Hey: Verna Stafford is STILL alive and in an Oklahoma Penetentiary (sp) She was involved in the murder.
"more Southside Tidbits"
1. Mr. huffman (2nd principal of Grant) fought Joe Louis in a boxing match (didn't win)
2. Grant ( in late 50's early 60's) had a real good athletic dept.
3. There used to be a rifle range in Grant's basement

[Prunepicker]

1. Potter's/Al & Dub's was a local drive-in located on the corner of s.w. 44th/Penn. There's a pawn shop there now.

Where was it in reference to Wilkerson's Drive in? I used to go there a lot when I went to Grant. A friends' grandfather owned it. The bowling alley, Penn-44, was a Saturday morning regular for us.

[LIL_WAYNE_4_PREZIDENT08]

I'm still in the process of making my memories

[Generals64]

Where was it in reference to Wilkerson's Drive in? I used to go there a lot when I went to Grant. A friends' grandfather owned it. The bowling alley, Penn-44, was a Saturday morning regular for us.

If I remember right, Wilkerson's was west of the bowling alley. On the corner of Penn (northeast corner) on 44th st. Was there for some time my mother was the manager for both Mr. Potter and Al &n Dub. Allan Edwards later moved to a bar/grille/restaurant on S.W. 44th just west of Santa Fe...the building is still there on the south side of the street (across from Family dollar).

See if anyone out there remembers the Alamo Motel?
Agnew Theatre?
Yale theater
Knob Hill Theater?
Redskin Theater?
Chieftain Theater?
The above theater's were ALL on the Southside of town and a couple of them were pretty nice....How about Katz Drug Store in Capitol Hill?.....

Arthur School actually (1st semester of 1953-54 school year) in the basement of Herronville elementary....Parents bussed us then. Arthur opened in the second semester of that year...I was in the 2nd grade....Then, in my fifth grade year the North building was built. Mr. Lawter was the principal...then Mr. Hoggard.
Russell Browe was Grant's first principal and then he was transferred to Capitol Hill for his disciplinary control. Capitol Hill was a pretty tough school.

How about Dodson's Cafeteria?
GOT A LOT OF MEMORIES my kids don't care wish someone would write these down.

[angel27]

Remember most of that but Katz downtown when we rode the bus on Saturdays and stopped in for a soda. Do you remember Rickerts Bluff? What a great memory you have I had forgotten principles. Bicycle hills near 59th past May? Eight tracks. When hippys first appeared. When the world went crazy in 1968.
There was a drug store on 44th and May that I stopped in after school a lot of days. 25cent hamburger and 25cent chocolate malt - man, I wish you could find one that good today. Just can't. Little Jims. The farm & frame farmhouse on N side of 44th down from Roosevelt, with the horses. Rumors of gang fights between schools - never saw one. Dirt roads for the longest near Roosevelt.

[Prunepicker]

See if anyone out there remembers the Alamo Motel?

Wasn't it on Grand and S. Robinson and called the Alamo Courts? Maybe it's a different place. El Charrito's was just south of it in the apartment complex.

[ShiroiHikari]

It's been really entertaining reading this thread. I'm only 25 but I love reading about the past like this. :]

[Generals64]

Hey:....I remember the yellow suit...I remember you...I didn't however know that you went to arthur and Roosevelt. During my roosevelt time there were NO Gang Fights, just rumors. You know me very well (or you did a long time ago). Both Robinette and Mr. Price have passed away so has Bill Hair. The drug store was Shaw Drug, the IGA next door was Jim's IGA. Jim Price (Owner) was Mr. Price's cousin and the father to the owner of Little Jim's. There was a Katz Drug Store in Capitol Hill..Mr. Buck's, Emmer Brother's, John A. Brown and many more...Remember the Colliseum in Stkyards?....The big building n the Public Market was notorious for Boxing championships. Answer these and you'll figure out who. Mike said to tell you HI>>>>

[Vintage BMX'er]

Great stuff here! I'm a sout sider myself. I remember going into Kiddie City over off of 59th and Western, too. Wasn't it back in the far corner? Wasn't there a Baskin Robins facing 59th?

We would ride our BMX bikes off of 59th and Walker (the hills were called Paradise). Now it is a drainage ditch! Someone talked of the Putt Putt on Western, it is all gone. Anyone remember the Giant Slide were the car wash is now on Western?

Good stuff on here.

