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I worked at the Piggly Wiggly at 1950 Bandera Rd. from 1970 - 1975...It stayed open for another year after I left, but lost business to the new Albertson's store that opened at Bandera and 410 (now gone!). It closed about the same time as all of the others. I have photos of the inside and out of that store...the building was turned into a church at one time, but is empty now. There was another one further down Bandera towards town...forgot the intersection.
Do you remember Clay Garrett? He was supposedly President of Piggly Wiggly
back when they were around.
At last a site to prove to the world what a wonderfully unique city SA is. In fact I have heard from demographers that my hometown is the most like an eastern seaboard city of any place east of the Mississippi. Another words very rich in history, local folklore, culture and fiercely loyal people that are extremely proud of everything in their city. SA is the only place in Texas that has the amount of locally owned business and restaurants still in existance. Places like Tip Top, Bun N Barrell, Murf's, Little Red Barn, The Pig Stand, Griffs, heck the list could take up pages. I have lived in Georgetown now for 23 years and I still have only found two restaurants in the entire central Texas area that come close.
I was born and raised in SA and lived there from 1960-1983 and through out this time I have accumulated a book worth of unique memories and places. I believe as you will see that I have had to have come across some of you in my life. I grew between McCulloch and Jones Maltsburger. One of my life long best friend went to Marshall so I am very familiar with that side of town as well. Here are some of the more special memories I have.
North Star Mall; wow, I lived there. It was a quick five minute bike ride. Yes I remember the Myna birds. They would talk to you if you prodded them.
The fountain in front of Walgreens with the lava rocks. The Toy Box with the Corgi F1 and James Bond cars. The Luby's and fried chicken, the fish squares and that wondefull thousand island dresssing. I remember during the Watergate hearings they set up a TV in the back dining room so people would still come and eat.
The HEB on the West side of the mall. The leather shop across from it. The kids clothing store that gave away points and when you accumulated enough you could purchase cool models and stuff.
Who can remember the summer Mattel held a huge Hot Wheel racing tournament. They had a truck load of stuff as prizes and they were going to give prizes to like 50 places. But by the end of the week the were so sick of it they gave it all to the first place guy whom I know very well. In fact he cheated by putting lead in the car.
Also, I want to believe since it has been with me forever that the Mickey Mantle restaurant was in North Star down in the newer part west of Frost Brothers. Today it would be next door to the watch place that is next to the chocolate place that is across from Lidz. In fact is was off in that corner. I also remember seeing Danny Kaye in that same area.
The coolness of Record Hole, were I heard the James Gang for the first time.
I also remember a record store in the newer part of the mall across from Frost Brothers. The North Star Cinema where I saw many movies like Jungle Book in 67, the Love Bug in 68, Wait Until Dark I also remember a big glass bottom boat in the lobby for that movie. Remember the seventies construction down by Joske's and the super long plywood tunnel to connect it to the rest of the mall. Seems it was always raining and cold in there.
Playland; spent a lot of time there. We seemed to go whenever the cousins were in town. I remember the Bullitt, the Rocket, the Motorcycle kiddie ride. The weird miniature chapel. How about the fortune teller machine. By the way, the Rocket is now back in operation as the Phoenix at a park in south central Pennsylvania.
Eateries; Christies this one brings tears to my eyes. This was my parents favorite place to go and about once a month we would dress up and Dad would comb my hair for what seemed like an hour and go pig out. Remember the neon stuff on the ceiling. BBQ from Bill Millers, shrimp and fish from the original Sea Island on Rector. Mambo's Mexican Food on Blanco and there .15 cent Chalupas. Tom Engs Chinese take out on West Avenue, awesome fish dinners and egg rolls. We used to love getting waited on by his mom "You want how many egglo?" Oh yea the three for a dollar Subs at the counter in North Star Mall's Kresge's. A previous poster was right I have never found any as good since. I remember eating at the Whataburger on San Pedro at Basse that yes was the first, with my Dad and Uncle on Saturday afternoon.
Stores; Kiddie City was also in bike riding distance. They had a model and hobby section than most of todays Hobby Shops don't have. My Mom bought me the very first Hot Wheels set there in 1968 with the blue Camaro in it. Spartans next door where I bought a lot of LPS. Was also in there lost, when a thunderstorm blew through and took out the lights.
