Been posted before, but interesting for new members from Waco area http://wacohistoryproject.org/remember.htm

You're old Waco if you attended South Waco Elementary as well as Junior High School.
You're old Waco if you attended Saturday matinees at the Melrose theater.
You're old Waco if you used to set pins in the Baylor Student Union Building bowling alley for free games.

Im older than Egypt and don't remember the Melrose. Where was that?

TenBears said:

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Im older than Egypt and don't remember the Melrose. Where was that?

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I can't remember it either..I asked an old South Waco buddy and he said on Speight not far from Campus..I rode a bike down Speight all the time as a kiddo, and I simply don't remember it. Had to be gone by latter part of 50's.

You're old Waco if you remember riding across the old Hwy 6 dam/bridge. I didn't drive, just rode in the car!
You're old Waco if you remember the pony rides at Fairgate, Southgate and near the circle. My grandfather ran those for years.

Or if you remember the god awful old zoo. Even at five years old I could tell how f@@@@ up that was. Flat out disturbing.

Ha! I remember the Melrose!
I remember seeing Elvis in Jail House Rock and Love Me Tender, King Creole and others.

You're old
if you lived on Speight which is now Baylor apartments

you used to go craydad fishing on Baylor campus beside the old bearpits

if you went to the 25th St Saturday Matinee for 25 cents or free if you had a Vandervoort's gallon jug tab.

if you used to go into the old Sears store on 18th to cool off in the summer

if you were lucky enough to have folks take you to Robinson's ice cream drive thru

if you went to the old Dairy Queen on 25th and bought yourself a banana split for 35 cents.

if you went swimming in the Lion's pool every summer

if you experienced the summer our little league team went to the Little League World Series!

if you went to the fair at the coliseum and saw The Cisco Kid, the dude from Rawhide, Festus, the Lone Ranger, and others.

if you were a "silk sock sissy " because you attended Sanger Elementary, but after the days of the silk.

if you ate at the old Elite restaurant downtown and then after it moved to the Circle (my mom was a waitress there for $8/wk plus tips, which she raised me on).

and of course I am getting close to being old er but not oldest!
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If you went to Shorty's Hamburgers and could get 5 for a dollar.

If you could go to the used book/comic store on clay close to Bells Hills Elementary where you can your new or used comics for other ones (and didn't have to buy one).

forza orsi said:

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If you went to the Circle Drive In for movies, not for a flea market.

If you had burgers, 5 for a dollar at the Beverly Hills Restaurant.

Summer movies at Kendrick Elementary.

A $1 dollar regular haircut at Pirelo's Barber Shop in the Beverly Hills Center and then running down to the hobby shop on the other end of the shopping center to race slot cars on their giant (at least they seemed so then) race tracks.

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Did all the above except for Kendrick summer movies..Being a Bell's Hill guy, we didn't get over there much! :-) Crisp and Ed gave me haircuts WAY back when..I think their brother Harold might have had a chair there too. I'm thinking of Stadium Drive Inn on Clay for the 5 for a dollar burgers..they sold 'em up into the 80's..

where was Candy Cane lane or Park? cameron park swimming holes

Yes Candy Cane Park and riding the miniature train. Putt Putt golf and swimming at Lions Park. Seeing all the mechanical Christmas displays at Lake Air Mall.

You are old Waco if you remember Heights Pharmacy across the street from the old Providence Hospital. You are old Waco if you remember the old Providence Hospital.

some of these don't seem old to me at all...I must be Ancient Waco.

You are old Waco if you remember the tiny building on 26th Street called 'BBB Craft' (Buttons, Belts, Buckles, … ?) If my memory is correct it was operated by a friendly lady - Mrs Howell. And you are old Waco if you recall Mrs O'Neils sheet music shop in downtown.

Bear1969 said:

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You are old Waco if you remember the tiny building on 26th Street called 'BBB Craft' (Buttons, Belts, Buckles, … ?) If my memory is correct it was operated by a friendly lady - Mrs Howell. And you are old Waco if you recall Mrs O'Neils sheet music shop in downtown.

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Yes to both. Was getting shirts monogrammed at BBB into the mid/late 80s. Probably still have some sheet music in the piano bench from Audra O'Neil's. Her shop was torn down to make the parking lot behind the Hippodrome.

Curious if any of yall who are Old Waco recall any places that were hot-spots for vintage pinball? The era before video games took over arcades. I restore / collect / sell vintage pinball machines and was just curious.

Bexar Pitts said:

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forza orsi said:

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If you went to the Circle Drive In for movies, not for a flea market.

If you had burgers, 5 for a dollar at the Beverly Hills Restaurant.

Summer movies at Kendrick Elementary.

A $1 dollar regular haircut at Pirelo's Barber Shop in the Beverly Hills Center and then running down to the hobby shop on the other end of the shopping center to race slot cars on their giant (at least they seemed so then) race tracks.

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Did all the above except for Kendrick summer movies..Being a Bell's Hill guy, we didn't get over there much! :-) Crisp and Ed gave me haircuts WAY back when..I think their brother Harold might have had a chair there too. I'm thinking of Stadium Drive Inn on Clay for the 5 for a dollar burgers..they sold 'em up into the 80's..

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Yes, Harold was there too. Crisp, Ed, and Harold are/were my cousins. Crisp is still living at age 97. Ed died about 3 years ago and Harold about 10 years. Weird Baylor trivia - Harold Pirelo's granddaughter, Keri, is a good Sicilian girl, so she comes in at under 5 feet tall. She married John (JD) Flippen of Baylor basketball fame, who is 7'2". I don't really know JD, but I see him at family funerals and he stands out among the Sicilians. I used to feel conspicuous at 6'3", but JD takes all the attention away now. He has filled out his frame now and is a very large man.

Beverly Hills Restaurant was across the street from my grandparents' house. It was Bruno's meat market before that, and they sold candy. My grandpa would give me a nickel (or a dime on a good day) to go over there and buy a piece of candy.

Pirelos were/are a great family..Many good memories of them down through the years...Crisp is amazing..the man played and coached softball for many, many years...I know it makes you smile when you think of them..it sure makes me do so..

Greenboy232 said:

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Curious if any of yall who are Old Waco recall any places that were hot-spots for vintage pinball? The era before video games took over arcades. I restore / collect / sell vintage pinball machines and was just curious.

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My running buddies played a ton of pinball in the mid '70s. The room next to Baylor Drug, George's (bowling machine too), and the Palmeto Inn on La Salle, where as pledges we had to beat members playing the Fireball machine with its spinning rubber pad that would radically change the ball's direction, all while only watching the machine's reflection in an overhead mirrored ceiling.

A miracle that between copious amounts of beer and pinball that I managed to graduate on time. Fortunately I didn't start foosball until I had already made off with my diploma.

Greenboy232 said:

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Curious if any of yall who are Old Waco recall any places that were hot-spots for vintage pinball? The era before video games took over arcades. I restore / collect / sell vintage pinball machines and was just curious.

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As a kid I came through Waco on a Greyhound bus back in the early 1970's on my way from Dallas to Austin. I seem to recall there being an electro-mechanical pin or two at the station. (This was the old station, mind you).

I got off the bus to take a break and maybe play a game or two, but after seeing the 'characters' who were hanging around that place I decided to get back on the bus and keep my change in my pocket.

I've kept a couple of old games that I bought years ago -- A Gottlieb 'Paradise' from 1965, and a Williams 'Dealers Choice' from 1974.

Sweet! I mostly restore Gottliebs (the best in my opinion). Very cool!

STxBear81 said:

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where was Candy Cane lane or Park? cameron park swimming holes

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Cold water

Bexar Pitts said:

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Pirelos were/are a great family..Many good memories of them down through the years...Crisp is amazing..the man played and coached softball for many, many years...I know it makes you smile when you think of them..it sure makes me do so..

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Yeah, I played on his softball team for a couple of years when I was at Baylor. Crisp played up until he was about 60.

You're almost old if you remember Pete's Diner just across from Brook's Hall, which became one of the earliest Scholtzsky's.

This is cool stuff. We are having a 55 year high school reunion this spring in Waco and this stuff will make great conversation!!

I remember Pete's. Good meat loaf after dining halls were closed. Those trays the food was on. Good times.
I liked the lone star tavern in bellmead too

Wasn't there also an Alvin Ord's there? Or was that across the highway?

Across I-35 closer to 17th street.

TenBears said:

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Or if you remember the god awful old zoo. Even at five years old I could tell how f@@@@ up that was. Flat out disturbing.

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The one near the airport? I never went but what was wrong with it?

ABC123 said:

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TenBears said:

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Or if you remember the god awful old zoo. Even at five years old I could tell how f@@@@ up that was. Flat out disturbing.

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The one near the airport? I never went but what was wrong with it?

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I remember it had a hippo, but I was 4 or 5 when the Cameron Park Zoo opened so that's as much as I remember about the old airport zoo.

In the mid sixties there was an all you can eat cafeteria named Lavenders where you could walk out hurting for a couple of days you ate so much. As college students we ate there often.

You are Old Waco if you got your haircut by Junior at the Lake Air Mall Barber Shop.

chorne68 said:

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In the mid sixties there was an all you can eat cafeteria named Lavenders where you could walk out hurting for a couple of days you ate so much. As college students we ate there often.

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Ate there many, many times..Remember the lady that played the organ? Gus Barton bought the business,,,and it then became Barton's Cafeteria...Gus's son ,Mike, was Waco's original Captain Billy Whizzbang...It's been years since I've seen him, but everybody called him Capt. Billy...

TenBears said:

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Or if you remember the god awful old zoo. Even at five years old I could tell how f@@@@ up that was. Flat out disturbing.

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Chain link and concrete. Looked more like a pound than a zoo.

BUDOS said:

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You're almost old if you remember Pete's Diner just across from Brook's Hall, which became one of the earliest Scholtzsky's.

This is cool stuff. We are having a 55 year high school reunion this spring in Waco and this stuff will make great conversation!!

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Pretty sure it was "Pete's College Inn". I bought meal tickets there.