[Generals64]

The "Twilight Zone" is a street called Carey Place, in the historic Gatewood residential district near OCU. The legend had it that the street was a center of devil worship in the 1930's, hence the wrought iron window bars with spears on theends. (yeah, right...) But, you know how urban legends go. I believe it was also called the "doll houses". It IS a strange looking street, just because a trolley car used to have a route down that street and it is VERY narrow. Yes, it does seem quite scary driving down the street at night with a car filled with screaming impressionable teens.

The Park Terrace Theatre was at SW 58th and Western. I remember when it opened - strobe lights, big opening. It was the first theatre to open southside - prior to that, we southsiders had to go north to see a decent movie. I think that the first movie to show there was some John Wayne western. I distinctly remember seeing Mary Poppins there. It was all red velvet and gilding.

The "mansion" was supposedly a large old home out by Lake Stanley Draper in which resided an old African American gentlemen who, as legend had it, would appear at the front door with a gun and shoot at anyone who drove up the long drive. You can imagine what the name of the mansion was in that era (unfortunately). The story was that he was crazy and had killed some people. Of course, I really don't know if it even existed. Everyone I ever talked to who went there got scared and turned back before driving up the drive. I really think it's an urban legend and there never was even a mansion there.

Teri:.....The mansion you talked about was just recently torn down. It was located on N.E. 1st and Bryant in Moore. The area is really building up but it's 3-4 miles from Draper Lake. The Knob Hill was a very nice Movie Theater on S.W. 25th st. in Capitol Hill. The Oklahoma Opry is there now.....How old were your Sisters and when did they go to Grant?

Something a lot of people in OKC didn't know or don't remember was the Friday night singing on 29th and May. People like Wanda Jackson, Norma Jean, Hank Thompson and that group sang there quite often. Do you remember when
Evans Big Red store was downtown and every Saturday Night they would have a show and broadcast it on KLPR....At the time, the ORIGINAL Mathis Brothers, and Jude and Jody would be the performers. Gene and Wiley would be there (that one's probably over your Head). "BIG RED'S FIVE BY BY, FIVE BUCKS DOWN AND A WEEKLY FIVE". That was the slogan yeehaw...See ya next time.

[Generals64]

We used to go that Bonanza every once in a while. The Texas Toast was really good. Goldies was a restaurant chain that Barry Switzer was involved with several years ago. There was a Black Eyed Pea restaurant farther west on the south side of I-240 east of Penn, but it closed down several years ago and was taken over by Joe's Crab Shack. I don't know how well Joe's is doing these days, because my wife - who loves seafood - doesn't even like to go there anymore.

The Shields mall was attached to the Burlington building as recently as a few years ago. That theater became a horrible spot for drug dealers and thugs....I've heard stories from people who were in there watching a movie when the place would get raided by cops. Yikes.

There was a discount/consignment store adjacent to the theater, and after it went out, they just ripped it down and broke the "L" of the mall.

The Safeway that used to be there was of a vintage back when you knew the butcher and could watch them package the beef; alas, those days are long gone.

I do not know this for a fact, but I believe there may have been an intent eons ago to have that Shields mall simulate in some way what used to be known as (and I guess it still is) French Market Mall on NW 63rd and Western.

That reminds me of another long-time strip-mall in S. OKC that is still very much alive - at SW 59th and Western. On the NW corner is what used to be Southwestern Bank (I think it is now something like First United), and they used to have a contest to predict what time/day in the summer it would hit 100 degrees first. They had a time/temp sign when those were unique.

That mall, "Southwestern Plaza" also had one of the coolest toy stores around, called "Kiddie City." They had all kinds of games and toys...just one space over from a photography studio, Zales, Stockton's (I think), another Safeway, McDonald's Drug, OTASCO, a Merle Norman cosmetics store, Radio Shack, a small TG&Y, and Kips Big Boy Restaurant at the far southwest end. There was also a cool self-service US postal service island in the parking lot, where you could drop off parcels, buy stamps, or just drop off mail. The mall was just adjacent to a placed called "Car Wash City...." My grandmother lived the bulk of her life in a neighborhood just north of that mall. Sadly, that area is deteriorating, too....Southwood Baptist Church moved, and the building was sold/torn down, and now there's a pathetic used car lot there with a trailer as sales office...really, really ugly.

Don't you remember that mall being on the south East corner? Northwest corner had a house moving company and a Sinclair station...I used to work in that T.G.&Y.I was the first assistant manager...1965.....Then I ran the store on 59th and Penn for a number of years..

