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Thread: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

  1. Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by jerrywall View Post
    Closest I came to ordering burgers by the dozen was at the white castle in New Orleans in the French District after a night of ... umm, excessive consumption. 50 cents each at the time if I recall.
    I get White Castle on such a rare occasion that I'm going all in and ordering the Crave Case when that occasion arises!

  2. #27

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by stile99 View Post
    I would venture to say that Pizza Shuttle didn't change, you did.
    Yeah, that's what I was trying to say.

  3. Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by TheTravellers View Post
    WRT retail - yep, I believe Rainbow Records and Sound Warehouse (not so much Peaches) were as good as I remember them, not much like them around anymore (Trolley Stop and Guestroom are the ones I go to and they're cool, but as far as new releases go, they're just OK).
    There was a record store named Peaches? That completely explains where that 60 or 90 min tape I have somewhere has a label on it that says "Peaches" I need to go through some boxes and dig it out.

    I have (Oklahoma) childhood memories of going to Mazzios and being mesmerized by the lights outside of Crystals. I have always wanted to go there but never went. Also Godfathers Pizza and the commercials for them.

    For those of you who were in the Denver area my most fond memory was The Organ Grinder. I loved that place and wish it were still around. (Wow all pizza places!) The Organ Grinder had a huge organ in it with pipes that controlled a bunch of instruments that was played by wind pressure. They would play old movies and the organist would play music to the movies.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  4. #29

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by BoulderSooner View Post
    McDonald's Big Mac is just as good as it ever has been (as is their double cheese burger) as are their fries. And McDonald's is a few times a month place at the minimum
    I don't really eat at Mcdonalds anymore after years of working there, but what's frustrating is that when a store is run and staffed right, you can't beat them for quality, freshness, and speed of service. Every other fast food company is constantly playing catchup to McDonald's operating procedures. The Founder is a great movie to watch, and it's not far off, and shows the thought they put into everything to be able to handle high volume in the quickest way possible. The trouble is it seems to be getting harder to find those really well run stores.

    When I was in high school/college almost all McDonald's in the metro were corporate owned, and they had a large regional office (on NW expressway) and there was tons of oversight. Now, I don't believe there are any corporate stores in the metro, and they closed the office in the early 2000s. It has made a significant difference.

  5. #30

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by tfvc.org View Post
    There was a record store named Peaches? That completely explains where that 60 or 90 min tape I have somewhere has a label on it that says "Peaches" I need to go through some boxes and dig it out. ...
    Yep, on 63rd/May, where Akin's is now, I believe, is the location I went to, there were probably others around, though.

  6. #31

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by traxx View Post
    Some of that has to do with technology. I remember a time when you had to go to a place like Rainbow to find the new bands, the up and comers, the obscure, etc. Now a simple internet search will return far more, far quicker than a visit to your local record shop.
    Yeah, I know, but the whole personal recommendation, chat with the guys working there thing (HIgh Fidelity, anyone?) is just lost (and the recommendation algorithms in online stuff don't come close to making up for that). That's where I found out about so many bands that shaped my musical tastes. Now it's just tiring to try to deal with finding new bands on the internet - too many and not enough quality control.

  7. #32

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by TheTravellers View Post
    Yeah, I know, but the whole personal recommendation, chat with the guys working there thing (HIgh Fidelity, anyone?) is just lost (and the recommendation algorithms in online stuff don't come close to making up for that). That's where I found out about so many bands that shaped my musical tastes. Now it's just tiring to try to deal with finding new bands on the internet - too many and not enough quality control.
    The on-line version of the guy at Sound Warehouse is something like Pandora or one of the many others that use algorithms to find songs and artists you like based on what you tell them you already like, or what you choose to like once heard.

    Again, I would argue this is a million times better than relying on a couple of people to guess at what you may like based on what they have happened to have heard.

    I find absolutely tons of music and bands I like this way. Even on youtube where you can listen to an artist then browse the playlist that is always suggested.

    And I can do it any time I want in my pajamas rather than driving down to a record store, finding the right guy then completely trusting him. AND I can pre-listen before I buy or download.

    Even later, how many hours did I spend in Tower records going from station to station to listen to whatever CD's they happened to be running through headphones?

    I will also say it wasn't long ago where you couldn't even hear a huge majority of music because our local stations didn't carry it. Even when I was in college, KGOU was classic rock. No alternative or progressive or new wave or anything. I would go read Billboard in the OU library then buy records blindly, if I could even find them in record stores.

    This is one of the areas where I think their have been the greatest improvements of all, not even factoring in that who gets their music out is no longer controlled by 5 or 6 rich older white guys who owned record companies and then engaged in rampant payola to get those records heard.

  8. Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by traxx View Post
    Some of that has to do with technology. I remember a time when you had to go to a place like Rainbow to find the new bands, the up and comers, the obscure, etc. Now a simple internet search will return far more, far quicker than a visit to your local record shop.
    I do love being able to download one song that hear and want. Plus the other things the internet music shopping provides. But one of my favorite memories was walking into Rainbow one night and hearing this amazing music playing. I asked the clerk what it was and he told me it was "Song For America" a new album by a new, pretty much unknown band named Kansas. I bought the 8-track and Kansas has been my favorite band since.

  9. #34

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    ^

    Despite everything I just posted, I can relate to that.

    In fact, I remember going to a debut listening party for Depeche Mode's Violator album at the old Stark Club (it was called something different by then) in Dallas.

    This was 1989/90 and still no internet so this is how things were done. And I was blown away and that album remains among my very favorites. The anticipation and setting certainly played into all that.


    However, I bought lots of bad music back in the day, based on one song I had heard or a music review I had read. And no returns!

    And it took me forever to find bands like REM, The Smiths and some of my all-time favorites because there was simply no way to hear them in OKC. By the time I moved to California in 1990, I had a huge backlog of music to buy and digest because I finally had access to things like KROQ and it was a seemingly un-ending flow of great stuff that had been out for a while and I had simply never heard.

  10. Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    In the late 90s early 2000s there was an old CD store I went to fairly often in Robinson Crossing. The owner had a huge collection and I remember getting a lot of bootleg and non American published alternative and industrial music from him. It was sad when I moved back to Ok in 2011 that he and the place on Boyd and Debarr were gone.

  11. #36

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    I was eating Sussy's pizza in the 50's and have continued since he died and Sullivan's on Reno opened and had the original Sussy's recipe, and then Nomad II, same recipe. I love that pizza and in my opinion, it's the best we have ever had in OKC. I'm looking forward to the place in Bricktown. As for Shakey's, it was fun and decent. My wife and I loved the Portuguese linguica (a good sliced sausage. Their pizza wasn't great but we liked it and enjoyed the entertainment. Dodson's will always hold a special place in my heart. One of the first places we ate at when I was a child and also our wedding rehearsal dinner was at Dodson's. I don't think the quality changed over the years, it was just pretty good (not great) food. Another place I grew up on was Coit's and it was always what it was! Good root beer and in my opinion good hot dogs. I think I could go on and on, but I've bored everyone enough with my rambling.
    C. T.

  12. #37

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Coits - I loved the frosted mugs root beer. Never liked the corn dogs or anything else. No nastalgia there. I'd rather get that milk carton thing of root beer at the fair.

  13. Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Malcolm Gladwell says McDonalds fries are nowhere as good today as they were before 1990: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...ble-with-fries

  14. #39

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by jerrywall View Post
    Coits - I loved the frosted mugs root beer. Never liked the corn dogs or anything else. No nastalgia there. I'd rather get that milk carton thing of root beer at the fair.
    Try the root beer on tap in a frosted mug at Pop's. It's fantastic.

  15. Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by Pete View Post
    Try the root beer on tap in a frosted mug at Pop's. It's fantastic.
    Of all the times I've been there on poker runs and such I didn't know they had that. I've always got stuff out of the coolers. Next time I'll definitely try it.

  16. #41

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by TheTravellers View Post
    Yep, on 63rd/May, where Akin's is now, I believe, is the location I went to, there were probably others around, though.
    There was one in Tulsa on the SE corner of 51st and Sheridan. If that one didn't have what I was looking for, I would stop at the 63rd and May store on my way to Duncan.

