Parkland Shopping Center in the 70's and 80's

 

 

                                        And you know the sun's settin' fast

                                        And just like they say nothing good ever lasts

                                        Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye

                                        But hold on to your lover 'cause your heart's bound to die

                                        Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town

                                        Can't you see the sun's settin' down on our town, on our town? 

                                        Goodnight

                                        . . . Iris Dement "Our Town"

My last visit to Jasper was for my 30th high school reunion in June 2018. I don't honestly recall paying too much attention to the part of Parkland Shopping Center on the west side of Hwy. 78, but by the time I moved from Jasper in 1991 practically every business that was once located there was long gone. Captain D's is probably the only mainstay in that entire portion of the shopping center. It is there now, was there when I moved, and it was there when my family moved to Jasper in 1976. The three or four businesses that I am prone to reminisce about the most were enjoying their heyday in the late 1970's before the arrival of the Antichrist  Walmart: Western Auto, G.C. Murphy's, Sneaky Pete's, and the movie theater. 

Let's start with the glue that held the shopping center together: the movie theater. If it had a name I never knew it. If I were to venture a guess then it was probably something simple like The Jasper Theater. The theater sat unassumingly behind the facade of the L-shaped shopping center, and one had to enter into a little enclosed mall of sorts to get to the entrance, thus there was no gaudy neon marquee of any type from what I can remember. This was a typical small town "one screen" theater, but somehow all the major films running simultaneously got a screening. One advantage of these single screen theaters was the fact that the theater itself always seemed to have much more seating than these multiplexes. To my young eyes the theater seemed quite gargantuan when the house lights came on. I still recall the sticky floors and smell of popcorn.  

My first adventure to the theater was in the summer of 1976. My family had just moved to town and we were staying nearby at the Holiday Inn while our house was under construction. I suppose to change the daily monotony of the motel's kiddie pool my mother took me to my first, and shortest, film ever.  The movie in question was The Bad News Bears. Indeed, less than 10 minutes into the show my mother suddenly realized that this was not a cute children's movie and promptly snatched me up and left. I was probably the only first grader at Farmstead Elementary school who didn't get to see it. 

A year or so later I vaguely remember going with the family to see a documentary film about near death  experiences. It must have been a church thing because several other families from our church were in attendance. Most likely this was the 1978 documentary Beyond and Back. I also remember going with my dad one evening to see Superman II, and this would have likely been the last time I attended with a parent. See, by the 6th grade, the accompaniment of a parent would have been tantamount to the ultimate embarrassment, although we weren't simply cut loose to run the streets either. No, there was structure and there was a definite routine.

More about the routine. 

The aforementioned routine began at G.C. Murphy's. Sure, the movie theater sold concessions, but those of us on the cheap would stock up on Milk Duds or JuJu's and hide them in the various pockets of our Member's Only jackets or parachute pants. From there it was a brief jaunt down the covered sidewalk past Western Auto to the movie theater. Afterwards, Sneaky Pete's was the place to be because they had pinball machines, Pac-Man, and Galaga. Sneaky Pete's is an Alabama thing--basically a hot dog and chili dog eatery. Eventually they relocated to the Jasper Mall, but in my formative years between roughly 1981 to 1983 they were located in the same shopping center as the movie theater, and were known firstly by we preteens for their arcade with the chili dogs as an added extra. 

While I certainly cannot remember the exact order, I remember Friday nights or Saturday afternoon viewings of Clash of the Titans, Flash Gordon, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi . . . the typical fare for an 11 or 12 year old boy. The routine beginning at G.C. Murphy's and ending at Sneaky Pete's was rarely, if ever, deviated from. The sole exception I do remember couldn't be helped, as it involved a field trip outing to see A Christmas Story when I was in either the 7th or 8th grade. This movie has proven to be a classic, but we saw it during its initial run. Unfortunately, it never got cold enough in Walker County for any of us to lick flagpoles after a "triple dog dare." 

Now let's reminisce about G. C. Murphy's. 

