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Hi All-My brother just introduced me to this forum this morning and I have spent a considerable amount of time enjoying all the entries. THANK YOU for such a wonderful trip down memory lane. I lived bike riding distance from the GSC from 1958-1970, attended Williams Elementary School, and was born at the Garland Hospital and Clinic that was right down Marion Drive, very close to the Resistol Hat Factory where my mom used to work. My dad worked at Kraft Foods, just down the road from Resistol. My brother was a Garland High graduate. When I was little, I wanted to grow up and be a Dashing Deb! Does anyone remember them? They were the drill team for GHS. In my (child's) memory, there must have been a HUNDRED of them lining both sides of the Williams Stadium every Friday night doing their high kick routines. My parents had 50 yard line tickets to every game every year! So sorry to digress from the subject at hand.
My husband happened to be at the intersection of Miller and Garland Roads yesterday and called me to tell me about the GSC laying in ruins (he knew what fond memories I have of that place). I called my 84 year old mother and we high-tailed to Garland to see for ourselves. Yes, it is in ruins, but I want to think that some day soon, the kids who live in those neighborhoods will have the same fond memories of the new businesses that are going to go in.
You see, I used to ride my bike to the Wyatt's Grocery Store and pick up a loaf of bread for my family (for 25 cents) and put it in my white wicker basket that was attached to the front of my blue Sting-Ray bike complete with banana seat...remember those?
I would also ride to the ME Moses and buy coloring books. My most prized purchase from there, though, was a little metal bank that was shaped like an old fashioned cash register. It only took dimes and it wouldn't let you get the money out until you had saved $10 worth of dimes. Then it magically opened! HEAVEN!! Seems like it actually showed you the total that you had saved in the register "window" so you knew how close you were to actually filling it up.
I remember trying to make a phone call from a pay phone in the Skillern's one day when they were 10 cents a call. In my childish logic, though, I only put in a nickel because I thought since my house was so close (which is where I was calling) that the cost should only be 5 cents. Needless to say, my call didn't go through. :-) By the way, the pay phones were on the wall at the end of the soda fountain stools, remember those? They were round, backless, vinyl covered Art-Deco styled stools that swiveled all the way around. What FUN!
I didn't see anyone mention that there was a bank at the far end (away from Miller Road end) of the grocery store section. The little place out in the parking lot that everyone keeps talking about being the lock-smith shop actually started out as a drive through teller location for that bank. Again, still being a child at the time, I remember wondering how the money that came into the remote teller location could actually get back to the bank...there must be underground tunnels...funny how a child thinks, isn't it?
Does anyone remember the Stern's Dress Shop that was pretty close, if not next to the Wyatt's turned Kroger store? My "best" dresses used to come from that shop. There was also a shoe store next to Stern's where the shoe salesmen had some sort of trick box (seems like there was a big wooden rabbit atop it) where they would pull a lever and the lid to a candy box would open and us kids could get a piece of candy out after we bought our shoes.
I LOVED JC Penney's! I played so many times on their stairs, bought bright red KEDS tennis shoes from their shoe department and talked my Mom into our first (and only) pair of electric scissors that we bought from their fabric department that was on the second floor. I remember peering over the edge down to the second floor and feeling dizzy.
Does anyone remember Mr. JC Penney's portrait that hung at the base of the stairs? It was HUGE! Their stairs were really wide at the base with just two or three steps then there was a landing where the portrait hung, then the stairs made a right hand turn and narrowed slightly for your ascent to the second floor.
There was also a furniture store somewhere along the route between ME Moses and JC Penney's. Since I was a kid, I didn't go in there very much...remember looking in the windows more than anything.
My dad used to get his dress shirts (white only, of course) starched and pressed at the dry cleaners across Miller Road from the GSC. Get this, they used to come FOLDED up with a paper band around them and in plastic sleeves. My dad worked his way up from the factory floor of Kraft Foods to eventually a management position in the world's largest Kraft plant in Champaign, IL! Go Dad!
Does anyone remember the beauty shop and barber shop that used to be part of the buildings along Garland Road? My whole family used to go to their respective gender shops.