Globe were we bought most of our groceries. Mom would shop while I looked at the records right down from the entrance to the grocery section.
The little shopping plaza at San Pedro and Oblate. I still have this place in my dreams, a lot. I bought a lot of comic books there. I also remember collecting NFL team stickers off of Chiquita bananas one year. The hardware store that used to be in the middle between Handy Andy and the drug store at the end. Also, remember the indoor mall like walkway connecting these stores? Anyone remember what else was there originally. Winn's was there I think?
How about the Hobby Shop down San Pedro that had the Train running around the front that you could ride? Was this pre Terrell Plaza Dick's? I Also rmember the downtown Woolworth's as a small kid. Seems like it had two levels.Does anyone remember when the downtown Sear's had their Xmas toy store in a small house out in the parking lot? It was packed with toys and lots of slot cars and trains. Hobby Heights and there cool 1/87 WWII stuff.
I also remember the dinosaurs at Wonderland. Also the big slide, a trailer attraction with a huge model railroad in it, another time I saw a preserved whale in a trailer. There was another time they had big racing semi's out there. But my fondest memory is of the Slot Car Raceway. I would go there and watch while my parents shopped in the other parts of the mall. If you remember this place and you still live in SA you must get in the car now and head to Crossroads and go down to the food court because the son of the original owners has a Slotcar Raceway there again.In fact one of the original King tracks is still there. Anyone remember the beach balls held in the air by the vacuum cleaners as you walked in to the main entrance of Wards? They had great popcorn and malted milk balls too.
Mr Davis' Gulf Station next door to Mr M's on McCulloch. He used to give the most awesome give away prizes from Gulf. How about Butcher Brothers on Vance Jackson near Hildebrand. Used to have great meat and BBQ sandwiches. They also had one of those old style soda machines where you had to lift the bottle up and push it through a channel to the front and then lift it out. Mr Peatrees Ice House on Oblate near McCulloch. What a great place and a super nice man. I also ate a lot of hamburger's from Johnny Ringo's I also have never had a better burger since.
Well I could go on and on and on and as you can tell my profession is teaching history so I am a little weird when it come to how things used to be. If anyone wants to discuss anything about SA's wonderful history I am first in line. My wife also was born and raised down there off of Vance Jackson. We plan to return to SA when I retire in about 8 years. But we currently make monthly trips down to see family and eat. I will see what I can rmember about my teenage years next time. That one could be longer.
This is an awesome post. I also remember the floating beach balls very well. Sears in Central Park used to do the same thing, I remember playing with them as a kid while my mom shopped. and Corgi! I remember I had the white Lotus Espirit that James Bond used in the Spy Who Loved Me. Actually, I didn't get that one in SA, but while on vacation in California, but it must have been one of my favorites because I still remember it after all these years. Coincidentally, I remember seeing Star Wars for the first time at the theater at Wonderland Mall. They only had two screens at that time the movie that was playing on the other screen was....The Spy Who Loved Me. Does any body remember the Chinese Plum trees that used to be planted along the side of the Theater? I remember pulling off the plums as a kid and crushing them.
I found this little bit of history on Wonderland Mall while searching the net. It's not as good as what I found for North Star, but it is interesting in describing the historical trends that led to Wonderland, Ingram, North Star, and Windsor.
"San Antonio is possibly one of the most over-malled metros in the entire country, and its numerous vacant or recently imploded shopping malls speak to this.
San Antonio is typical of Texas cities, and of Sun Belt cities in general in its growth patterns. Unfettered growth, often with little to no zoning regulations has run rampant for several decades and suburban sprawl exists just about everywhere. In fact, San Antonio has become the second largest city in Texas and seventh largest in the country; however, due to the fact that the city has few suburbs, it is only 30th in metropolitan area rankings. Because of the unfettered growth in the latter half of the 20th century, a lot of retail strips were constructed. One of the most prolific of these is the I-410 belt around the city, but others exist along the other freeways and major thoroughfares. Several of the city’s malls were also constructed along this beltway, including the Crossroads of San Antonio, located on the northwest side of the city near the intersection of I-10 and I-410 along Fredericksburg Road.
