I miss card shops.. What do you miss??

[SoCalDem]

I need to buy a birthday card, and there are NO more card shop-stationery stores here anymore..I either have to go to the mall...UGH

a grocery store (and wait in a long line)..Ugh Ugh

or drive across town to Target..long line..long drive..ugh ugh ugh..

We used to have 3 or 4 Mom & Pop card shops..

[GOPisEvil]

1. We still have a few.

OK, so they're in strip centers which are sort of like malls, but still. Many of them are local Hallmark franchises, which is as close to mom and pop as it gets these days.

[northzax]

2. Starbucks

it seems like there used to be a starbucks in every town, on every corner almost, and now where have they all gone?

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. I miss independant butchers

Not many of 'em left, sadly.

And as for cards - get yourself some nice stationery, likie Fabriano Uno's, and write your own cards. You'll save money, and the paper is waaaaaay nicer than any pre-printed card, and it gives a good, human, personal touch to the sentiment you express.

[GOPisEvil]

8. Ya know...we have a couple down here.

It is awesome to develop a real relationship with the folks that sell you things. We have a large, independent seafood market, too.

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. Lucky stiffs!

There are some in NYC, too, but too far away and pricey for me to use. At least, the ones I've come across are pricey. They tend to service people who think a $3,500 a month 2 BR apartment is a reasonable deal.

[GOPisEvil]

14. Yeah, they can be pricey, but for special occasions...

...I opt to pay the extra little bit.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-01-30/food_set3.html

[SoCalDem]

11. We used to buy beef by the hind quarter, and our butcher

always included 15 pounds of the world's best homemade sausage ..

and he ground the beef for hamburger, just the way we wanted it..

I must confess, I do get "special hamburger" even now.. I wait til london broils are cheap, and I have the butcher at the grocery store grind it for me :)

The customer is always right, so they do it, but I know it bugs them to give me 99% lean hamburger for $1.49 lb..:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. Reminds me - I miss my cousin's beef farm

used to get our beef from her. Damn good it was. Used to go out to the field or barn and pick a cow like picking a lobster. :-)

We had at least one great butcher in my home city that wasn't catering to the yuppies or anything, just a plain old butcher with meats priced the same as at the grocery store, but always way better and cut to the asking with no extra charge and no 'tude. Now it seems we get stuck going to the grocery store, and sitting behind the meat counter are a couple 16-18 year olds working part-time who know how to wrap meat, but that's about it, because the one butcher they actually have on staff only works in the mornings. ARGH.

[SoCalDem]

12. sorry...duped

:(

[AwakeAtLast]

32. I'm one of the lucky ones

I can pick mine off the pasture. Don't know how long that will last, either, as I'm not exactly going to follow in my family's footsteps.

[Misunderestimator]

4. I miss corner delis... and all-night restaurants that aren't....

named Denny's or Cracker Barrel ...damn Florida.

[Gothic Sponge]

5. Small hardware stores!

Where someone behind the counter could match a screw you brought in.

[eyesroll]

26. Most of the Ace stores out here are like that

They're franchises, but they've been locally-owned businesses for decades.

I love going to these stores, because I'm simultaneously pretty darn handy and a complete home-improvement moron. It's feast or famine with me, and they can accommodate both:

"I need a 3/16th-inch standard drill bit, a bucket of hydraulic cement, a closet auger and a replacement filter for the shop vac, can you help me locate them?"
"Sure -- drill bits are up front, aisle two, the basic ones are about your height off the ground on the left; hyrdaulic cement's downstairs in aisle 18 along the floor, closet auger's right by the plumbing parts, on the end cap, and the shop-vac filters are right behind you." (Invariably.)

(And note there was no "are you sure that's the drill bit size you need? what are you doing with hydraulic cement?" condescending or "what's a closet auger?" ignorance -- I've had both at Home Depot...)

Or:
"Hi, I'm not sure what it's called, but I know what it does. I need one of those doohickeys that goes in the whatsitcalled and does this (with appropriate sound or visual effects)?"
"It's called a pop-up lav drain assembly. Let me take you to plumbing, they're kind of hidden."

(And not "maybe this is over your head" or, worse, "maybe your husband can help you?" which, again, I've gotten at Home Depot.)

[fudge stripe cookays]

41. Girlfriend, I need to hang with you!!!

Isn't home improvement wonderful?

I need to learn much more. Sounds like you're the gal to know!