Murphy's was similar to the Woolworth's in downtown Jasper in that it too had a lunch counter and sold fish and records. Strange that I would remember these things exclusively since the store obviously sold much more than this, but we do tend to follow our passions. I somehow became enamored with fish aquariums in the fourth grade, most likely because every 4th or 5th grade teacher at T.R. Simmons elementary had one in their classroom. G. C. Murphy's fulfilled the needs of that hobby with it's fish wall and aquarium supplies. They sold records too! I mostly only bought 45's, but there were bins for LPs and spinning racks for cassettes. Remember, this was the very early 80's so CDs hadn't made their debut. I'm sure there were displays for the 8-tracks, but I don't remember those. There were toys too, but by the age of 11 or 12 the only thing I wanted within the broad category of toys would be games for the Atari. I do vaguely remember looking for Stars Wars action figures when I was younger, but their selection would have been minuscule when compared to that of the much larger Big K a half mile up the road (No, not the K-Mart in the mall as it wasn't there in 1977 or 1978. Big K was located exactly where Hobby Lobby sits today). While I know they sold housewares and hardware, the only other section of the store I remember clearly was the lunch counter, although I can't remember ever eating there. I do, however, remember one of the teachers from the middle school being there every afternoon that I visited, sitting in one of the booths and working crossword puzzles with another nerdy man or two. Each to his own as they say. 

I mentioned Western Auto earlier but it was never a part of my routine -- I mention it because it once was and is no more. The company was bought by Sears, my dad's company, in 1988, but the Jasper location may have very well been gone by then. Sears too is gone, but I'll save those memories for another blog. Still, Jasper once had one and there are plenty of Baby Boomers out there who remember them with a special fondness. I'm thinking Jasper's first Auto Shack was located where the Western Auto once was, but my memory may need refreshing. Yes, kids, Auto Zone was once known as Auto Shack. 

The other side of Parkland Shopping Center, on the north side of 7th Avenue, was dominated by Winn-Dixie and Bargain Town. Winn-Dixie has long since relocated up the highway and Bargain Town has gone the way of G.C. Murphy's, Western Auto, and Sears. I always had an aversion to Bargain Town for juvenile reasons, so I don't tend to wax nostalgic for it's green and yellow signage. For one, the onslaught of Bargain Town commercials on local television always meant the end of summer and the dreaded start of a new school year. And then of course Bargain Town was the butt of any adolescent put down: "Where did you get those jeans? Did your mother get them at Bargain Town?" The only point of significance on that side of the shopping center was a little coffee shop on the very end. I never knew the name of it, but I knew exactly where it was. My dad would occasionally take me for breakfast there with Waylon Puckett and Ed Richardson, the two Allstate Insurance salesmen who had an office inside Sears -- again, more on this in a separate blog. 

I know not whether it's a universal condition or simply an Americanism to pine for defunct retailers and our youthful memories of such places. In some cases, there is a genuine longing for a specific establishment. In others, it seems to stem from a shared experience of youth.  A collective memory if you will. Do we really miss Blockbuster, or is it the memory of selecting movies to rent and watch in our home? For sure this became a common Friday or Saturday night routine, but how many of us took delight when Hollywood Video came onto the scene and gave Blockbuster their comeuppance? To be sure Blockbuster dropped those tyrannical rewind fees and late charges with a quickness. They may have dropped their inflated rental prices too. Jasper had to wait quite some time to get its first Blockbuster, but hey we had at least three locations of Video Express so there's that! I guess I should stop before I wander into another rabbit hole as I am wont to do from time to time. I mean there's the Shakespeare authorship question as well my recent affinity for avant-garde jazz and Jacques Loissier's unique pairing of Bach to jazz known as third stream. But I digress.

I do miss my summer days at the theater and buying goldfish at G.C. Murphy's and will probably dwell on them more as Time's winged chariot draws nearer. In that I'm confident that there are plenty of other Gen-Xers from Jasper who share at least some of my fond memories. 

`                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ``