Old Calgary stuff you miss...(The Nostalgia thread)

[Red John]

Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

I don't mean to call you out, but where did you hear this? i can pretty much guarantee its incorrect.

It was printed on the kids menus. May have been Canada-wide instead of NA, do remember it being 12th though. CN Tower was number one.

[psyang]

Some great memories - triggered a few of my own:

Originally Posted by Red John

Good memories:
-Market mall had a movie theatre

As did Brentwood Mall - they had a big sign out front facing Crowchild showing which movies were currently playing.

Originally Posted by Red John

-Grant Pollock, Ed Whalen and Nirmala Naidoo-Hill from 2&7

The 2&7/Hello Calgary song "Makes no difference where I go, you're the best hometown I know. Hello Calgary..."

Also, we were more of a CFCN household - Darryl Janz for news, Ken Newman for sports. I think the switch to 2&7 occurred for us when the Flames came to town, and there was a Flames game on 2&7 almost every Thursday night at 7:30pm. I remember always trying to convince my parents to let me stay up and watch the whole game - bedtime was 9 for me then.

Originally Posted by Red John

-when old Market mall had Woodwards where zellers is now, and A&W was on that end of the mall

Mom worked at the Woodward's bakery. I remember the arcade in Market Mall - was it called Magic Castle? We weren't allowed to go, but snuck out there anyways. I can still feel that strange mix of guilt and pleasure...

Originally Posted by Red John

-gas was around 54 cents a litre

Cheapest I seem to remember was around 30cents/litre. We always filled up at the Turbo station on Crowchild (I think it was across from where Ranchlands is now).

Originally Posted by Red John

-when Nose Hill drive was just a field where wild horses grazed

Yup, it was 85th street then. Scenic Acres was a big field where I sometimes caught tadpoles in the stagnant ponds. Silver Springs had just been built.

Or do you mean Nose Hill? I remember horses on Nose Hill - at the entrance along John Laurie across from Brisebois (or was it Charleswood?), there used to be a place that let you go horseback riding. I was too young and too scared to go.

Originally Posted by Red John

-most of the good radio stations being on AM except kick107

I remember when CHQR played music. I think it was AM 1140 back then...

[Misterpants]

Twas Wizards Castle (the Arcade). The dude who worked their with the pompadour was epic. I remember when his band King Rat had a video on muchmusic and I was like "whoa, that guy gives me my quarters!".

[undercoverbrother]

Mix 1060, was the last time i listed to music on the AM dial.
Theatres at Chinook, the upstairs ones.
The drive in on 17th Ave SE
Willy's @ heritage and fairmount.
Mewata Stadium.
The Orignal Republik
The Original MEC (no parking to be found)
7/11 in bonavista (fairview)

I think I am old.....

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Komskies

There is a Chicken on the Way opening soon in McKenzie Towne, where the Blockbuster video used to be.

You better be serious.

[pylon]

LOL, I was thinking of resurrecting this thread a few weeks ago.

I still miss trying on shoes at Woolco that were held together by that plastic strap. You would have to put the left one on, and walk up the aisle in it with the right shoe flopping, then reverse the procedure. Then cry because you mom was dead serious about making you wear Bullitt high top shoes from Woolco.

So really, I guess I don't miss Woolco, it brings back bad childhood memories of crappy vinyl shoes.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Barnes

You better be serious.

Did Blockbuster have a basement? Or are they digging one as part of the reno?

I was recalling when Calgary had a Four Seasons hotel. Complete respect for that company...as soon as it no longer became a signature, upper level property, they ditched it. Marriott is living off the sloppy seconds...don't know if they've put any money into it, the quality is still there from the Four Seasons, albeit 20+ years old.

[normtwofinger]

- Went to King Edward elem/jh. Great memories there. Was a very intimidating old school, with many urban myths and legends. Although not operating anymore, it's 100 years old this year.

- Before school age, I was babysat by my grandparents. We probably went to Chinook at least once a week. Always there right when the mall opened. I don't remember many details of old chinook, just the big toy store on the second floor. I think it was next to an Orange Julius.

- Esso plaza theater and arcade. Nothing screams 80's like that theater.

- Consumers Distributing. Always loved when the new catalog came out. I immediately would find the toy section and figure out what I buy with my saved pennies. Then the wait for the order to come in would take forever. Finally the call would come saying the order was in. Good times.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Not having grown up in Calgary, but love living here now this thread is great.

Brentwood Mall had a movie theater???

Man, theaters in Malls are dying, it sucks.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by psyang

As did Brentwood Mall - they had a big sign out front facing Crowchild showing which movies were currently playing.