Thanks for letting me walk down this memorable path with you today. I've thoroughly enjoyed myself! Keep up the good work.
Sandy, I remember everything you stated and we are probably about the same age with similar experiences. I didn't live in your area, but south of you in Orchard Hills (went to Caldwell, Memorial Jr High, and SGHS). Still, this shopping center is very much a part of my past. And yes, we went to all of the Garland HS games too when I was young. My brother graduated from GHS in 1962.
I rode my stingray to Orchard Hills center to the Piggly Wiggly for the 25 cent loaf of bread, or to Rexall when my mom would give me a nickel for an ice cream cone as a treat.
Here are some quick replies to your question Jay Watson:
1. Garland Road Drive-In Theater-My Mother tells me that she used to dress my brother and I for bed and take us to this drive-in while my Dad stayed home and studied for his night school classes he was taking at SMU at the time. She said I was still so young, I was on the bottle...so no, I don't remember it, but my brother does. :-)
2. Adams Safe & Lock-I mentioned them in my earlier post. They came after the bank quit using the little teller building that was on the north end of the parking lot. You can still see the traffic bumps that marked where the lanes were to each side of the building (the little teller building is long gone, but the bumps are still there (or at least last week they were).
3 & 4. The Garland Bank Building/Wyatt's Cafeteria-If that is the same building as was/is diagonally across from Garland High School, then I do...it was more north of GHS and across the street on the west side of Garland Road, and was multi-storied. On the first floor of the building, the Wyatt's Cafeteria was built. It later became a Luby's.
Does anyone remember Wyatt's having an organ and an organ player inside the eating area? What a treat to go there on Sunday afternoons after church! We were always in a rush to beat the Baptists there! :-) We were Lutheran and went to the church my parents helped start over 50 years ago: Peace Lutheran Church, Garland, TX.
And to eTex2, my brother graduated from GHS in 1967. He's 10 years older than I am so he's got different memories, of course. He actually worked at that GSC Kroger store for many years. I remember his manager's name was Mr. Skinner. Back then, everyone went by Mr. This and Mrs. That. We'd never dream of calling anyone our parent's age by their first names!
Oh, and yes, it was a Rick's Furniture Store. My Mother confirmed it. It was between the ME Moses and the JC Penney's Store.
And, I'd like to readjust my memory a little bit. In my earlier post I said that there was a shoe store in addition to the Stern's Dress Shop. I now think that there was a tiny shoe department inside Stern's. Either, way, there was still a magic box that had candy in it!
Someone back up the post line (can't remember who because I read it last week) mentioned the public pool. I believe it was called Central Pool and then the "new one" that was built was the Holford Pool. We could ride our bikes to the Central Pool and did every day in the summer. That's the pool I learned to swim in. My parents would buy me a season pass each summer! It was a small metal flat object that seemed like it had a serial number on it or maybe the year and it had to be sewn onto your swim suit. You had to wear the same swim suit all summer or you couldn't get in...of course back then, our parents couldn't afford for us to have multiple swim suits! Does anyone remember QT tanning lotion? It turned us orange, but we didn't care! All we wanted to do was bake in the sun...little did we know what damage we were doing to our skin.
Thanks again for the memories and for the links to the additional posts! I really enjoyed the one with the old, old pictures of Garland when it was still horse and buggy days.
Gotta go now, but maybe someone can share some memories of the following before I return:
Freda Sexton Dance Studio and...
...the parades down through the downtown Garland square...can't remember the occasions (maybe Fourth of July or Labor Day) but I was in them because of being part of the Freda Sexton Dance Studio.
The bowling alley that was one street to the east of Garland Road at Miller Road.
