Places we begged our parents to take us as kids: Which ones do you still miss?
There is a specific kind of childhood geography that exists only in memory. A lot of it was torn down, converted, or quietly abandoned somewhere between 1995 and 2005. But for anyone who grew up between the 1960s and the 1990s, these were destinations. You lobbied for them in the back seat. You watched the turn signal as your entire weekend depended on it. Some of these places still exist in some form. Others are genuinely gone.
Image credit: Try to Love Again / Wikimedia Commons
Chuck E. Cheese’s
The original Chuck E. Cheese’s was called Pizza Time Theatre, founded by Nolan Bushnell, who also co-founded Atari, and opened in San Jose, California, in 1977. The concept combined animatronic animal performers, arcade games, and pizza under one roof. Children would leave with a fistful of tickets redeemable for prizes worth considerably less than the tokens their parents had pumped into the machines. The franchise peaked at over 600 locations. The animatronic performers were retired in most locations by 2024.
Image credit: Toys “R” Us / Wikipedia
Toys “R” Us
For a generation of Americans, “I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys ‘R’ Us kid” was not just a jingle but a genuine emotional position. Charles Lazarus founded the chain in 1948 as a baby furniture store and converted it to toys in 1957. At its peak, it operated more than 1,500 stores worldwide. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and closed all US locations in 2018. A small number of stores have since reopened.
Image credit: RegionalQueenslander / Wikimedia Commons
Kmart
The first full-size Kmart opened in Garden City, Michigan, in 1962, growing out of the S.S. Kresge five-and-dime company. The Blue Light Special arrived in 1965. A flashing blue siren was placed in an aisle, accompanied by the announcement “Attention Kmart shoppers,” signaling a surprise markdown for fifteen minutes. Shoppers would drop what they were doing and run. At its peak, Kmart operated approximately 2,500 stores. It filed for bankruptcy in 2002, and the last full-size continental US location closed in October 2024.
Image credit: AxlCobainVedder / Reddit
G.C. Murphy
G.C. Murphy was founded in 1906 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, and grew to more than 500 locations concentrated in the eastern and midwestern United States, anchoring downtown strips and early shopping centers throughout Appalachia and the mid-Atlantic states. The stores offered open displays, fixed low prices, and lunch counters where a grilled cheese and a soda cost less than a dollar. Murphy’s peaked at 529 stores in 1976. Ames Department Stores acquired the company in 1985, and the last Murphy variety stores disappeared in the early 2000s.
Image credit: Miguel Paricio / iStock
Wrap up
Before the mall became the default destination, going into town was an event. It meant the main street of a small city or a neighborhood commercial strip, with its hardware store and its five-and-dime and its department store and its lunch counter. For a child, it operated as a kind of adult world rendered briefly navigable, and its pleasure was precisely that it was not designed for children at all. Downtown commercial districts began their long decline in the 1950s and 1960s as suburban development accelerated. By the 1980s, many main streets had hollowed out substantially.
These places are gone or diminished, but the feelings attached to them are not. Which of these destinations did you beg for the most? And which one do you still find yourself missing on a weekend afternoon?
Ask us! What questions do you have about content, strategy, pop culture, lifestyle, wellness, history or more? We may use your question in an upcoming article!
Related:
- 7 defunct burger joints that will hit you right in the nostalgia
- Old-school, discontinued fast food menu items that give us serious nostalgia
Like MediaFeed’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
AlertMe