Thank you. I used to live in the SW, but I remember one time, shortly before Return of the Jedi came out, they re-released Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back as a double-feature. I went with my friend and his dad and the line snaked through the entire mall. We were still at least 100 people back when they announced it was sold out. I was sure that the mall we went to was Brentwood, but I never went back there until I was going to the University, and every time I walked into the place, I tried to figure out if there was ever a movie theatre there, because everything else about it seemed to match my memory.

Originally Posted by psyang

I remember when CHQR played music. I think it was AM 1140 back then...

CHQR was originally at 810AM, but changed to 770AM sometime in the mid-80s. I used to have a CHQR 810 Flames sticker (and a QR77 one) from when they were the Flames broadcaster. They dabbled with being talk radio for a few years, but still played some music until sometime in the 90s.

1140AM was XL Radio for the longest time. They ruled the airwaves in the 70s and early 80s, but got stuck trying to be both a top-40 station and a station for the baby-boomers in the mid-80s (they had always been both because the boomers were the target of top 40 until the 80s rolled around). They got destroyed when 66 CFR came along and took the boomers with their Oldies format, and AM 106 took the kids by going totally top 40.

Then, they went through a series of format changes and a couple of name changes before resurrecting the XL Radio name in the early 90s, but by then it was too late. The station that is currently on 1140 AM used to be CHRB 1280 in High River; in 1996, the original XL's licence was converted to an FM licence and they took the 96.9 frequency which is now Jack-FM; the station that currently calls itself XL Radio has no ties to the original (that I know of).

I was one of the last employees at the original XL before they switched to FM (it was a shell of its former self by then, but I got to meet former Stampeder Herm "Ham Hands" Harrison, who was a salesman at the station at the time).

XL's old studio was in a great location, just off of 17th Avenue and 7th Street SW (I think there's a Shopper's Drug Mart at that corner now, not too far from Melrose). There's a little park on the north side of 17th, and XL's studio was just north of the park. It was a great place to people watch on the weekends, especially during the summer.

[DownInFlames]

Skatopia - I barely remember going there with my uncle before it closed. This city needs a new indoor skateboard park badly.

[Red John]

Originally Posted by psyang

Some great memories - triggered a few of my own:


As did Brentwood Mall - they had a big sign out front facing Crowchild showing which movies were currently playing.


The 2&7/Hello Calgary song "Makes no difference where I go, you're the best hometown I know. Hello Calgary..."

Also, we were more of a CFCN household - Darryl Janz for news, Ken Newman for sports. I think the switch to 2&7 occurred for us when the Flames came to town, and there was a Flames game on 2&7 almost every Thursday night at 7:30pm. I remember always trying to convince my parents to let me stay up and watch the whole game - bedtime was 9 for me then.


Mom worked at the Woodward's bakery. I remember the arcade in Market Mall - was it called Magic Castle? We weren't allowed to go, but snuck out there anyways. I can still feel that strange mix of guilt and pleasure...


Cheapest I seem to remember was around 30cents/litre. We always filled up at the Turbo station on Crowchild (I think it was across from where Ranchlands is now).


Yup, it was 85th street then. Scenic Acres was a big field where I sometimes caught tadpoles in the stagnant ponds. Silver Springs had just been built.

Or do you mean Nose Hill? I remember horses on Nose Hill - at the entrance along John Laurie across from Brisebois (or was it Charleswood?), there used to be a place that let you go horseback riding. I was too young and too scared to go.


I remember when CHQR played music. I think it was AM 1140 back then...

By Nose Hill, mean the area around where the driving range was and leading across the road where Nose Hill Drive is now, and up the hill where those nice houses are.

All grassland with wild horses. Got a huge kick going and watching them as a young 'un from a lookout on Silver Valley Blvd.

Also remember the Dean House in Inglewood, wasn't it supposed to be haunted or something?

[Sliver]

Nm

[psyang]

Originally Posted by getbak

CHQR was originally at 810AM, but changed to 770AM sometime in the mid-80s. I used to have a CHQR 810 Flames sticker (and a QR77 one) from when they were the Flames broadcaster. They dabbled with being talk radio for a few years, but still played some music until sometime in the 90s.

1140AM was XL Radio for the longest time. They ruled the airwaves in the 70s and early 80s, but got stuck trying to be both a top-40 station and a station for the baby-boomers in the mid-80s (they had always been both because the boomers were the target of top 40 until the 80s rolled around). They got destroyed when 66 CFR came along and took the boomers with their Oldies format, and AM 106 took the kids by going totally top 40.

Then, they went through a series of format changes and a couple of name changes before resurrecting the XL Radio name in the early 90s, but by then it was too late. The station that is currently on 1140 AM used to be CHRB 1280 in High River; in 1996, the original XL's licence was converted to an FM licence and they took the 96.9 frequency which is now Jack-FM; the station that currently calls itself XL Radio has no ties to the original (that I know of).