Peace Lutheran Church
Kraft Foods
Resistol Hat Factory
Jaycee Jubilee's
Williams Elementary at the intersection of West Way and Old Gate Lane...I went there from 1965-1971. 1st Grade: Mrs. Martin; 2nd Grade: Mrs. Hoskins; 3rd Grade: Miss Buckley; 4th Grade: Mrs. Ethridge (she taught me how to knit and I am STILL knitting! Thank you Mrs. Ethridge, or her descendants, if she's deceased); 5th Grade: Mrs. Dotson; 6th Grade: Mrs. Johnson
Does anyone know my best friend from 1st Grade to 6th Grade, Lori Lewis Meagher? I lost track of her over the years. She used to live at the intersection of Melody Lane and West Way. Her maiden name was Lewis and she married a military man whose last name was Meagher (sp?), but I don't know if they're still married. Her parents were Bill and Carolyn Lewis and Carolyn worked in the school office for several years while we attended there. Bill worked the night shift at Kraft for years.
Like I said, I gotta go! Please post more memories!!
I remember the Central Park pool quite well but don't remember the tags. The only thing I didn't like about it was the sprayer that you had to walk under when you entered or exited the pool area - that water was cold! Spent lots of time there until they built the Pecan Grove pool at Glenbrook and Centerville. Then it was bicycling distance for me. Almost every day in the summer.
The old bowling alley on Saturn Road at Miller was Fiesta Lanes. Spent many a Saturday there. My best friend and I thought we were cool to buy a pack of cigarettes from the machine and act like high schoolers while bowling when we were just 12 or 13. I smoked more cigarettes at Fiesta Lanes during one year than I did for the rest of my life. Never took it up. Thought it was outrageous that cokes at the soda fountain were 15 cents when they were 10 cents everywhere else.
The big parade in Garland was the Labor Day parade, which always coincided with the Jaycee Jubilee at Central Park. I have pics from my garage band playing there during the battle of the bands and at the dances in the gym. This would have been around 1967-68. The first year I got my driver's license I got to drive the SG cheerleaders in the parade in a Pontiac convertible furnished by my best friend's dad, the local Pontiac dealer.
Peace Lutheran Church on First Street was next door to my junior high. There were lots of fights after school, and the combatants always met behind the church on their property since fighting on school grounds would get you expelled.
LOL!!! I'm having fun with this. I love all the old memories. Even though mine are from Dallas, Farmers Branch and Carrollton it still all sounds SO familiar.
Been in Garland since 1992 and business has been here since my FIL started it in 1967. My oldest daughter attends Garland HS. She LOVES it! Says she would not want to go to any other school with all of the traditions that GHS has. Love the football games as well. It's like a cult. People from all generations still buy season tickets to GHS football games. Kids have graduated and so have some of their grandkids but people still get into GHS football games
The Dashing Debs, still there. Know many of them. LOVE their uniforms.
My daughter is in the Mighty Owl Band. She gets to march in the Labor Day Parade. We camp out in front of GHS and cheer the band on as they come by. Then the cheerleaders, band, football players for GHS all stop and turn and face GHS and play the Alma Mater and Fight Song. I love being part of this school (the high school I went to was new and still does not have any traditions). The Garland Labor Day Parade is a BIG parade and a BIG deal. Yes, I have the MOB GHS signs in my front yard and the gold "G" stickers on the back of our car windows.
The city has closed the Central Park Rec Center. My kids took swim lessons at Bradfield and been there for band swim parties. They recently redid the pool and now have the fun waterslides.
The bowling alley's in Garland were owned by one of my good friends dad. She went to SGHS. That is a funny thing too now. A lot of my daughters friends had parents that went to either GHS or SGHS.
GHS pep rallys after football games at the square. The football players and cheerleaders go after every game. The band only goes as a whole after the GHS vs SGHS game and after playoff games when they win. These are a LOT of fun.
Resistol Hats, we bought land from the former managers daughter several years ago. Her dad was given the land back around 1927 and her dad built a house for the family on it. Her mom had goats on the property and they had a couple of water wells. Got to hear a lot of old Garland history from her and her husband. When we tore the old house down we kept the wood floors and the solid wood interior doors. I ended up giving the wood from the floors to someone to put in their house. Still have the doors w/ the glass doorknobs. I'd love to give them to someone to use in a historic house.
The GISD was supposed to close Memorial Prep. It's still open this year though. ????
Ya'll probably know a lot of the same people I do. LOL!!!
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