FSC

[nuxvomica]

47. We have TrueValue stores here

I had to find 8 bronze-finish 6-foot pilasters for a book shelf I was building and I tried Home Depot and Lowe's. Both had the slot for them but they were empty. So I went to TrueValue and they had tons of them. So I learned that the small hardware stores are the best places to find things the big boxes sell out of.

[sniffa]

6. biLL cLinton

remember what having a good president was Like?

[gpandas]

7. real diners n/t

[name not needed]

15. Come to NJ

Almost every town has at least one diner.

[gpandas]

19. where i can sit at the counter...

and watch the artistry of a great short-order cook?

[name not needed]

20. Most diners nowadays

Don't show the food preparation. I don't know why.

[TheMightyFavog]

36. If you are ever in Marinette, WI

Go to Mickey Lu's on Hwy 41 across the street form the Auto Zone. Best fucking Hamburgers in the state. They grill 'em over charcoal right across from the counter.

[gpandas]

39. i'm planning on going to madison...

for annual penn state football road trip. is marinette close?

[TheMightyFavog]

55. No.

Marinette is up right on the Bay of Green Bay and the Michigan Border.

[gpandas]

56. TOO BAD,THANKS N/T

[Lavender Brown]

10. Snail mail - long letters.

[Commendatori]

13. Good old-fashioned diners, where I could order

meat loaf and mashed potatoes instead of this designer crap at TGIFs and Ruby Tuesday's.

I also miss the ability to order a cheeseburger at a real restaurant (read: not McDonald's) without having to pay for fries and slaw that I didn't fucking want in the first place. I go to TGIFs and RTs to order a burger, and it's ten bucks.

[name not needed]

17. You'd love it in NJ

[Reverend_Smitty]

22. Ditto

we here in the garden state are the butt of many jokes, but if you want a greasy and delicious cheeseburger or an omelet at 3am, there is no better place to be. In fact I can think of about 6 diners that you can go to off the top of my head

[Gothic Sponge]

18. I miss long romantic walks on the beach.....

Where we keep walking at sunset........and walking......until we realize we are lost! It's cold and dark! The coast guard can't find us! We cling to life! Oh the humanity!!!!!!!!! ;)

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. and in the morning, just as the sun crests over the waves,

the great whites attack.

[Gothic Sponge]

23. Sounds like a great Hallmark card!

;)

[SoCalDem]

28. or a personal ad

:)

[bif]

24. Dimestores

We used to have an SS Kressge's (sp?). They had just about everything.

[MissMillie]

25. Woolworth's

and penny candy

[Karenina]

57. A Woolworth's is opening

in my neighborhood. :wow: (I don't live in the U.S. anymore).

[SoCalDem]

27. My home town had Neisners, Duckwalls, SS Kress, Kresge

Ben Franklin and another I forgot..

They had the old free standing tables with tall sides so things did not fall on the floor.. Huge "gold" cashregisters with many many keys on them.. When the JC Penney store had a fire and moved they sold those registers for $5 .. I wish I had been prescient.. I could make a mint selling those babies..:)

[TheMightyFavog]

35. We had a Dime Store on main street in Coleman.

It was a Ben Franklin, then a V&S Variety. About six years ago, it was converted into housing for migrant workers for the Friday canning factory in town. Now that the canning factory is closing, it's up for sale.

[Bertha Venation]

40. Anyone remember T G & Y? A five & dime . . .

My mom took cruel glee in dispelling me of the notion that everything in the store cost either five or ten cents. But I liked the store. It was tucked into a corner of what we now call strip malls. The center was anchored by Vons on one end, and Sav-On Drug on the other. The ends of the two sections met to make an "L" shape, and the T G & Y was near the corner. I remember a pet shop and other stores but I don't remember what the other stores were. N/E corner of Brookhurst & Adams in Huntington Beach, CA, circa 1970.

[fudge stripe cookays]

42. Wow. Now THERE'S a flashback!

I hadn't thought about that place in ages!

We used to have a place in Austin in Hancock Center in the 70s...Murphy's, I think?

They had a talking mynah bird in there. I loved going in there so I could laugh at him.

[Bertha Venation]

44. speaking of mynah birds

We had a neighbor who had one. It would carry on a one-sided telephone conversation every time the phone rang. Unfortunately, all I remember it saying was

Hello?

Oh, hello, Joan, how are you?

