Gone but not forgotten in San Antonio! (Houston, Kirby: babysitter, central)

[Rayzr77]

Hi everyone! This is my first post on here but i have read all 350 memory-filled pages over the past few weeks (at work, don't tell my boss ). I have never seen a thread take a life of it's own like this one has. It has been great fun reading about places I've been to, places I've heard about and learning some things about SA's past. It was like a book I couldn't put down. So thank you to everyone that has posted their memories of places gone but not forgotten to this thread.

I was born in 1977 and grew up in SA so most of my recollections will be from the 80's and early 90's. I moved away in '93, but still visited very often as I had family in SA. I currently live in Austin, but most of my immediate family still lives in SA so I still make frequent trips down south (will actually be heading down this weekend). I know these places and memories are relatively new compared to some other places and times that have been mentioned on here, but they are my memories none the less. Therefore most, if not all of these places have already been mentioned in here.

I grew up mostly in the NE side of SA. My first house was on Castle Prince Rd between Eisenhauer and Rittiman, E of 35. The one thing I remember the most from living there was the great snow storm of '85. We then moved to Converse (Kitty Hawk Rd and Topperwein area). Most places I remember were from the Walzem Rd area as this is where we went most of the time we needed anything. Sorry guys, I know this is super long but there are so many things I remember. So here it goes!

-Sound Warehouse (Walzem Rd.): I remember buying my first cassette ever there. Fresh Prince-Parents Just Don't Understand. LOL Would always go to the Baskin Robbins next to it, also.

-Diversions game room (Walzem Rd.) It was in a shopping center and my mom would drop me off there when she went to Target or somewhere. Man I spent many quarters there. Not sure which games I would play, though.

-There was a baseball card store on Montgomery (Windcrest Cards maybe?) and I would go there every weekend just to look at the stuff. I bought tons of cards there to fill out my collections. I loved it.

-Diamond J's (Montgomery Rd I think) I wouldn't go there that often but I remember playing pool and stuff there sometimes during the summer.

-Sombrero Rosa (Walzem Rd): I remember it was shaped like a sombrero and they had tons of sombreros on the walls inside. Weren't they painted pink?

-Puffin' Billie's (Walzem, across from mall): Man, these burgers got us through many a times. My mom would always bring us some burgers when she was running late from work. I remember the lettuce was super green. I never figured out why they had two drive thru's. Guess they didn't want the passenger to feel left out .

-Po' Folks Restaurant (Walzem & 35): My dad would always take me here cause they had all you can eat chicken fried steak.

-Aunt Julie's Restaurant: I absolutely loved this place. All you can eat chicken fried steak, delicious mashed potatoes and awesome biscuits. I would seriously pig out here. Does anybody know why they closed?

-Malibu Grand Prix: Went there a lot. It had an arcade, putt-putt golf, bumper boats and a race track! I believe it also had batting cages. Always had fun. Last time i passed through there, I still saw the castle and other various structures but couldn't tell if they were still open or not. I always thought they were closed.

-Alamodome opening: I remember always wanting to pass by downtown so I could see them building the dome. I was fascinated with it. I was wishing and hoping we would get an NFL team. Still waiting....

-Pope visit: I remember all the buzz around town and all the stations carried his mass and other events live. I actually got to see the pope cruise past me in his popemobile downtown. I think it was near the Express News building. I walked up to a barricade and literally got there right when he passed by. I must've been at that spot for about 5 secs before he got there. Talk about perfect timing. I still have my purple banner commemorating the visit to the US. That area where the mass was held was nothing but open field. Not anymore!

-I remember watching the movie "Cloak and Dagger" several times at the theater. Does anybody remember that movie? It starred Henry Thomas (kid from ET) and was filmed in SA. The only reason I watched it was because SA came out and was proud that it was in an actual movie!

-Sometime after Rolling Oaks mall opened (I think) they had Olympic star Greg Louganis there signing autographs. I remember standing in line for a long time, but I got the autograph . Never really cared for that mall, though.

-Speaking of autographs, during Sean Elliott's rookie year he was at one of the dealerships on Judson Rd & 35 signing autographs. He signed his pic but he saw me wearing a Spurs cap and asked me if I wanted him to sign my cap. I couldn't say no to that. Unfortunately I had to retire the cap. I couldn't ruin his autograph . Oh and my mom got Rod Strickland's autograph at Albertson's, even though she didn't know who he was. She just saw everyone else asking for it . She also saw Charlie Sheen at Sea Island. I did see the guy who plays Robocop at EZ's in Sunset Village for some reunion in the late '80's. I thought that was cool at the time.

-I was always a Spurs fan, but thanks to David Robinson, I became a fanatic and still am. His rookie year I had Robinson posters all over my walls, I had numerous t-shirts of his, I always made my dad by his shoes for me, I would buy as many of his basketball cards I could and I actually got to see some games at the Arena. I was in 7th grade his rookie year. I think he will always be my favorite Spur.

-Last but not least, the hub of many memories, Windsor Park Mall. Since this post is long enough, I'll put those in a separate post.

Well guys, thanks for letting me share my memories of growing up in SA, as recent as it may have been. I'll do my part to contribute as much as I can. If by some chance I stumble upon some older pics, I would be more than happy to post some. It amazing, but I didn't realize how much growing up in SA meant to me until I read this thread. It will just make me appreciate the city more when I go down there to visit and when I eventually move back. Hopefully soon. One of these days I will do a little exploring down there and check out some of the places that have been talked about on here. I think I'm gonna start taking some more pics when I go out so that when this thread is still going in 20 years I can post some of places that will then be gone but not forgotten. Later.