Crossroads opened in the 1960s as Wonderland Mall and quickly became a super-regional destination for the entire area. From what we can tell, the mall chugged along and was fairly successful for quite a few years. However, as fickle as the retail market is, San Antonians shifted their shopping preferences to other centers, specifically the two which surround Crossroads on both sides of I-410. Located within five minutes on either side, both Ingram Park Mall and North Star Mall have retained shoppers’ fancy in recent years, the latter being San Antonio’s most successful retail destination for some time now.
Crossroads is also unique in that it has been profiled since 1986 by the Urban Land Institute in a case study concerning the center’s economic viability over time. The mall changed dramatically starting in the late 1980s due to swirling competition from better-positioned malls and continued to evolve into what it is today: a value-oriented mall. As is typical with the downfall and conversion of enclosed super-regionals to value-oriented or obsolete malls, the puzzle pieces don’t seem to fit right. This was definitely the case here, as while much of the mall has remained viable through off-price and local merchants and anchor stores (ie. Burlington Coat Factory, Hobby Lobby, Stein Mart), good portions of the mall remain vacant today. Take a look at the study, it also indicates the competition from other malls inspired the center to renovate and expand in 1987 before succumbing to the competition in 1991 and shifting focus to being an off-price destination. Today the mall exists as such, complementing to the malls on either side of it in its value niche. But for how long? In 2005 plans were announced to refurbish the center and reposition it to be more inviting to customers. Can we say comfy couches and carpeting?
In terms of decor, Crossroads is currently looking rather aged except for the 1987 expansion featuring the food court and its own wing, which looks very much like it doesn’t belong with the rest of the earth-toned features occupying the rest of the mall. Its two levels are set up rather interestingly in order to fit into a rather tight footprint between Fredericksburg Road and I-10, yet the mall is still rather large at 700,000 square feet."
I also found out that the Rouse Company that built North Star Mall and then sold it recently to GGP is the same company that built and owns The Shops at La Cantera. Funny, now they are competing with their own creation! You gotta love the irony of it, the company that essentially invented the enclosed shopping mall concept, which is now dying, has come back to town with a brand new open air shopping mall concept. When you think about it, what is La Cantera anyway? It's pretty much a semi-enclosed shopping mall with no roof. Contrast this with a place like the Forum and Hueber Oaks. At La Cantera, all the shops face each other across an inner promenade just like in a traditional encosed mall.
any of my young folk out there remember when the site on 281 and Blanco..was Gen-X...NorthPole and many other various club names..o yeah and the Observatory!...lol
The places I remember in Colonies North Mall..and parking are:
Handy Andy
A Drug Store (Sommers, then Revco or Walgreens)
Winns
A pet Store....I don't remember the name
Colonies North Twin - the Theater...I remember seein Jaws II there. Scholotzsky's
A Picture Frame shop
A barber shop
There was a small US post office in the middle of it.
The nightclub
Across the parking lot was Dante's Pizza, Trend House Furniture, a Dairy Queen, and J's ice House
I think the picture frame shop was called Artique. I found this caption on an item on ebay today:
"These unique VINTAGE items are from an estate!
Featured here are a set of two precious custom framed, handcrafted needlepoint pictures - one is a holly branch with red berries and a small ladybug with the words "holly" and "foresight" stitched on the top and the bottom. On a stone-colored, muslim fabric background. The other is an adorable angel in a red dress holding a gold star; also on a stone-colored muslim fabric background. Each measures 6" x 8".
Each print is framed in a silver wood frame, and backed with a paper backing and hook. Sticker says "Artique - Colonies North Mall, San Antonio". VERY vintage - mall has been gone for more than 25+ years!"
And let's not forget Central Park Fox as well as Century Park South.
I love the Marquee from Century Park South, I've seen every movie except one on it, and remember exactly where:
Last flight of Noah's Ark--Colonies North Mall
The Empire Strikes Back (I still think this is the best movie ever made)--Northwest 6 or 10
Smokey and the Bandit !!--North Star Mall theater
101 Dalmations--Northwest again
The rest I saw on HBO. As an adolescent boy at the time, The Blue Lagoon, was...well...you know.
GWhopper you are the man, is 2 and 3 Century South?
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