Well I don't recall how I fould this thread or this site, but glad I did. Love reminiscing of how Austin used to be, and my childhood!!! Yes, Austin used to be a cool place to live and play. I think it's gone now, replacing the old hip community is this cold money driven market! Gone are the hippies and colorful people, replaced by the yuppies and to coin a movie, their yuppie larvae.
I grew up in the heart of Austin, befoe the McMansions, Hyde Park, so Hancock Center and Highland Mall were near and dear to me!!!
At Hancock I remember the old
Revco drug store!! In the early years it's where I got a lot of my Atari games for real cheap, and later on GI JOE toys, and finally baseball cards!
Dillards was once there, it's where I would get many a GI JOE toy there! Oh and of course the very important NES games and Swatch watches!!
Wyatt's Cafeteria was the best, and even though the chicken fried steak was a molded patty, dammit if it wasn't the best chicken fried steak ever. The people that worked there, were there till it closed.
I remember the pet store that was there, don't remember the name.
The Mexican restaurant that was there with the very high ceilings.
I remember the cool fountains.
I remember the Hallmark store I think, where I would get my stickers when I went through that phase!! Ha ha.
Oh and I remember vaguely the
Murphy's store, with the food counter and the awesome toy section in the basement!!
Close to Hancock I remember the Delwood shopping center when it had a
Winns. That was a goot toy spot and where I got the majority of my Garbage Pail Stickers!!
In Highland Mall I remember:
Mr Gatti's actually having a restaurant there, over by JC Penny if I recall correctly!
The old
Baskin Robbins on the first floor.
The old
Toy Box store before it became KB. That's where I bought my first ever action figures, Greedo and Princess Leia. Only reason I got Leia was to convince my mom I was buying a girl's toy, I was sneaky even at 4!!!
I remember
Chik Fil A being there as well! This was before the food court, when it came so left Gatti's and Chik Fil A.
Before it became Dillards, I remember
Joske's. Man did they have a uber cool toy section upstairs on the 4th floor. Pretty much all the department stores had cool toy sections!!
As you can see, as a wee kid, my life revolved around toys!!! Ha ha.
Great thread, will remember more later!!!