[fudge stripe cookays]

48. Ha! Check this link....

Did you hear about the amorous parakeet yesterday? I laughed my ASS off!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=1317373&mesg_id=1317400&page=

[Bertha Venation]

50. Yeah, I saw that. Hilarious!!

[fudge stripe cookays]

51. That's when you teach your bird to say "Who's Your Daddy?" n/t

[Bertha Venation]

54. LOL This cat would LOVE to say that to a bird . . . .

His name is Daddy

[SoCalDem]

49. My mother had a mynah named Petey.. He said "Shit" and

"Answer the Goddamned phone".... and he learned to bark like the dog..It drove the dog CRAZY !!!

Petey spent a lot of time in his cage...covered up.. He would shut up when his cage was covered ..

Porr misguided birdie..

[fudge stripe cookays]

52. They have one....

at this antique store in Dallas that mimics people laughing.

And you know when you hear someone laughing, you can't stop laughing yourself-- especially when it's a bird laughing at you in YOUR laugh!

FSC

[SW FL Dem]

29. I miss $1 cards

I went to buy a get well card for a friend the other day and the price was $4.95 for a piece of paper.

[Don_G]

30. Little Merchants Around The Corner

And walking into a little store around the corner loaded with candy when you were 7 with a guy behind the counter you could trust.

[SoCalDem]

31. We had neighborhood grocery stores too...3 of them within

walking distance.. They even had little pull carts that you could take home with you and return later..in case you bought more than you could carry..

We also hade 2 drug stores that would DELIVER...24 hour emergency service too.:)

[NightTrain]

33. Small, independently-owned book and record stores.

[fudge stripe cookays]

43. Yep, me too.

When they closed Pagan Rhythms in Dallas, I died a small death inside.

One of my exes owned ABCD's in Austin for several years when the original owner sold out to him. CD Warehouse took it over a couple years ago. I was devastated since I loved the place so much. I spent a summer working there a few years ago and had a blast.

I don't think I could work in a music store anymore. The glory days of that are OVER.

[GOPisEvil]

45. Those still exist!

At least here in Austin they do. We're lucky here. For now. :-)

[PartyPooper]

34. Old movie theatres with a ticket booth in front. Remember those?

I do. Inside, it was "air conditioned" at a time when most folks were lucky just to have a fan. They always had a fabulous snack bar with red floral carpet throughout the lobby. The scent of popcorn filled the air.

I remember trying to get in as a kid when admission was 75¢ for an adult and 25¢ for a child under 12. That was when I was 12. So, I tried to act like I was younger to save 50¢.

Does anybody else remember those days?

:D

[AmyDeLune]

37. Ahhhh....

....the prices were a bit more than that when I was a child, but I remember when the theatre up the street had a single, large auditorium. There was a multipane mirror on the back wall shaped like a peacock's tail. **sigh** Now it's split up into four auditoriums and you can get beer and pizza to consume while watching the movie. The ticket booth is still outside the theatre though...

[Rabrrrrrr]

46. Yes, my hometown had two large theaters like that downtown

One was kinda crappy, but the other was the large size full-on auditorium with balcony and two aisles on the floor and a the screen was on a STAGE behind a large, golden curtain. Before the movie started the curtain would part in the middle and slowly open very dramatically, swishing to the sides and being pulled up, so that the curtain kind of framed the screen like a big ol' picture window.

When I was in college in the late 80s that theater was "refurbished" into three screens, and now the building is entirely gone.

[SoCalDem]

38. We had a gorgeous old art deco Fox Theatre---pictures

It's being renovated as a performing art center.. It had a HUGE double balcony..and an upper mezzanine that was open to the lobby below.. Check the pics..


http://www.cinematour.com/tour.php?db=us&id=10562

[Quahog]

53. Good, cheap, plentiful Mexican food

That has been THE hardest adjustment moving from SoCal to New England. Man, I used to LIVE in the taco shops. The chowder and clamcakes here are the bomb, but it's just not the same.

Oh, for a proper carnitas burrito!

[SW FL Dem]

58. They still exist - just not in my world

In and Out Burgers and El Pollo Loco chicken and pinto beans.

[Jade Fox]

59. Being able to tell what part of town you live in by your phone number..

You know, the three number prefix was assigned by area.

Now phone numbers make no sense.

[testing123]

60. Drive In Movie Theaters

:cry: