Everything From My Youth Is Gone

Though I am on the back nine of life, I wouldn't give anything to have been born later. I literally grew up with the Original Trilogy and the Kenner Star Wars line. It was pure magic. I don't envy the young. You can keep your dark hair and proud ways. I saw A New Hope when it was still Star Wars. I peeled the sticker off the back of my 20-backs to reveal the rocker firing Boba Fett offer. I bought the Topps cards which were as close as we could come to reliving the movie at home in the days before video rentals. I wouldn't trade anything for that experience. Sadly, save for the Vintage Collection and a few other nostalgia products, all of my personal landmarks from that era are gone.

The movie theater where I saw all three Original Trilogy movies, Showcase Cinemas Downtown in Worceter, MA, is long gone:


It was an old vaudeville theater that was converted into a movie theater multiplex before multiplexes were really a thing. The "big" screen was from the image above. It was a late Victorian building, and it had the ornate architecture of the era, the cost of which would never be tolerated today. I can remember staring up at that chandelier waiting for movies to start. If that main screen were still in place today, I could take you to the exact seat where I saw Return of the Jedi. The building stands, but it has been gutted and turned into a theater theater. You know. The kind were some dork up on stage performs live. Boo!!! I want to see the talkies!

The store where I got most of my Star Wars toys was a place called Spags:


To the untrained eye, the place was a dump, but it was always incredibly well stocked and the prices were rock bottom. There were no price stickers. The wrote the price on the product with a grease pencil. As above, if this store were still standing, I could walk you to the exact location where I bought my first Star Wars figures. It has been torn down, and is now the site of a Whole Foods. One's childhood memories could suffer no greater indignity.

In the off chance that Spags didn't have what I was looking for, Child World was right down the road:


That is not the exact store I went to when I was kid. I can't find a picture of it. A lot of you remember Toys R Us fondly, but for me it was Child World. It was the place that I got many Star Wars figures, the Cobra H.I.S.S. tank and the Nitendo NES system. The big one with Rob the Robot and the light gun. Last I checked, my childhood Child World is now occupied by a Party City. So if I need a gross of zany cocktail stirrers, I know where to go.

In many ways, that vintage Kenner era was similar to today. Even though the stores were much better stocked, if you were looking for the latest product, sometimes you had to go on a toy hunt. This usually meant expanding your search to a trio of department stores in New England: Bradlees, Zayre's, and Caldor. You all know the fate of those three retail giants today. Survey says:



It's gone, Jerry. It's all gone. Such is life. Nothing lasts forever, which is why, despite the angst and agita that sometimes comes with it, I am thankful for everyday that we still have the Vintage Collection.

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