I was one of the last employees at the original XL before they switched to FM (it was a shell of its former self by then, but I got to meet former Stampeder Herm "Ham Hands" Harrison, who was a salesman at the station at the time).

XL's old studio was in a great location, just off of 17th Avenue and 7th Street SW (I think there's a Shopper's Drug Mart at that corner now, not too far from Melrose). There's a little park on the north side of 17th, and XL's studio was just north of the park. It was a great place to people watch on the weekends, especially during the summer.

Thanks for the background info and the correction - I totally forgot about XL 1140. Didn't they have the controversial "Drive Decent" sticker (maybe it was a different station - I'm obviously not good at remembering the station numbers)? I was about 10 at the time, but remembered thinking it was a silly thing to be upset over.

[Hack&Lube]

I took a bunch of pics and videos of Devonian Gardens before it closed. It will never be the same again. Sure the preview designs of the new one make it look like some kind of Star Trek arboretum but I will always miss the old 70s clunker.

By the late 2000s, it was so old that it started feeling very natural and I will always remember sitting at tables in odd places surrounded by dirt spilled onto the paths and surrouded by overgrowth and actual birds flying around and hopping beside me to pick up my crumbs inside the building.

I also really loved that old skating rink/flower pool that they had in that far corner that was open to the air. Going back 20 years later, it still felt the exact same as when I was a kid and it had a magical quality. I think all of it is gone now. Most of the garden's space has been lost to opening up the skylight of The Core (Eaton Centre).

[Hack&Lube]

I remember going to the big screens at North Hill Mall but right now I can't for the life of me even imagine what the theatre looked like besides remembering it was huge with a big red curtain and the whole 60s vibe to the place. Was it part of that building that also housed the bowling alley or was it connected to the mall? I can't remember.

[TurnedTheCorner]

It had the bowling alley in the same building IIRC, I think it was under the theater. It wasn't attached to the mall. The building used to be close to the double ramped pedestrian overpass, close to where the Ricky's and Mark's are.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by pylon

LOL, I was thinking of resurrecting this thread a few weeks ago.

I still miss trying on shoes at Woolco that were held together by that plastic strap. You would have to put the left one on, and walk up the aisle in it with the right shoe flopping, then reverse the procedure. Then cry because you mom was dead serious about making you wear Bullitt high top shoes from Woolco.

So really, I guess I don't miss Woolco, it brings back bad childhood memories of crappy vinyl shoes.

Couldn't you just get two different pairs of shoes and put the left from one pair on and the right from the other pair on?

I liked when my mom would take me jean shopping and convince me the ones with the elastic waistbands were the cool ones. She must having been laughing her butt off when I wore them to school the next day. Since she was a teacher, she was also able to laugh at me at school. Those jeans got worn once. It was a cruel practical joke on me. Well played mom. Well played.

[Red John]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I took a bunch of pics and videos of Devonian Gardens before it closed. It will never be the same again. Sure the preview designs of the new one make it look like some kind of Star Trek arboretum but I will always miss the old 70s clunker.

By the late 2000s, it was so old that it started feeling very natural and I will always remember sitting at tables in odd places surrounded by dirt spilled onto the paths and surrouded by overgrowth and actual birds flying around and hopping beside me to pick up my crumbs inside the building.

I also really loved that old skating rink/flower pool that they had in that far corner that was open to the air. Going back 20 years later, it still felt the exact same as when I was a kid and it had a magical quality. I think all of it is gone now. Most of the garden's space has been lost to opening up the skylight of The Core (Eaton Centre).

Agreed completely, it was amazing. Each little pond/fountain was unique. There was that big one where the fountain got bigger and smaller (did it? or was that Southgate mall in Edmonton). There was that one with the showerhead-type drizzle that came down. There was that one with tiny little rock shelves all the way down that was frequently emptied and used as a place to seat a small audience for weddings.

If you could PM some of those pics it would be much appreciated.

Apparently the new Gardens is supposed to cover 2.5 acres...wasn't the old one much bigger than that? Seem to recall it being massive but everything seems big when you are little.

[Free Ben Hur!]

Originally Posted by browna

Did Blockbuster have a basement? Or are they digging one as part of the reno?

I was recalling when Calgary had a Four Seasons hotel. Complete respect for that company...as soon as it no longer became a signature, upper level property, they ditched it. Marriott is living off the sloppy seconds...don't know if they've put any money into it, the quality is still there from the Four Seasons, albeit 20+ years old.

Worked at the Four Seasons as a banquet porter / waiter / bartender. Classiest banquets ever. We did French service there where we served 4 tables x 8 diners each from big ass serving dishes to warmed, bare plates placed in front of each patron. Never seen any other banquets served this way. I'm certain this changed when the Four Seasons sold out to whoever. One of the hardest but funnest jobs I've ever had.