Childhood Memories of OKC

[CCOKC]

One of my favorite memories as a kid was going to the Omniplex and planterium at the fairgrounds with my grandfather. I was always somewhat of a scince nerd.
I don't know how I went into accounting. I guess that's because not many girls my age were encouraged to be engineers. What a thrill it was when the new Omniplex opened when I was a teenager. I think they still have some of the old exhibits. When my kids were little I would take them there and we would literally be there all day long. Like mother like daughter (and son). Now that my kids are teenagers they take my nephews who are 3 and 4 and they stay all day. What a great place!!! And what a difference from the old Fair Park location.

[Prunepicker]

One of my favorite memories as a kid was going to the Omniplex and planterium at the fairgrounds with my grandfather. I was always somewhat of a scince nerd.

When I was a kid a trip to the Kilpatrick Planetarium was a yearly event. I remember the mummy. Do they still have it on display?

I'm going to take the grandkids this summer.

Prunepicker

[CCOKC]

I had totally forgotten about the mummy. I remember you could actually see the mummified skin where some of the wraps had worn away. No, it is not on display anymore. Not sure where it went.

[Pete]

Regarding Fuddruckers, yes it was on the NW corner of I-240 and Western. I leased them that space. And in fairness, it was there before Longneckers but the latter may have out-lasted it.

There was another Fuddruckers on NW Expressway between McArthur and Rockwell on the south side of the street. Both of those locations opened around 1984 and only lasted a few years.

[SoonerDave]

And in fairness, it was there before Longneckers but the latter may have out-lasted it.

Malibu, not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things, but I think you've got your dates backwards. Longneckers predated Fuddruckers along I-240 by several years. I remember when Fuddruckers first went in over there on Western and thought it was an outrageous ripoff of Longneckers. Now, if you mean the chain Fudd's predated Longneckers, my apologies. But Longneckers was the first physical operating restaurant of those two long that I-240 corridor. When it first opened, my family made it a *very* regular destination...

-SoonerDave

[Prunepicker]

There was another Fuddruckers on NW Expressway between McArthur and Rockwell on the south side of the street. Both of those locations opened around 1984 and only lasted a few years.

I lived off of NW Expressway between Mac and Rockwell during that time. I don't remember seeing Fuddrucker's. Was it in Peppertree? Near Black Eye Pea? This is baffling.

Prunepicker

[Pete]

Dave, I'm sure you're right.

And the other Fuddruckers was indeed in Peppertree when it first opened:

[Prunepicker]

I think the twilight zone you are talking about was not in the Paseo area, but closer to NW 19th and Kentucky.
Carey PLace is the row of houses almost all white. I knew about the Black Brick, but never went there. It was west of Classen around NW 26th or so. I went to OCU and drove by it a lot.

We always called Carey Place the Twilight Zone. In the early '70s there were some old people that would wear overcoats in the summer. They looked like bag people but lived there. It was weird.

The Black Brick was on McKinley and @ N.W. 26th. I went there a lot. My favorite drink was the hot apple cider with one of those square cinnamon suckers in it. There was a coconut drink, too. I can't remember the names of the owners but they didn't look like they fit with the Brick's theme.

Prunepicker

[Pete]

I had asked a question about Twilight Beach...

I finally found some ads from the Oklahoman's archives from the 60's. 6000 NW 54th is on the SW corner of 54th & Hammond and there is currently an apartment complex on that site:

[Prunepicker]

I had asked a question about Twilight Beach...

I finally found some ads from the Oklahoman's archives from the 60's. 6000 NW 54th is on the SW corner of 54th & Hammond and there is currently an apartment complex on that site:

That's too cool! Seeing the "Golden Pheasant" advertised on the Twilight Beach ad brings back memories.

Does anybody remember the swim park called Elmwood on @ SE 55 & Sheilds?

[Cid]

I lived off of NW Expressway between Mac and Rockwell during that time. I don't remember seeing Fuddrucker's. Was it in Peppertree? Near Black Eye Pea? This is baffling.

Prunepicker

No, it was over on Expressway in that shopping center at 63rd. It's basically where Buffalo Wild Wings is now.

[NikonNurse]

The Bread smell is still downtown....In reference to some of the previous posts:

TV Show-Count Gregore
Restaraunts-Shotgun Sam's, Casa Bonita and Han's Barbecue
PCWest Grad myself-39th and Cactus Jacks up until late eighties
Old TV dudes-Fred Norman introducing the Doppler radar at the OUTDOOR courtyard at Penn Square..

[NikonNurse]

And HO-Ho went to the church I grew up in...forgot his real name....

[Prunepicker]

And HO-Ho went to the church I grew up in...forgot his real name....

Ho Ho's real name was Ed Birchall (sp) I drive by his old house almost everyday.

[NikonNurse]

Posting elsewhere reminded me of roller skating on Friday and Saturday nights at the Comet on 36th and then at the "U" on portland during the roller disco hey day..

My grandpa always took me...he was pretty famous as the little really old man (no pervert jokes cuz he wasnt) who skated better than most of the kids...we had a story about us in the oklahoman once.....

