Survey for Clifton Heights residents (Philadelphia, Chester: hair salon, home, movie theaters)

[magicoz]

1. When was the Kmart by the Lansdowne border built?

2. Did the "Clifton Gas & Wash" gas station behind Kmart ever used to be a Mobil? Kind of looks like it to me but I can't tell. I know it was Coastal before. If so, when was Mobil built, and when did Coastal take it over?

3. When was the old Wine & Spirits (where HobbyTown USA is now) built? Was it built around the time the Bazaar closed?

4. Were you surprised when it moved from that spot to next to Block Jewelers in Springfield?

5. Does the Burger King in town still have a smoking section?

6. Does the Pizza Hut in town have beer on their menu?

7. When did the Penn Fruit (now Burlington) close? I know most of the Penn Fruit chain closed in 1979, but a few of their stores closed in 1976. Which round was this one?

[couldntthinkofaclevername]

The only thing I care about when it comes to Clifton Heights businesses are actual Clifton Heights businesses, not chains, and anybody who feels otherwise should not be living in Clifton Heights.

Chains screwed and are continuing to screw that borough. The fact that a great place like the Bazaar and the movie theaters in Clifton Heights closed down for chains is a disgrace. Clifton Heights deserves so much better than that.

[OptimusPrime69]

Originally Posted by couldntthinkofaclevername

The only thing I care about when it comes to Clifton Heights businesses are actual Clifton Heights businesses, not chains, and anybody who feels otherwise should not be living in Clifton Heights.

Chains screwed and are continuing to screw that borough. The fact that a great place like the Bazaar and the movie theaters in Clifton Heights closed down for chains is a disgrace. Clifton Heights deserves so much better than that.

who died and made u the authority on who should be living in clifton heights?

NO ONE.

Anyway, I think it's a state wide law that there cannot be smoking in places where food is served with the possible exception of a bar. . .

but places like burger king and chain restaurants dont really have smoking sections.

[couldntthinkofaclevername]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69

who died and made u the authority on who should be living in clifton heights?

NO ONE.

Anyway, I think it's a state wide law that there cannot be smoking in places where food is served with the possible exception of a bar. . .

but places like burger king and chain restaurants dont really have smoking sections.

I did.

Because I grew up there and have very close ties to that area and to every part of working class Delaware County. Clifton Heights needs people who care about the community and want to continue to add to the already great CLIFTON HEIGHTS businesses in that borough, not people who want to go to some chain places and treat it like some place they can use for whatever they want the way the chains have and continue to do.

Oh, and spell correctly, CHESTER COUNTY. My Clifton Heights education didn't stop me from doing so, so you have no damn excuse not to.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69

Anyway, I think it's a state wide law that there cannot be smoking in places where food is served with the possible exception of a bar. . .

Bingo, and even there, the smoking ban still applies if food revenue exceeds a certain ratio.

[magicoz]

That particular Burger King still had smoking in the section in the back right corner by the bathrooms as of about 10 years ago. Most Burger Kings had banned smoking long before that. Personally as a smoker I miss the right to smoke in a restaurant. I remember when old people used to smoke and watch TV there at breakfast. They had a tall stack of disposable ashtrays at the counter, and there was a not-so-clear no smoking sign in the front half of the restaurant. And the cinema by the bazaar WAS part of a chain, a huge chain, General Cinema Corporation. They once had a near-monopoly on the theater business in the USA, but failed (and rightly so) because they thought their monopoly gave them a right to let their facilities become crappy. AMC and Regal were building much bigger theaters with arcades years before General Cinema ever tried to catch up. The particular location by the Bazaar closed 10 years before the rest of the chain was bought by AMC. I think AMC wanted to merge with them as early as 1981 or something like that, but it never happened for 20 years.

[couldntthinkofaclevername]

Originally Posted by magicoz

That particular Burger King still had smoking in the section in the back right corner by the bathrooms as of about 10 years ago. Most Burger Kings had banned smoking long before that. Personally as a smoker I miss the right to smoke in a restaurant. I remember when old people used to smoke and watch TV there at breakfast. They had a tall stack of disposable ashtrays at the counter, and there was a not-so-clear no smoking sign in the front half of the restaurant. And the cinema by the bazaar WAS part of a chain, a huge chain, General Cinema Corporation. They once had a near-monopoly on the theater business in the USA, but failed (and rightly so) because they thought their monopoly gave them a right to let their facilities become crappy. AMC and Regal were building much bigger theaters with arcades years before General Cinema ever tried to catch up. The particular location by the Bazaar closed 10 years before the rest of the chain was bought by AMC. I think AMC wanted to merge with them as early as 1981 or something like that, but it never happened for 20 years.

You don't have a constitutional right to smoke anywhere let alone a restaurant. Also, 10 years ago? As in 2002? I don't remember that at all and I went to that Burger King to get food pretty often until I moved out.

There's a difference between a chain theater and a chain restaurant/fast food place or store. Also, there were 3 cinemas in the area, including the former drive-thru where the K-Mart now stands. Clifton Heights Cinema (now an auto body repair garage I believe) was most definitely not a chain.

I remember when the GCC/Sameric closed down and became a Modells. I don't need to be educated about my hometown.

[Boompa]

The K mart was the Clifton Drive In Movie, sold and developed in the early 1970s
Hows that for an answer from Arizona?

[magicoz]

Yes, I remember it was summer of 2002 to be exact that I last visited the Burger King. In fact the same day I had just seen Men in Black II at the Granite Run AMC. And I took an extra ashtray home to use as a souvenir. Springfield Mall had a Burger King inside which closed in early 2003. Believe it or not, a portion is still empty. The rest is a MasterCuts hair salon. Guess what else? In 2000-2001, you could actually smoke in a Wal-Mart/Walmart snack bar. All their stores in Texas had 50's themed "Radio Grill" snack bars that were always smoke-filled. KFC wasn't smoke-free then, at least the ones in Florida. I remember going to one in Jacksonville on vacation in 2000 and several employees on break were smoking. The Sbarro at Granite Run Mall (which broke off from Sbarro and is now called Sandro Pizza) was smoky too as of 2002. There was a fast food seafood chain in Texas called Captain D's which I also have many smoky memories of from around 2000.

[Michael J. McFadden]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69

Anyway, I think it's a state wide law that there cannot be smoking in places where food is served with the possible exception of a bar.

I believe the ground rule for bars allowing smoking was that less than 20% of their income was allowed to come from food. As of this time there are over 2,900 bars in Pennsylvania that still legally allow smoking (there's an interactive web site someplace where you can find ones close to you if you like, plus there are reputedly many establishments that allow smoking "off the books" when it's late and only regulars are present etc.) and (I believe) most or all "private clubs" outside of the ones in Philadelphia are still allowed Free Choice in deciding their own smoking rules.

Of course the Antismokers are very unhappy with that and are now moving to "close the loopholes" -- although those "loopholes" were the only thing that allowed them to get the law passed in the first place.

If I'm remembering correctly the vote on that was one of the most unusual I've ever seen (maybe excluding the ban vote that Michael Nutter interrupted halfway through the vote-recording when he realized his bill was going to lose!). The PA legislators voted the ban DOWN. That *should* have been the end of it. But somehow, late that night, some kind of backroom deal was struck, and THE SAME BILL was suddenly voted on a second time the following day and was passed!

How either of those happenstances were legal I'll never know, but normal rules don't seem to apply in the antismoking arena.