[SoonerDave]

Don't you remember that mall being on the south East corner? Northwest corner had a house moving company and a Sinclair station...I used to work in that T.G.&Y.I was the first assistant manager...1965.....Then I ran the store on 59th and Penn for a number of years..

Yes, the mall is on the SE corner, but the former Southwestern Bank is on the NW corner of that property....that's what I was referring to....

[Generals64]

Hey:...What about T.G.&Y.? Anyone remember much? You know, most of the teenagers in OKC worked at a T.G.&Y. sore at one time or another. Mr. Young (Y of T.G.&Y) was a good friend. You know there was a T.G.& Y. at the following locations.
1. Airline shopping center
2. 29th & S. May
3. 29th and S. Agnew (long time ago)
4. 29th and Kentucky
5. Capitol Hill on 25th street
6. S. E. 44th and Shields
7. S.W. 44th and Walker ( really a long time ago)
8. Reding ( #1 store in the co. for a long time..before family centers)
9. 44th and S. May
10. S.W. 59th and May
11. S.W. 59th and Penn
12. S.W. 59th and Western
13. S.W. 74th and Pennsylvania

in Capitol Hill the tile going into the store still says T.G. & Y....go see and reminesce (sp).

[TeriOKC]

Hey Mr. Generals!
I always wondered exactly WHERE the "real mansion" was. I also wondered if it didn't really exist...kind of like snipe hunts. :-)

I take it you graduated from USG in '64. You're almost a contemporary of both of my sister's. One graduated in '62 (valedictorian) and the other in '63.

Do you also remember Little Italiano's in Southwestern Plaza?

It's a shame about Southwood. We were members there from 1979-1987.

Back in the day, my sister dated "Little Jim" Price. I was about 7 or 8 at the time, and I remember him as being very nice and very handsome. He was divorced and had a small child - a daughter. I remember them coming over to the house one time.

Small world!

[Prunepicker]

Hey:...What about T.G.&Y.? Mr. Young (Y of T.G.&Y) was a good friend. You know there was a T.G.& Y. at the following locations.

I thought Y stood for yoyos. You know, Toys, Guns and Yoyos.

[Generals64]

No Man:......Turtles, Girdles and Yo-Yo's:......Tomlinson (died in 1938) Gosselin, (died in the late 70's) and Yound:... (died sometime in the late 90's, early 2000's). They named it this was in sequence of the age of the three men> Tomlinson was the oldest etc. Mr. Young however, was the brains of the outfit. He started in Kingfisher and the legend began. The first "Hired' store manager was C.A "Pat" Henderson..He ran the store in Norman and later became the first Non-Originator President and CEO then, they sold out ( to raise Capital) in the middle fifties to Household finance parent co. The company was "beat" by Wal-Mart if you look real close, Sam Walton copied T.G & Y. in the Family Center genre. T.G.&Y. was sold off by Household finance in a "Stupid" fashion and ended up in McCrory's Owner "Ishmale Ricklas" hands...They didn't know what to do and they went bankrupt....There is today's lesson T.G&Y. Still missed them......

Hey, do you remember Sussy's? In capitol hill, they made the Rowdy Kids go in the back to eat the $2.00 Combination Pizzas. Now, there was a Pizza...Ned's had nothing on Sussy's

[cindyl57]

I have lived in Moore since 1968..But when I was in High School in 1973/75...I hung out on 59th street...My best friend had went to school at SE before moving to Moore...she had friends from Rainbows that went to school at Grant...
I also worked my first job at Don's Drive Inn on 59th and Agnew....And I can remember the Donut shop on Penn or Western...
Then I worked at the day care at 59th and Western ...Little People's...

We hung out on 59th at the shopping centers between Penn and Western...
Liz drove a Bright Orange Ford Torino...
Those were the days my friend...Everybody sing now...lol

We didn't have a pool in Moore unless you were a member of the YMCA...so we went to Elmwood...I loved diving off the tower...I could dive off the 2nd tower, but the 3rd tower I had to jump off...

Well thanks for the memories...
Cindy

[Generals64]

Cindy:..My first son was born in '73. Did you sunbath on the roof of the changing rooms on on the grass?
In the front parking lot of Elmwood they had a trampoline park.
My wife was very active in Rainbows in the 60's. Her sister was "worthy advisor"?? don't know why...that wasn't nice was it?
Southwest Ford (originally) Bus Horton Ford was there where Wal-Mart is now. also, there was a small Dairy Queen type business there (on the southside of 59th).