Tuesday Favorites…store from long ago

Okeechobee Joe

Lost Ball in High Grass
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Oct 5, 2014
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I saw Nanci Griffith in person twice. Once in a concert in Winston-Salem, NC and once performing outdoors on Capitol Street in Jackson, Mississippi. Didn't care for her politics which is ok by me because I generally don't care what a singer's politics are, but I thought she didn't have to wear those big LBJ campaign buttons when she sang. That was a little in your face. She was from Texas and was a big liberal. I liked her music more when I was younger but looking back some of it sounds too sad today. Anyway she was a great performer in her own right and my how time does fly.
 

Bullag8r

Senior Member
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Jul 24, 2014
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I did not see any mention of Montgomery (Monkey) Wards, the poor man's Sears. The store in Lakeland is where my mother bought my husky sized jeans for back to school shopping from 4th through the 8th grade (60-64). When we moved to Sebring our only department store was WT Grants but that is when we shopped at stores owned by my fathers bookkeeping clients and I finally talked my father into letting me wear Levi's corduroy jeans.
 

CDGator

Not Seedy
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Jul 24, 2020
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I did not see any mention of Montgomery (Monkey) Wards, the poor man's Sears. The store in Lakeland is where my mother bought my husky sized jeans for back to school shopping from 4th through the 8th grade (60-64). When we moved to Sebring our only department store was WT Grants but that is when we shopped at stores owned by my fathers bookkeeping clients and I finally talked my father into letting me wear Levi's corduroy jeans.

Montgomery Wards is where I bought my first stereo after saving up my money from my first job. I think I was 16 but felt like an adult making this purchase!
 

Loogis

2.0
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Aug 1, 2014
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We would call TG&Y turtles, girdles, and yo-yos. I remember Western Auto would sell Star Wars figures. My Dad would buy me one every time we drove Greenville, FL.

Speaking of Star Wars, saw ESB at that movie theater near the Northwood Mall and the hill across from the Tallahassee Mall. I think it was called Capitol Cinemas. That really was the premiere theater then.

Speaking of the hill, story goes that was the hill Andrew Jackson crested when he first enter the city of “old fields,” and the abandoned Indian village he noted was where the Tallahassee Mall stands now. So the story goes.

I grew up on the east side of town, so our go-to store was Wilbros in the shopping strip on the corner of Appalachee Pkwy and Capital Circle.
 

Loogis

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Aug 1, 2014
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When I was a boy, about the only time we ever went to a big city (“Tallahassee”) was around Christmas. There was a store called J.M. Fields that had some of everything. I’d make it about as far as the toys. I’m sure I looked like Ralphie staring at the toys in the window of Higby’s in A Christmas Story. I remember seeing a big set of toy soldiers that I just had to have. It was made by Hasbro and was WWII themed. My mom told me to be sure and ask Santa Claus. I thought it would be a shoe in! But on Christmas morning, Santa had dropped of a cheaper set from the Dime Store. “Sonuvab**ch” (to quote Ralphie)! J.M. Fields lingered in my memory for years, even after it closed.
Hey Cover, do you remember the WT Grants where Publix is now?
 

ThreatMatrix

Well-Known Member
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Aug 28, 2014
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Pic n Save. Before Target there was Pic N Save.
And Goodings in Orlando. Great upscale grocery store.
Eckerd Drugs.
Lum's - Loved their subs. And their cokes were extra good. And their chips.
 

cover2

Founding Member
I've grown old
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Jun 12, 2014
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Actually it was before my time. I’m hearing it was there before Fields.
Fields is as far back as I can remember at that spot. That was in the 60’s.
 

CDGator

Not Seedy
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Jul 24, 2020
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Pic n Save. Before Target there was Pic N Save.
And Goodings in Orlando. Great upscale grocery store.
Eckerd Drugs.
Lum's - Loved their subs. And their cokes were extra good. And their chips.

Eckerd Drugs was really good. That ls where we would get our film developed.
 

deuce

Founding Member
"Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war."
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Jun 11, 2014
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I was raised in Tampa and I have many fond memories of Businesses that are long gone..
I'll mention a couple..
1st. Mirabella's Seafood Restaurants. There were several locations, 1 was Down Town on the banks of the Hillsborough River. This was the original location and started as a Fish House before the turn of the Century. The second was on Dale Mabry, near Kennedy (originally Grand Central).
Mirabella's restaurant exterior.jpg

What great places to eat the freshest seafood from the Bay and Gulf.

Mirabella's closed in 1988, the owner, Frank, just got tired of the long hours and the New Convention Center disrupted traffic flow down town and people couldn't get to the River Side location easily.
 
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deuce

Founding Member
"Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war."
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Jun 11, 2014
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The second business was Wolf Bros. A family owner Men's clothing store downtown on Franklin Street. This was the place all young men in Tampa went to for their Gant Shirts and London Fog Jackets. I remember saving my allowance for months and months to buy my first light blue Gant button down collar shirt. I loved that shirt and the girls did also....

1958 Wolf Bros 1st floor 1958.jpg

Wolf Bros. closed in 1996, victim of shopping trends moving to Suburban Malls.
 
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Gator By Marriage

A convert to Gatorism
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Dec 31, 2018
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I saw Nanci Griffith in person twice. Once in a concert in Winston-Salem, NC and once performing outdoors on Capitol Street in Jackson, Mississippi. Didn't care for her politics which is ok by me because I generally don't care what a singer's politics are, but I thought she didn't have to wear those big LBJ campaign buttons when she sang. That was a little in your face. She was from Texas and was a big liberal. I liked her music more when I was younger but looking back some of it sounds too sad today. Anyway she was a great performer in her own right and my how time does fly.
Not unusual of course for an artist to be a lefty, but I wouldn’t make too much of her wearing an LBJ button…..

upload_2021-9-27_8-28-49.jpeg
 

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