Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (Dallas: codes, shopper)

[Willsatx]

Great post GJ where the Las Palapas stand was that once a Pollo Loco?

[Buffyfan]

Wow...I totally forgot about Skaggs. Haven't heard that name in a while. That was in the 70s, right?

[Bluebonnet Mom]

There was a Pizza Inn on the Sombrero Rosa Corner. Definitely '70's - don't remember when it closed.

[GJTexas]

I don't remember it being a Pollo Loco it could have been. Don't remember the Pizza Inn either. Across the street there used to be a Handy Andy grocery store. Near the Winchells donut shop on the same side of the street was a 100,000 auto parts store. The neat thing about the Skaggs-Albertson store is that it sold a lot more stuff then just groceries which was a very novel idea at the time. This was the mid to late seventies. They had albums and small electronics etc. Even after they renamed the store we still used to call it the Skaggs store. At that time everyone from Churchill would hang out in either the Albertsons parking lot or the McDonalds parking lot. There also used to a bicycle shop just up Blanco from West Ave. I think it was called the Bike Barn. This was back during the first renaissance of skate boarding and they also sold skate boards and parts.

[GJTexas]

I have been reading the long history of posts on this forum and so I will probably seem to be posting erratically as certain post's jog my memory. I grew up in the Dellview area. I went to high school at Churchill. My family had somebody attending Churchill from the day it opened until I graduated in 79. (that tells you how old I am)

One of my first jobs was working at the Handy Andy in Wonderland Mall. (I wonder what happened to the sign that was on top of the store) I remember that all of the storage space was underneath the store. When trucks arrived the boxes were hand unloaded from the trucks and sent down ramps into the basement. When you returned bottles at the front of the store they went down a little dumbwaiter in baskets. The bottles were then sent on conveyor belts in the back of the store to be loaded into the trucks. It wasn't a very efficient system with so much hand labor. There was a store that was in the mall that I haven't seen mention on this forum yet and that store was Rhodes. It was in the back of the mall and had parking underneath it. There was an entrance to the mall under there where when you walked in the mall entrance was the slot care racing on the right and on the left was the game arcade. The game I remember from that arcade was a helicopter that you flew around in circles. The first video game there was pong. It was mostly pin ball machines and hockey games. (the kind with the arms that you moved to move the players)

Also on the lower level was a Pier 1 imports, The toy box, tandy's leather and a cool novelty magic store called Fosters Fun shop.

[DickZ]

Originally Posted by GJTexas

...One of my first jobs was working at the Handy Andy in Wonderland Mall....

That's great - my first job was as a package boy at Handy Andy in North Towne Plaza (intersection of San Pedro and Oblate) in about 1956 or thereabouts. I guess if I was in that same boat today, I couldn't even get a job, because they don't have that position anymore. We would bag the groceries after the checker punched the items up, then carry them out to the customer's car with our little carts, and put them into the car. We were told not to accept tips, but some of the customers insisted so we didn't argue with them.

[Willsatx]

Great stories from you both regarding handy andy, GJ could you tell us more about the Churchill area when you were in high school.

[rexkwandosatx]

Originally Posted by Willsatx

Great stories from you both regarding handy andy, GJ could you tell us more about the Churchill area when you were in high school.

yeah, it would be cool to hear more about that area during the 70's, especially about Churchill as i am also a grad (class of '96). thanks for the great posts all of you.

[jbksgirl]

I used to go elementary school downtown on the riverwalk @ St. Mary's School. It had a gym in the basement, a playground on the roof and an old underground tunnel that led to St. Mary's Church across the street. They closed the school for good a few years ago. There was a sporting good store next door call Photernicks (??) or something like that.

[TexasRedneck]

Anyone remember Paula's cafe, next to the hardware store on Bandera Rd - across the street from Poss Rd? She and he husband Raymond - he lost a leg in WWII, IIRC. Really nice folks - she taught me how Mexican food was supposed to taste! Then there was Meiske's gas station, which became Snavely's (sp) right there at Bandera and Sawyer Rd. I can remember when they tore down the Seneca Country Club - lots of summers spent there! Mr. Austin would just wave me through most of the time without paying an entry fee. First learned how to hate tennis on those courts in that pit!

And the old Bandera drive-in theatre....an' the Dairy Queen down by Randy's - used to be THE place to be on Saturday nights.