I was reading this entry over at Pam's blog and she mentions the Newington Mall.
It was such a big deal when we got our own mall. We'd go hang out there and I have many good memories of that place.
I got my first suit there, at Stuart Shaines, for my 8th grade dance.
I hung out with high school friends, kissed Mary while walking with hands entwined, and then strolled through there with my kids in a stroller before it was torn down and replaced with a string of stores.
I used to buy a dozen roses for Mary at the flower shop in the mall. She lived at home with her parents in Lee and our first summer together she came down with mono. I gave her a dozen roses every day for two weeks and her room was filled with them.
Her parents recently sold the house and land and watched their home of 30 years get torn down in the space of a few hours to make way for a bank. They couldn't take care of the house any more and money needed for their retirement is now in their hands rather than as prime real estate on Route 125.
Things change and that gives another generation the opportunity to talk about the way things used to be..."That bank is where your great-grandparents used to live and one summer your grandfather filled your grandmother's room with roses because she was sick."
Posted by bbarton at October 1, 2006 01:18 PMChristine - Funny how things have changed but that the Brat still has awesome pizza!
Posted by: Bob on October 2, 2006 10:50 PMdo you remember how the movie theater used to be where Bugaboo is now? (or is it the outback?...whatever damn steak house...they have like 60 of them down there now.)
Posted by: heidi on October 3, 2006 09:46 PMHeidi - Yep, I think it was where Bugaboo is now. And the Newington Mall had Bradless where Kohls is now and Montgomery Ward down at the Barnes and Noble end.
Posted by: Bob on October 3, 2006 11:12 PMOh nostalgia - place where I grew up is all antique shops now. My dad left when my mum died - now both of them are buried there. I need to visit some time, but feel right out of time. The places where we lived still stand, but oh so different.
You and Mary - a dozen roses a day, oh my. But how lovely.
Posted by: grannypgrannyp on October 5, 2006 12:19 PM
It's funny you should mention the Newington Mall. I was recently feeling nostaglic about the place after driving by and remembering how we used to "escape" from UNH every once in awhile and go shopping there. It was one of only a handful of places we could go on the bus at the time. And of course, none of us had cars. That whole area looks quite a bit different to me, although the pizza at the Brat is still as good as it was in 1979!
Posted by: Christine on October 1, 2006 09:27 PM