Remembering Mobile from the 60s-80s (Tillmans Corner, Saraland: to buy, casino, dangerous)

[Passing Through]

Hmmm...the nail place I am thinking of was a different one. This one was there in the early to mid 1980's. It was close to a jewelry store called David's Jewelry, which I believe was owned by a man named David W a n k. (Ha! The program censors his last name when I type it all together.)
The name Tip N Toe does sound familiar, though.

There used to be a place in Springdale Mall that sold prom dresses and the like. Again, this was the early to mid '80's. It was on the same hall but at the opposite end of Montgomery Ward.

Anyone remember Raphael's? We couldn't afford to shop there, but I do remember my mother bought a blue velour shirt (!!!) for me from there when I was in the 8th grade. Wore it with my add-a-beads.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Who remembers Duff's Smorgasbord? I think it was on Airport Blvd. It was the biggest buffet I had seen in my life in the early 1980s.

[bon_regis]

I've heard of Duff's, I think it used be where Pier One is currently located.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Who remembers the checkerboard water tower that stood at the old Brookley Air Force Base for a number of years after it was closed?
Who remembers when Malbis was just a Greek agrarian community with a beautiful church and old motel?

[RandBrant]

I lived off of Cottage Hill Road on Granada Avenue. What is now Huffman Estates used to be a huge cow pasture with a deep gully. The neighborhood kids and I used to get old pieces of boxes and slide down the hill. I read where someone was talking about a huge slide...it was on Airport Blvd next to a restaurant called "Lums". My grandmother worked at Belles Hess on the corner of Airport Blvd and Azalea Road. I remember Shakeys Pizza next to a Furniture Store. I remember a huge Santa Clause on Dauphin Island Parkway in the Delchamps parking lot. At the corner of Azalea Road and Hwy 90 was a drive-in theater. (I believe it was called the Air Show). Old Time Pottery is there now. At that time, Cottage Hill Baptist Church had a small chapel. They later built a big church that was really modern for its time. Later, that had to be torn down and the present one was built. Municipal Park was booming with horse rides...boat rides and a concession stand. On the weekends, they would have amusement rides. Tonys pizza was across from Azalea Middle School. Springdale Mall was once Springdale Plaza. It had Gayfers Department Store where you found the best price on jeans! You could not go to Montgomery via I65 as you can today. Dolly Pardon bridge had not been built. You had to take the causeway and get on 225 N. That is where I65 would start/end. Speaking of the causeway, I remember the BEST seafood restaurant called Palmers. Bens BBQ was there too. That was before the bayway and business was booming there. WUNI Country radio station was on the causeway. Dauphin Island was aka "Alabamas Playground". My grandparents ran a little store called "Pak-a-Sak", (Now, it's Circle K). Where the pier is now was once a nice picnic area with tons of trees. The sand dunes were so tall, it was like climbing a mountain to get to the water. There was a huge game room right there as well...until Hurricane Camille in 1969. Dauphin Island bridge was a draw bridge. Dog River bridge was also a draw bridge. I remember A&P on Cottage Hill Road. There was Morgan & Lindsay, Stride right shoes and a post office in that shopping center too. On the opposite corner, (Azalea and Cottage Hill Rd) There used to sit an old truck where a guy sold fresh vegetables. I believe there is a drug store there now. Behind all of that is a subdivision with HUGE houses.
Lots of childhood memories of Mobile, Alabama.

[RandBrant]

You're correct!

[Nighteyes]

Originally Posted by Chris Balducci

At one time, Brookley Air Force Base (now Brookley Aeroplex - Mobile, Alabama) was the largest employer in Mobile until it closed in the 1960s. I would love to find some more historical information about this place (what units were based there, what kind of planes they flew, etc.).

Both of my parents, and many of our neighbors, were employed as Civil Service workers at Brookley. Designated MOAMA (Mobile Air Materiel Area), it was a supply and support base primarily for the Republic F-105 Thunderchief. During Vietnam they shipped the F-105's from Brookley's deep-water terminal to Thailand on the flight deck of an old escort carrier, the USNS Card (there may have been two, but the Card is the only one I remember). The planes were coated in a heavy "plastic" spray-on material to protect them from salt water, sea air and various debris.

Special note: the 105's Pratt & Whitney jet engines were shipped back from the forward bases to Brookley for repair, test and etc. Though we lived just northwest of the intersection of Highpoint Boulevard (now University Boulevard) and Grant Street Road (now Airport Boulevard), we could hear those engines being fired up on the test-blocks at night. Even that far away, they were LOUD!

[Nighteyes]

By the way, someone mentioned that what is now Airport Boulevard was once a two-lane road called Grant Street. Out past Azalea, btw, it was called "Grant Street Road."

Unless things have changed a lot in the past 6 or so years, Airport Boulevard west from Azalea to about Bit & Spur Road has a raised concrete divider between the east- and west-bound lanes. That narrow slice of concrete, ladies and gentlemen, WAS Grant Street Road!

[AJBarney]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

Who remembers Duff's Smorgasbord? I think it was on Airport Blvd. It was the biggest buffet I had seen in my life in the early 1980s.

I remember it, used to eat there when I was a college student in Mobile.

[AJBarney]

Originally Posted by BamaGirlnTx

was it SkateHaven?

Yes! Went to many a school party/birthday party there.


It's amazing to me that Sunshine Skate Center (near Airport and Hillcrest), where I went a lot when I was a student at Baker in the late 70s, is still open.