  17. #42

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by Urbanized View Post
    Malcolm Gladwell says McDonalds fries are nowhere as good today as they were before 1990: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...ble-with-fries
    Knew someone who was a manager at a McD's when they stopped using beef tallow. He told a story about attending a regional managers conference after the change wherein one manager took to an open mike during a Q&A session with management, begging McD's to please go back to the tallow, because "bubba likes his fat." The audience erupted with applause.

    People are sick of being told what to eat, or that X is going to give them a Y increased risk for Z. And most of that hysteria was promulgated back when the conventional wisdom told us to limit dietary cholesterol, whereas we know now that dietary cholesterol has almost no relationship to serum cholesterol. A *great* editorial appeared iin the LA Times the other day by a doctor who skewered the AMA and the ongoing mantra about saturated fats and their supposed link to heart problems, when in reality the data doesn't show it.

    Sorry, sorry, I'm digressing. But some stuff in that article reminded me of the fats/heart/cholesterol business and it struck a nerve.

  18. #43

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by Urbanized View Post
    Malcolm Gladwell says McDonalds fries are nowhere as good today as they were before 1990: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...ble-with-fries
    [I haven't read the article but I agree 110%. They used to have the best fries hands down. They changed the way or the cooking oil they used to deep fry them. The fried pies use to be much better also.

  19. Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    ^^^^^^^^
    If you miss the old McDonald's fried pies the ones at Whataburger are a pretty close approximation.

  20. Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by OKCRT View Post
    [I haven't read the article but I agree 110%. They used to have the best fries hands down. They changed the way or the cooking oil they used to deep fry them. The fried pies use to be much better also.
    Also, in the article behind that link Gladwell explains exactly how they changed the preparation, which moved them away from the fries you and I know and love.

  21. #46

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by jerrywall View Post
    ^^

    Makes me think of Braum's Bag of Burgers... 5 for $5 I think...


    Closest I came to ordering burgers by the dozen was at the white castle in New Orleans in the French District after a night of ... umm, excessive consumption. 50 cents each at the time if I recall.
    white Castle or Krystal's? Never seen a WHite Castles in Nola but have hit Krystal's many times in the quarter after a bit too much

  22. #47

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bullbear View Post
    white Castle or Krystal's? Never seen a WHite Castles in Nola but have hit Krystal's many times in the quarter after a bit too much
    I think you're right. Krystal's on bourbon st. I always confuse the two (so similar in their products). Got the bagful which was under 8 or 9 dollars for a dozen of them. White Castle has something similar.

  23. #48

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    yes they are very much the same.. I do like Krystal's better however. those are great grease bombs on a late night

  24. #49

    Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    Quote Originally Posted by Urbanized View Post
    Malcolm Gladwell says McDonalds fries are nowhere as good today as they were before 1990: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...ble-with-fries
    Hrm.. 1990? They must have done a phased transition. I started working at McDonald's in 1991 and they were still using the beef tallow. Nasty stuff to work with. We had a big rolling bin and you'd dig the stuff out of it with a big metal scoop. When cold, it was slimy and nasty and messy, and after working there for a bit I learned the hard way not to hang my work clothes (even after cleaning) in the closet with the rest of my clothes, because they'd make everything stink. We eventually switched to the vegetable oil, but I can't remember how long I had been there. It came in a liquid form, unlike the beef tallow, and in jugs that we pour into the vat.

    The big downside was (and probably still is) that it was much less resilient compared to the beef tallow, so if the vats weren't cleaned more often and the oil replaced every few days, you got terrible fries. Properly cleaned, with fresh oil, the fries were still good. Well, at least until they got sued and had to remove the beef flavoring from the oil.

  25. Default Re: Were the defunct places we miss really that great?

    ^^^^^
    I worked at Pizza Hut when I was in high school (in the eighties) and learned to either put my uniform straight into the laundry when I got home or to leave them in my car (which stunk because of it). We always assumed it was the onions, though it wasn't a specific onion smell.

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