Things you don't see in Huntsville anymore (Montgomery, Madison: for sale, Home Depot)

[julilg]

Cool Stuff !

I arrived here near the dying days of "The Mall" and even took a night class there when a portion of it served as Calhoun's 1st Huntsville Campus.

At that time Madison Sq. was the hot place to shop, even for South Hunstville residents, which led to the renovations of Parkway mall to re-attract shoppers. A lot of folks believed it was the beginning of what would become an ongoing war of remodeling. Very few thought this area could sustain two malls, never mind add Bridge Street and the new stores at the "The Mall" location and two Target anchored and other shopping strips.

Wow, thinking about it re-iterates for me how much growth has occured in a relatively short period of time.

[mm42]

Here's the old Lyric Theater downtown:

http://z.about.com/d/huntsville/1/0/...ricTheater.jpg


And the Westbury Theater on Airport Road:

http://americanclassicimages.com/Des...jpg&PORTALID=0


And the Madison Theater at Parkway City Mall:

http://americanclassicimages.com/Des...jpg&PORTALID=0

[hey teach]

I remember "The Mall". There was a "Hickory Farms" store we used to go there to buy whiskey sour candy.

There was also a drive-in theater on north parkway as well.

[Southlander]

"The Mall" was dying long before Madison Square Mall opened. They did several renovations, but it got to be a ghost town, with a few hip-hop-type clothing stores, Toys R Us and BooksaMillion.
BUT....back in the day, it was THE place to go. My mom bought most of my college wardrobe there, at Loveman's. We would clamor to go to Sunday lunch at....Piccadilly's (I think..or was it Britling's?), and then walk over to the Anderson Bookstore across the mall...which on Sunday were the ONLY places open!

Parkway Place was originally built as a strip mall, anchored on the north end by Montgomery-Ward. The first expansion was a two-story Pizitz built in the parking lot on the south end. Gosh, we thought we were SO uptown when Pizitz came north from Birmingham to build that store. It was HUGE! The tornados of 1974 did Parkway Place an enormous favor by tearing the place up - about half was destroyed. That paved the way for Parkway to become a true indoor mall.

Dunnivant''s anchored the old Heart of Huntsville Mall, which was a curious combination of strip and enclosed mall. The center was covered, but the mall was actually open to the elements - no doors or closings. Dunnivant's moved from their four? five?-story downtown store to the mall, but the mall was never a huge success. I used to buy baby and kid's clothes at the big Health-Tex-Carter's outlet, which was replaced by Burlington Coat Factory.

By the way, we all lament the disappearance of Parisian from Alabama. Parisian originated in Birmingham. Their first non-Birmingham store was...not in Huntsville, but Decatur. The Hess family was good friends with the Sheltons of Decatur (who own the Decatur Daily). I imagine there was some bankrolling involved in bringing the store to Decatur. Whatever investments were made were handsomely rewarded over the years.

And the first regional airport back in the immediate post-war years was Pryor Field, just north of Decatur in Limestone County. The airport was a training facility for pilots during the war. One of those pilots established a new regional airline, Southern Airlines, out of Atlanta, with Pryor Field as one of its first regular airports (and with the Sheltons as major backers). Because of its regional status, when the hub was moved from Pryor to Huntsville, the FAA mandated that the "Decatur" be retained in the name. It's why you still hear Huntsville's "Jetport" (its first name) referred to as "Huntsville-Decatur."

[skinem]

I remember all the old malls and the last airport--but not the first airport.

Huntsville grows so fast I know people don't even realize for awhile that something might be gone and something else in its' place...I find myself in that camp now that I don't come in on a daily basis.

This last Friday was the first time in about 2 months I'd been into town, and I driving around thinking "I don't remember that. Was that there the last time I was here?"...etc.

[Crashj007]

Originally Posted by Charles

<> Are there other things worth posting in this thread that you don't see in Huntsville anymore?

Besides Werner von Braun?

[oakparkdude]

As a kid, I ate many a meal at the Piccadilly's and threw a lot of penny's into the fountain at The Mall.

[Bamachic80]

As someone who isn't a local to Huntsville, where exactly was "the mall" located? I may have missed that detail?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Bamachic80

As someone who isn't a local to Huntsville, where exactly was "the mall" located? I may have missed that detail?

Where the Toy R Us is now and that is northwest of Memorial Parkway and University

toys r us near 35801 - Google Maps

[mm42]

Huntsville Rewound (AL/USA) Rocket City USA