[okiegal57]

Kim, this is Joan. I have posted on this website too. I told Dennis about it a few months ago. TTYL Joan H.

[ToddyWoddy]

Elmwood Swimming Pool - my gal pal and I used to go there during the summers of 1977-1978 and flirt with the boys. There was a giant tower in the middle of the pool. You could take the stairs to the roof of the concession stand and lay out.

The City National Bank sign was not on top of Liberty Bank but at the top of the building that is across from the 1st Natl Bank building...the name escapes me but its the one that has the Interurban on the 1st floor. Remember calling the time?...i think the number was 599-1234. There was the advertisement for City Natl Bank and then it gave the time and temp. Everyone thought you were calling the bank, but it was really the phone co.

The drive in theater on 59th and Santa Fe was the Riveria.

Growing up in Spencer MWC area, we used to go to the Sooner Twin drive-in on Saturday night. You could see a double feature and then around 1:00 am they used to show these cheesy x-rated movies.

Does anyone remember Adair's cafeteria in Midwest City on the corner of 15th and Key? I always got the fried chicken and a little bowl of chocolate pudding with a single minature marshmallow on top!

OKC Zoo - remember the old entrance and when you walked in, the Monkey Ship? Also do you remember that poor polar bear?

Springlake - great memories, my grandpa used to work for Maclanburg Duncan and they had there company picnic there every year. In my high school years (Star Spencer), Springlake used to have a day where all the city area marching bands would perform and then afterwards we could spend the day in the park. I remember the fun house with the giant slide you go down on burlap sacks. There was also this huge spinning disk. We would pile as many kids as we could and then the guy would turn it on, the disk would start to spin and we would fly everywhere. The Wild Mouse, I was always scared to get on it, rumour had it that 2 kids were killed when their car flew off the track. The Alpine Skyride went thru the park, over the lake and at the end when it turned around to go back I always tried to hit the tree with my hand.

What a great thread!
Lisa

[NobleC]

I just found the site by accident and was curious as I grew up in NW OKC. Did anyone know that the old Wedgewood Village Amusement Park once occupied the parking lot and site of the Spartan store you were discussing? I still saw the old miniature railroad tracks popping out of the asphalt as late as the mid '80's.

[Pete]

Speaking of the monkey ship at the OKC Zoo, I found an old photo:



And I thought this was pretty cool... From the old Cinema 70 drive-in on NW Expressway:

[Pete]

Found an ad (circa 1971) for Elmwood in the Oklahoman archives:

[drumsncode]

Wow! Those prices from the Cinema 70 are breaking my heart! Look at the incredible inflation we've had!

[so1rfan]

[QUOTE=MalibuSooner;69450]


Regarding Penn Square, what was the name of the disco/club located there during the disco days that had a huge slide?? The name is on the tip of my tongue!


Wasn't there a club called "After the Gold Rush" adjacent to one of the malls? Was is Penn or Crossroads?

[Pete]

After the Goldrush was at I-240 and S. Penn (7401 S. Penn).


This was the place I was referring to... The name finally came to me:

[Eldestof4]

A friend of mine just told me about this site/thread and my head is throbbing with all there is to absorb and remember. Rather than leap in with something that's already been posted and/or covered, up there's a souvenir of a very big day a little over 45 years ago out on E. Britton Rd.

April 1 (makes perfect sense in retrospect), 1963--our cub scout den/troop/gang/guerrilla insurgency got to go to Channel 4 back when it was WKY-TV. I forgot which den, what pack (93? 193?--Belle Isle School and David Thompson's mom was den mother, if memory serves.) I was sitting in the left bleachers, first row, on the inside isle. I think we did get Soaky bubble bath (Mercury capsule-shaped bottle, but something else which I forget was never quite delivered.) Not only did I get to pull the Wrangler card out of the hopper, but I also (you saw this coming) won the Golden Horseshoe for my angst-ridden yet nuanced performance which included eyeglasses inverted; name sticker applied as mustache (imagine Hitler as walrus); nose, mouth and lower eyelids pulled toward a common center, tongue unconsciously foreshadowing a stage trick of a laughably Kabuki-influenced rock'n'roll band still ten years away in the future.

I was two months and twenty days too early to pull off the hat trick that would have also included riding Woody (birthdays only), but a great time was had by me. (Was there even anyone else there? I guess I was with a cub scout den...)

Later in high school, one of my two best pals actually lived in the house formerly owned by Steve Powell (Foreman Scotty). NE of 39th/May Avenue, let us say. There was quite a trove of pre-printed FS autographed photos and rocket balloons left behind in the garage storage unit.

Any one have the Rosetta stone for the hieroglyphics on the back of the Golden Horseshoe?

[zachtaylor alum]

I just discovered this site and I am elated! I grew up in OKC and share a lot of the great memories everyone has described. I went to Zachary Taylor School in the 1960's. It was on NW 52nd and Shartel. It was torn down by the school district in the '80's. It was the greatest little Wally and Beaver elementary school...just one classroom per grade and the principal was also the sixth grade teacher. The school was on the banks of Deep Fork Creek and we played there and climbed the big oak trees on the school grounds and threw acorns at each other. Anyone else out there an alum of Taylor Elementary?