Things that aren't there anymore

Inspired by the sale and imminent destruction of my former shop/loft/home,- (I lived and worked in this building, remodeled it to my design largely by myself, and basically spent most of my waking (and sleeping) hours there for the better part of 6 years.) - My feeling of losing a tangible, physical connection to some special people and good memories is really odd.


I pose this question to you, intrepid readers:

What is gone now that you had an intimate connection with for a signifigant period of time, and how did its' destruction affect you? We're considering inanimate objects only, not people/pets/etc.


What's gone from your life and how do you feel about it?

My back-door neighbor Jack. I found out he died when I went over to deliver a thank you card. That I was going to deliver a week before.

[Edited on Aug 22, 2004 by Jeff_Fries]

BALEEEEEETED.

It wasn't an intimate connection, but I remember how cool it was to be on the roof of the World Trade Center and see the curvature of the Earth. Can't do that anymore.

"My So-Called Life"
Alpine White (a white chocolate candy bar with almonds---YUM)
Rage Against the Machine
A Democratic president
My job
Veggie World (awesome vegan restaurant that used to be by my house)
"OZ"
Lenny on "Law and Order"
"Sex and the City"
Denali ( the band)
My neighbor's cool dog, Jake...he used to come up to my car and say hi to me...
Orbitz (the drink with globules floating on it)
"Beavis and Butthead"
A non-solo sex life

Memories....from the bottom of my heart...

And from the San Fernando Valley in beautiful southern California...


Joe Peeps pizza... still there but not the same..
Smokey joes and Jacks classic on Coldwater and riverside.
And the OLD sherman Oaks galleria.. like how it was when they shot fast times at ridgemont high. Oh the sega center...how I loved you..

*PINE

Frieda's German Deli.

It was this tiny little deli in my hometown. We didn't go there a lot, but whenever you went on a class field trip...and got the "special" lunch...we went to Frieda's. Their sandwiches were thick as hell. Their potato salad was rediculously good. The stout German women who ran the place were oddly welcoming, but in an efficient, German way.

It was a part of my childhood. It was one of those things that make your hometown, well, your hometown.

Then Rite-Aid bought them out, tore down the building and built a Pharmacy on top of it. Because, as you all know, you NEED 4 pharmacies in a town of 12,000 people.

Fucking suburbs.....no sense of tradition.

Spangles.

I want most things in my life to be gone, I hate having shit around.

[Edited on Aug 23, 2004 by 498111023955391_]

Voltron. Then they made a bastardized version and called it "Power Rangers".

Cash, I remember Frieda's. That place always seemed like it could have been lifted whole from some cloudy little German town, I think mainly because of the woman who ran it. She was absolutely and unmistakeably german.

That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for, sorry if things weren't clear in the original post. Homes, stores, buildings, places, big things...

Ok, here's mine. I miss Opryland Theme Park. I remember one year my parents were just a little bit above completely broke, so for my birthday, they spent all their little extra savings to take me there. We rode ALL the rides, ate the greasy food, played games...it's one of only a few times in my childhood that I can remember my Dad and Mom and I all being happy and having fun. My parents made sure I didn't have a care in the world that day. It really was great.
The city of Nashville decided to tear down Opryland Theme Park and in it's place build a huge monstrosity of a mall called Opry Mills. It took me two years before I would even go down to see it, because I was so upset Opryland was gone.

I also love Frieda's because one time I made a good-natured prank phone call to them. I yelled "Ich Habe der Sparglekremme in meine hosen". Which means "I have creamed asparagus in my pants"

Frieda laughed her ass off.

I really, really miss that place.

They've torn down every good cinema in this stupid town. I especially miss the Eglinton, an art deco palace that was once a cinema for anyone and is now just an "event theatre" and is used mainly to host corporate "events".

The last movie I saw there was Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, and that just ain't right.

I grew up in Bradenton, Florida... damn near EVERYTHING I remember from back then is gone. The whole city looks different.. and in my opinion, worse.

No more Woolworth's with the greasy diner inside in downtown. (Downtown itself is gone... the whole block that once was the major shopping district was torn down & replaced by an ungodly UGLY steel & glass court complex.)

No more McDonald's that my mom used to take my sister & me to every weekend. (They closed it & built a new one several miles west, to a location situated JUST right so you almost HAVE to make a suicide slide into traffic to get out of there.)

The orange brick school building where I went during 1st & 3rd grades.. it even had an honest-to-god fallout shelter in the basement! Yes, a building in Florida with a BASEMENT! Torn down for some ugly, sprawling 1-story blight of a building.

The large amount of undeveloped land around the street I lived on when in junior high. The Interstate went RIGHT by there a couple of years after I moved away... now it's all Subway, McDonalds, Burger King, Waffle House.... ugh.

All the old dairies & cattle farms near where my grandparents used to live. (Torn down when they rerouted a US highway right through the middle of them all.)

My grandparents' old house.

My mindset when I was around 6 years old... I think I miss that most... and all the cool toys there were back then. The toys I can still get via eBay... the mindset, alas....

[Edited on Aug 23, 2004 by DarthSmurf]

[Edited on Aug 23, 2004 by DarthSmurf]

And Hungry Hungry Hippos

WTC

ha! i grew up one mile away from that disappeared dog.

When I traded in my previous car for the car I own now, I learned that due to MA law about insuring used vehicles there really wasn't much angle in selling it. They said they'd probably end up stripping it for parts. That was my second car, but it was the first I actually owned-- title, insurance and all. I had it for eight years, including all of college. The thought that it would just get torn apart was oddly upsetting.

I don't think about it much anymore, though.

I miss my childhood, the good friends, and the good times I used to have.

when i was a wee lad, all the kids in the neighborhood used to play in these fields by my house. there wasn't really anything in them, except for grass and flowers, but there was lots of room for us to play football, chase girls, or what have you. i went back there a few years ago and discovered the fields are gone, replaced by the ugliest apartment buildings ever built. apparently, everyone hangs out in the mall now.

The fast food joint Mr. Fables. I don't know if it was nationwide, but some of the Michigan people (Sorcha, NoPants) might remember it. They had the best onion rings....

In the front garden of the house I grew up in there used to be a huge willow tree. You could sit on the floor, leaning against the trunk and be completely surrounded by the yellow/green canopy that reached down to the floor.

We moved out of that house many years ago. I moved out of that town many around 15 years ago. The tree has been chopped down.

I don't feel particularly connected to the house but, y'know, that was our tree.

My poetry book... And empty journal I got from High School from my best friend's mom. I wrote down EVERYTHING. Poetry that touched me at that time. I wish I had it still.

It has been missing for almost a year. I only assume it's lost forever....