Places that were torn down, that you miss?

[Archae]

About halfway between Milwaukee and Madison was a hotel, called "The Gobbler."

Built in the late 60's, it was 60's "style" at it's worst.

Shag carpeting just about everywhere.

Plastic "rock" decorations on the wall.

The Gobbler hotel is long gone, it was burned down purposely by the local fire department, after going rather decrepit.

The restaurant that was part of the complex though is still active, as a concert hall now.

https://www.lileks.com/institute/motel/

https://www.gobblertheater.com/

My parents and I visited the Gobbler back in the early 70's, and we had a good laugh at the awful decor.

[TlalocW]

1. Spaghetti Warehouse in Tulsa

The food was your typical Olive Garden stuff, but it was in an old red brick warehouse in the Brady Arts District downtown. The lobby had an old shoe shine station, a large wooden carving of a gnome, an old-fashioned candy station, reproductions of old Barnum and Bailey posters. Old advertisements for various 1920s clothing and other products were on the bathroom walls. In the dining area, tables with red and white checkered tablecloths surrounded the shell of street car that also had tables in it. It was definitely trying for a vibe, and I think it pulled it off. I twisted balloons there for a while before a new manager took over and decided he didn't want me anymore.

It closed down more than a decade ago, and everything was auctioned off. I wish I could have gotten the gnome statue, and the building has been torn down, and something else is in the process of being built there.

TlalocW

[ret5hd]

3. I saw Traffic at "the old lady on brady"...

a punk band called Paris opened, and someone in that band was friends with either Christie Mcvie or Stevie Nicks (I forget which) who sat 3 rows in front of me to watch her friend.

[rownesheck]

2. Astroworld in Houston!

I used to love going there! None of my kids will get to experience it. Sad.

[Fla Dem]

4. The house I grew up in.

Last edited Sun Mar 21, 2021, 08:59 PM - Edit history (1)

I lived there until I was in my early 20s. The house was probably 100 years old at the time. But it was a nice family home, 3 bedroom, only one bath and very little closet place. Pretty tough for a family of 6. But we (us kids) didn't know any difference. Sure we were in our friends homes and many of them were grander, more spacious, but home was home. We had a wonderful large yard surrounded by woods. We had a long driveway, which was paved and ended at a 2 car garage behind the house. It had a great full length front porch.

It's where I grew up. It was our family home. About 10 years ago it was torn down and a new McMansion was built in it's place.

I just miss the place. Just knowing it's not there anymore makes me sad.. Many of my early family memories, of my Mom and Dad, my grandparents all our Christmases and Birthdays took place there and it's gone.

[Archae]

6. I know what you mean...

I just saw a Google Map street view of the house I pretty much grew up in, in the 70's.

It's in bad shape.

[Fla Dem]

16. That's sad. Time changes thing we have no control over.

[A HERETIC I AM]

5. Boblo Island Amusement Park

Though I never got a chance to visit, I lived in the Detroit Area from 1989 through ‘99 and it was the place to go on a sunny summer Saturday.

It was closed in 1993 and is now being developed into homesites for rich Ontarians.

Apparently the Ferry Boats were a large part of the attraction.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boblo_Island_Amusement_Park

[rsdsharp]

7. The Rainbow Court, Farley, Iowa.

In the fall of 1980, on the spur of the moment, we decided to take a leaf 🍁 trip with two other couples. We were going to northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin. Unfortunately, we hadn’t realized that multiple colleges in the area were having their homecomings that weekend.

One of our number worked at a car dealership and used their WATS line (remember those?) to call every hotel and motel within 50 miles of the Iowa/Wisconsin border. They were all fully booked until he got to the Rainbow Court in Farley, about 20 miles from Dubuque. This place was right out of It Happened One Night. Individual cabins for $10 per night. We had our six-year-old daughter, so we got a double unit for $12.

It was squeaky clean, but odd. Paint-by-number art on the walls, tin foil on the rabbit ears of a b&w TV, a cement shower with a shower head that hit me mid chest. We had a good night’s sleep, after the giggles subsided, and the next morning went to the little diner in the parking lot for breakfast. It was run by a guy who had moved from Rhode Island, and had a horseshoe shaped counter that seated eight. He had a small flattop where he could cook two meals at a time.

