Thursday Thirteen #96: I Was a Teenage Foosball Champion
I was the neighborhood foosball champion, growing up. Did you know that, Internet? That’s right. I even got a first-place trophy when they had a tournament because I kicked ass at foosball. At pool? Not so much. But I still played all the time. That’s because instead of going to the library, I hung out at our local underage poolhall. That’s where I was Aug. 16, 1977, when I found out Elvis Aaron Presley had just died. It was a real shocker to me, finding out the King was gone, because although I was only 13 years old, I was already a huge Elvis fan.
My boyfriend, who was a Foghat, Led Zeppelin and Rush fan, just rolled his eyes.
“He was just some old fat guy. What do you care?”
No wonder the relationship didn’t last.
My Top 13 Hangouts When I Was a Kid, for Thursday Thirteen:
1. The poolhall, “Neat Street”
2. The Roseway Theatre, right next door to the poolhall. They never asked your age, even at the R-rated movies, which is why my little sister and I got to see the Omen, Midnight Express and the Exorcist, and much, MUCH more. Even though she was only 10, 11, mebbe, and I was 13, 14 mebbe? Such happy times, screaming at “Carrie,” crying at “King Kong,” freaking out when the guy in that one scary movie that we can’t remember the name of gave birth through a, uh, you know, in his side. Yick. My friend was thoughtful and covered my sister’s eyes at that scene, but she peeked, anyway.
I mean, yick. However, I remember being thrilled by a double feature of The Pom-Pom Girls and The Van. Milk Duds and popcorn and happy, happy days.
We loved the Hollywood Theatre, too.
3. The park by my grade school
4. The library! (Occasionally.)
5. Burgerville! My girlfriend and I would walk two miles one way to get there. Why not? We had time. We also loved Mr. Burger, Burger Island and Circus Burger. Pretty much any place with “burger” in the name.
6. Our basement, where my sister and I hung out with our friends, made waffles (we’d put the waffle iron on the floor by the TV and plug it in there) and watched hour after hour of Speed Racer, Emergency and Star Trek. We were somewhat feral as children.
7. The park blocks on Northeast 72nd Avenue. (I was a youthful smoker, I am sad to say, and always looking for places to smoke.)
8. The neighborhood drugstore, Fairley’s Pharmacy, for chocolate milkshakes and to buy make-up.
9. The other neighborhood drugstore, Rexall Drugs, to buy Christmas presents for my parents, sister, and grandparents. It was like Main Street, U.S.A. there. I loved it.
10. Lloyd Center Mall, “The Center of It All!” for ice skating, shopping, Morrow’s Nut House and Joe Brown’s Caramel Corn
11. The basement of my best friends, two brothers, whose mom (thoughtfully) was never home.
12. The Washington Park Rose Garden and the Peninsula Park Rose Garden.
13. My room.
, 
.
Isn’t it amazing how we can remember so many details in our past?
Of course, I’ve lost too many brain cells from having 3 kids in as many years, so recent memories aren’t all there..lol
Thanks for sharing this list, and for sharing the links! So great to visit your old hangouts!
June 6th, 2007 | #
Yeah, I remember NOTHING from earlier today, for instance.
June 6th, 2007 | #
What a nice bit of nostalgia… and now I’m hungry for Burgers and Millk Duds. LOL!
June 6th, 2007 | #
Fun list!
June 6th, 2007 | #
Hey, that’s a great idea for TT! :)
Great list.
Thanks for dropping by. Have a good one.
June 6th, 2007 | #
I don’t miss being a teenager but I miss hanging out like one…with the friends I haven’t seen since then. Good list.
June 6th, 2007 | #
Great list! So much detail.! :)
June 6th, 2007 | #
Wow, so many cool places to hang. I grew up in suburbia wasteland where there were no cool places to go. I feel cheated.
June 6th, 2007 | #
Now that your past is out, how far do you let your kids out of your sight! Have you become a wuss parent? I have, time to let my kids go out and hang out. Too bad we don’t have a poolhall nearby. Cool idea for a list, will keep it in mind.
June 6th, 2007 | #
I either have lost all my memory cells from having kids, or I’ve blocked out my teens, lol. I don’t remember all the places I used to hang out at. And I wouldn’t want my kids doing the stuff I did do that I remember.
June 6th, 2007 | #
Jenny, you guessed it. I am total wuss parent. My kids are rarely out of my sight. My poor mom! She was working all the time (hello — we needed groceries) and it wasn’t like she’d give us piles of cash. No Ipods and fancy clothes, ha. If we didn’t have money for the drugstore, one of our friends would buy us a Coke. Or if we didn’t have cash for movie tickets, someone would sneak to the exit doors and let a pack of us in.
We traveled in a pack, for real, like wolves. It was fun, and we all took good care of each other (for the most part) but now we’d be labeled a “gang” and “bad kids.” We were just having fun.
June 6th, 2007 | #
Amazing all the details we remember about our youth! Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
My TT is up too: 13 phobias.
Have a great weekend, XINE
June 6th, 2007 | #
What a walk down memory lane. Our burger joint was called the Red Rooster. There really was no hang out for the kids. Usually we’d get together at friend’s houses. My folks moved when I was in college. I went back years later and was shocked by all the changes. The town and grown. I didn’t even recognize it. I was so ready to leave and shake the dirt from that place, but I didn’t like that it had changed while I was gone. Go figure.
June 6th, 2007 | #
I like your memories…I was married with four kids by the time Elvis died. I was a teen when he first started on the Ed Sullivan Show. I’m new to TT, come see me at my site.
June 7th, 2007 | #
Ahhhh…. the teenage years.
June 7th, 2007 | #
Awwwwwwwww, the good ole days!
June 7th, 2007 | #
Burgerville ROCKS!!!!!! Great TT, mine is up @ http://emeraldcityguy.wordpres.....hirteen-3/
June 7th, 2007 | #
What a fun list! I’ll have to remember this for a future TT. :)
June 7th, 2007 | #
Boy did you take me back! I still remember where I was and how devistated I was when Elvis died. It was horrible and I still cry to this day when I see things about it. LC
June 7th, 2007 | #
My buddy and I got sick of the pool tables at the rec center and started going to a college bar (the Airliner) to play pool. We’d order Cokes and plug quarters into the coin-op pool tables all afternoon. The bartenders never said “boo” to us.
June 8th, 2007 | #
oooh… good memories. We hung out on crab-apple tree limbs and in the city pool, and filled ourselves on ice cream sundaes at the Zesto. It’s a good reminder to let my kids make memories for themselves…
June 8th, 2007 | #