Remember when... (Charleston, Hampton, Bowman: movie theaters, schools, shopping center)

[jetsfan16]

It's sad now, Parkwood, and especially Briarcliff, are drug-filled areas, right around the car dealerships. Magnolia Drive-In I believe is now the Triangle Char and Bar. They also redid St. Andrews Shopping Center, and they are putting in a Harris Teeter.

Remember when that mall was packed every day, and had it's own mall section, where you could see Santa? They don't have that now.

[Geechie North]

When the Mark Clark was built some of the N. Chas sleaze migrated West of The Ashley. Another factor was the auto dealerships, then located on E. Bay St, all migrating to the Savannah Hwy. Bye bye Magnolia Drive-in. Bye Bye West Of The Ashley.

[moneill]

Malls are struggling everywhere.

[RiWrites]

What would be considered the best mall in Charleston or are they all going down hill?

[SCBeaches]

We only have 2: Northwoods is the larger one and is off of Rivers Ave. in North Chas. while Citadel Mall is smaller and off of Savannah Hwy, near the 526 exit. Both have stores closing but still have the larger dept. stores. I go to Citadel Mall maybe 2 or 3 times a year because that one is closer to me....they have Belk, JC Penney, Sears, and I think another large store. It serves its purpose for what I may need....I also like Tanger Oulet which is built like a town center and is in N. Chas. Malls across the country are being replaced by "town centers" it seems, as the malls encourage "hanging out and not buying" which also brings about more pick pockets and muggings. I read somewhere that in 5 years there will be no more malls.

[IOPbaby]

A lot of kids hang out at Town Center in Mount Pleasant but so do the police so they keep them in line!

[gonelongtime]

Originally Posted by jetsfan16

Edward Gilbreth still is one of the big wigs at the Post and Courier, having one of the editorial positions. The longevity at the paper is one of the best in the nation. Charles Bennett, along with 24 others working for the paper, were laid off last week.

Most of the columnists have been there more than a decade, and people that were interns in the mid 1970s are editors now at the paper.

He still does his article in the James Island Journal periodically, along with the rest of the Your Lowcountry papers.

Charleston really needs its paper, as ways of getting news have dropped in the last two decades. Remember when WTMA, WCSC, WQSN (1450), WXTC, and even WKTM had their own news departments? Now, only WTMA has a news department.

I lived in Riverland Terrace on James Island for many years before joining the Air Force and moving away. This thread is bringing back many memories.

As a kid, I delivered the evening newspaper to the Gilbreth place on Maybank Highway.

Does anyone remember the year they merged James Island High and Gresham Megget? The latter became the vocational education school, and they used to bus the students over there several times daily. Ft. Johnson High hadn't been built yet, and JIHS had an incredible band directed by Gordon Bobbett.

Speaking of bands, who remembers the Charleston County Youth Band? That was directed by Pat Leonard at the Charleston School of Music, and the best of that band played in "The Charlestonians" directed by Danny Leonard, Pat's son. We played many gigs for the Shrine Temple.

Other than boat, there were only two ways off James Island into Charleston. That was the Wappoo bridge and taking the long way to Hwy 17 via Johns Island. The third way off was to Folly Beach, but that was a quick trip to nowhere.

How about Geezers out near Folly Beach? We used to use his pier to catch crabs and a sunburn. For a few pounds of chicken necks, a few sinkers, string, and a net, you could catch several bushels worth of crabs.

My first summer jobs were working in the cucumber and tomato packing sheds on Johns Island and the old ride lot at Folly Beach.

Who remembers when 16 year olds could drive a school bus? They were governed to 35 MPH, but we could still get into trouble. After leaving James Island High, I drove a bus at First Baptist Church School to pay for my tuition.

After First Baptist, I worked for WQSN until I left South Carolina. We had a news department during the day, (anyone remember Tom Manion?), and the air staff read copy off the AP wire teletype at night. Had a lot of fun there, and the staff was a collection of crazies that was always trying to one up each other.

Ahhhh memories.

Jim

[IOPbaby]

Originally Posted by gonelongtime

I lived in Riverland Terrace on James Island for many years before joining the Air Force and moving away. This thread is bringing back many memories.

As a kid, I delivered the evening newspaper to the Gilbreth place on Maybank Highway.

Does anyone remember the year they merged James Island High and Gresham Megget? The latter became the vocational education school, and they used to bus the students over there several times daily. Ft. Johnson High hadn't been built yet, and JIHS had an incredible band directed by Gordon Bobbett.

Speaking of bands, who remembers the Charleston County Youth Band? That was directed by Pat Leonard at the Charleston School of Music, and the best of that band played in "The Charlestonians" directed by Danny Leonard, Pat's son. We played many gigs for the Shrine Temple.

Other than boat, there were only two ways off James Island into Charleston. That was the Wappoo bridge and taking the long way to Hwy 17 via Johns Island. The third way off was to Folly Beach, but that was a quick trip to nowhere.

How about Geezers out near Folly Beach? We used to use his pier to catch crabs and a sunburn. For a few pounds of chicken necks, a few sinkers, string, and a net, you could catch several bushels worth of crabs.

My first summer jobs were working in the cucumber and tomato packing sheds on Johns Island and the old ride lot at Folly Beach.

Who remembers when 16 year olds could drive a school bus? They were governed to 35 MPH, but we could still get into trouble. After leaving James Island High, I drove a bus at First Baptist Church School to pay for my tuition.

After First Baptist, I worked for WQSN until I left South Carolina. We had a news department during the day, (anyone remember Tom Manion?), and the air staff read copy off the AP wire teletype at night. Had a lot of fun there, and the staff was a collection of crazies that was always trying to one up each other.

Ahhhh memories.

Jim

Jim - since you were in radio here (and television is a related media) you might like this link if you haven't already heard about it:

An elephant they never forgot

I'm sure you remember Suzy Q!

I remember Gresham Meggett very well; I attended JIHS my freshman year but then had to switch when FJHS opened. I took typing at GM and yes, rode the bus there - I always thought that was a crazy arrangement but I guess it's all they could do at the time. Gordon Bobbett ended up at FJ if I remember correctly; I seem to remember him as our band director. And I do remember that students drove buses - several of my friends did and that was probably a mistake!

Do you, or anyone, remember the tomato sheds right across from FJHS? That's where my brother worked as a kid and it was a pretty large operation. They used to have tomato fights when the boss wasn't looking and he'd come home a mess!

I loved "Cheaper by the Dozen" and Gilbreth's other writings, especially the articles he wrote as Lord Ashley Cooper.

This is a fun site - I'm enjoying remembering things I'd forgotten about.

[ZUMAN]

^^^
It's hard to believe they used to let students drive school buses - at both public and private schools. And student drivers were allowed to keep their buses at their houses during the school year.

[SCBeaches]

I remember teaching at C.C. Blaney on Yonges Island (early and mid '80's), and the teenage bus drivers would leave the parking lot side-by-side, drag racing out onto Hwy. 152!!! Used to scare me to death! The principal would call it in to the head of bus transportation, but nothing seemed to be done about it because those same teenage boys continued driving those buses for years.