[Rayzr77]

Out of all the places in SA, WPM probably holds the most memories for me. I think I spent more time there while I was growing up than any other place. That picture of the movie box office that was posted earlier really hit the spot for me. Thank you to whoever posted that. That is the entrance we always used when we went in. There was an Arby's to the right of the entrance that I ate at many, many times. Next to it was good ole Luca Pizza. Talk about greasy. Alladin's Castle was on the left side of the entrance and went in there everytime I was in the mall, which was a lot. Then the movie theatre. Wow, I saw a lot of 80's movies in there. ET, Jaws 3-D...too many to list. All of my back to school shopping was done at the mall. Usually Penney's, Sears or Montgomery Ward's. I remember my mom had a job at the Chic-fil-a before it was in the food court in the early 80's. She was even on their softball team. It was on the first floor, near one of the dept. stores (Ward's I think). There was a K-B toy store near there and also Radio Shack. My dad got the first cell phone of anyone in our family at the Southwestern Bell store in '94 I believe. The phone was huge and he only got 30 mins of talk time a month! It was truly only for emergencies. I remember my uncle buying tons of Star Wars action figures at Sears. I remember going into Spencer's to check out the adult gag toys and chicks in bikini's posters . I remember eating at Wyatt's many times. I believe it got turned into a Jailhouse Cafe which I think I only ate at once. The first dog I ever had ('83) was named after the mall. While it wasn't in the mall, my dad would always take me to the Toy's R Us which was next door. I just have so many memories of this place.
The last time I was in it was '05. All that was left was Mervyn's. While my mom was shopping, I decided to venture out into the mall area to see what it looked like. Of course it was dead. I think there was a carpet store in there but that was about it. It was hot since they didn't even have the a/c running. Too bad that was my last image. Just to confirm, the malls doors are closed and there absolutely no stores in there anymore, correct?

[stuck in florida]

I have a lot of memories of Windsor Park Mall also. I remember the theatre most of all. My brother and I were going to see Raiders of The Lost Ark and then right after that we were planning to see Clash of The Titans. They both opened on the same day. Anyways, we saw Raiders first and decided it was so good that we had to watch it again, instead of "Clash". That was on the first Saturday the movie opened. I think that "Raiders" stayed in the theatre for like a year!
I also remember buying a ticket to see Fast Times At Ridgemont High even though I was only sixteen. They didn't id me, and I was shocked.
Another movie I remember seeing there was Time Bandits. The theatre was packed to the gills and I had to sit next to a very large woman who had a perfume on that gave me a headache and literally made me ill. I had to leave about 30 minutes into the movie and waited for my friends outside. I still have never seen the rest of that movie. Oh well, until next time.

[Willsatx]

Ray great memories of WPM I was always a fan of the whatburger inside the mall and the pizza place. Its so sad that whole mall is gone.

[Rayzr77]

Yes, of course, the Whataburger. A friend's mom worked at the sewing store (Singer?) that was next to it so sometimes we would stop in for a burger after we stopped by the sewing store.

[Dwangle]

I remember when windsor park mall opened..I was working a Monarch paper co. just down the road in the business park. They built the Coors dist. right across the street next to Fleming foods. Ed Mac Man from the Jonny Carson show was there for the grand opening. I know it seems funny now but there were so many malls that one more didn't seem any big deal

[pacific_trader]

Man, Rayzr77 it's like you and I have the exact same memories. Strange how a place can have that effect on you. My mom used to always drop us off at the underground parking garage, me and my friends would either get Arby's or Luca's Pizza, go to the movies, blow money at the book/comic store, hang out in Toy Box or Montgomery Wards toy department, or get some burgers at Chelsey's Pub (if we were with our folks!).

I still have some old Ninja Magazines and Black Belt Magazines I bought at that mall, and some cool reflective Ninja stickers I bought in the machine at Aladdin's Castle. We played games there alot, but across the street was the REAL action. Diversion's Gameroom was awesome, but I dropped most of my money at that Dungeons Comic shop over there.

But strangely, some of my best memories of Walzem are from the Albertson's near the school. I'd go there with my mom and while she shopped I'd get a bunch of magazines or rent some new VHS releases. There used to be a Mrs. Bairds bakery across the street from there, we used to get tons of those little apple and cherry pies.

I was back in SA two weeks ago, so of course I hit Bill Miller's on Walzem to see how it had changed. It's so sad that WPM and Target are gone, but hopefully the area has stabilized and won't get any more ghetto.

[Willsatx]

Yes it so sad how the area went down so quickly. hope it gets back up soon.

[Rayzr77]

Hey pacific_trader, that's cool that we have similar memories of the place. You reminded me of that Albertson's because that is where we did all of our grocery shopping, not HEB, and I distinctly remember renting videos from there as well. Before we had a vcr, we would rent one from Albertsons along with our videos. It was this suitcase-like contraption. I had totally forgotten about that! I'm in SA right now visiting from Austin and actually will be checking out the area as I haven't been down in that area since my mom moved to the 281/Bulverde area a few years ago. I have some time to kill so I will be exploring other parts of the city a little bit as I usually don't have a chance to when I visit.

[pacific_trader]

That was back when a new release would get like one or two available, so you had to get there early. Of course, it was due back right away, late fees apply, no negotiations. Today, a new release at Blockbuster has like 70 of them available, and everybody is dropping late charges. Kids today have it so good.