I remember what we ordered. My wife and daughter each had french toast and hot chocolate. I had eggs, sausage, hash browns with cheese, toast and coffee. Total price? $5.00! I’m not absolutely sure it’s not there anymore, but the only reference I found was a couple of postcards, like the one linked below. The memories remain, though.

https://digital.grinnell.edu/islandora/object/grinnell%3A15971/datastream/OBJ/view

[Piasladic]

8. Woolworth's in sarasota, fl

an indoor mall full of old time candy and clerks. It was replaced by a foreign bank and an "American" restaurant that demanded classy shirts and nice shoes.

[Cartoonist]

9. A nondescript building in my home town.

It wasn't much to look at, but it said OLD. What brothers me about its destruction, was that it was pushed by the town Historical Society. It still had two businesses going inside.

[Aristus]

10. The Tacoma Mall Twin movie theater.

Saw "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" for the first time there.

Got my first kiss there a few years later...


Torn down in around 2002...

[Sneederbunk]

11. The US Congress.

[leftieNanner]

12. Playland at the beach

In San Francisco. Torn down in the early 70s. Condos there now.

It had the most incredible giant wooden slide!

[PufPuf23]

14. Also was going to say San Francisco's Playland at the Beach

Winterland too. Regular there for several years of high school and during undergrad time at Cal.

In Humboldt county (home and current residence) think of the Big Four, an Italian restaurant demolished when 101 was turned into a freeway through Arcata, and Lazio's that was a combination restaurant, bar, fish packing plant, and seafood market on Humboldt Bay in Eureka what is now called Old Town..

[leftieNanner]

17. Oh yes, Winterland!

I told my parents I was going to the "movies" several times. Saw The Band there and many others. Very cool place.

[PufPuf23]

20. Similar experience as a teen.

I was 15 as was best friend and girl friend. Leah's best friend was 16 and had a driver's license.

Leah told her mother she would be spending night at Nancy Sue's (who had hooked up with my friend), the driver and possessor of her Mom's station wagon. Nancy Sue told her mother she would be spending night at Leah's. Rudy and I were boarding school students far from parental oversight.

So left Nancy Sue's telling her Mom she would be at Leah's that night and we were going to the park and beach and then to dinner and a movie or something and would be back late. Mom assumed Muir Woods and Stinson Beach as we were in Marin. Leah's Mom thought she was spending night at Leah's, which was true but not 2 AM true.

We meant Golden Gate Park (so we could visit the Haight), Playland at the Beach, and Winterland for the Doors, this was either Fall 67 or Spring 68. We got back to Marin to two worried and not very happy mother's but not major trouble as we were all "good" kids in general.

[leftieNanner]

18. How about The Hippo Restaurant?

Outstanding burgers and a "Hippo" Shake.

[exboyfil]

13. Marineland in California

In the 1990s I was trying to take my wife there while on a visit to California. The guard at the gate told us all the animals had been shipped to Sea World. Other places in SoCal torn down include Lion Country Safari, Movieland Wax Museum, Japanese Garden, and Riverside Race Track.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

15. The "Proud Pig" restaurant in Englewood OH...

... that was owned / managed by a guy named Dick Duck!

Proud Pig, owned by Dick Duck!

My mother was interviewed for a cooking job there, but predicted that she wouldn't get the job after the owner told her his name at the start of the interview. She started giggling and couldn't stop as he glared at her. And she was correct... no job offer.

It wasn't in business very long at all, though. It had a horrible location on top of a steep hill that could rip parts from the underbody of a car simply from trying to pull into the parking lot from the road!

Some later restaurant owner at that location might have tried to collect the insurance money or something, because that building mysteriously burnt to the ground one night and it was never replaced.

"Torn down" by fire, if that counts. (I mostly wanted to share that story!)

[Wicked Blue]

19. Doll's Place

A wonderful hole-in-the-wall restaurant and bar in New Brunswick, NJ.

It, like many other funky wonderful places in that city, fell victim to ever-expanding redevelopment.

[Golden Raisin]

21. The old Penn Station in NYC which was

magnificent and architecturally based on the ancient Roman Baths of Caracalla.