Memories of Days Gone By - Eastgate Mall

MEMORIES OF DAYS GONE BY – EASTGATE MALL


Driving on Shortridge Road the other day prompted me to look at a sign by the defunct Eastgate Mall! Its auction will be held in late January 2007.. Before it totally goes down in history, I would like to share some “Mall Memorabilia!”

Eastgate Mall was the first open air mall in the city and will, unfortunately, go down as one of the first malls to lose their niche of identity and close.

During the ‘50s and ‘60s, Eastgate Mall played a role in developing a true sense of Eastside community. The annual parking lot fireworks shows; Hoosier Bargain Days and art shows truly drew a crowd of all ages.

My first memory of Eastgate Mall is riding the train at the Wonderland Amusement Park. Wonderland primarily had kiddie rides and was located on the current site of Ryan’s Steakhouse.

During the ‘60s, many malls housed grocery stores such as Standard Grocery. Many children enjoyed the mechanical horses outside the store. As a young child I said, “Horsey, horsey go faster.” As I thought it finally “galloped” at a faster pace, my nickel was up. Then the fun part began, “Please just one more time, it was just going faster.”

Several major department stores were presented at Eastgate such as Sears and Roebuck; J. C. Penney and H. P. Wasson’s. The Sears store was unique since it mainly housed appliances. As a child, I remember my parentals purchasing a new refrigerator. I was only concerned that it was big enough to store my “staple foods” of peanut butter, hamburger meat and popsicles.
Penney’s and Wasson’s were typical department stores of the day.

Purchasing a pair of shoes was another matter! The trendy shoe stores of the ‘60s included Thom McAn; Baker’s; Kinney’s and Schiff’s. Everyone had to have a pair of either Keds with the blue label intact; a pair of Red Ball Jets or a pair of Buster Brown shoes..

No food courts existed during the heydays of Eastgate. However, Sam’s Subway did and it was a sit down restaurant. Remember drinking Pink Lemonades?? Most of the dining experiences came from visiting the soda fountains of J. C. Murphy and F. W. Woolworth. If those choices did not suffice, nearby was a Lum’s Hot Dog; Howard Johnson’s (you know the hotel restaurant with the vast number of ice creams) and the famous Al Green’s drive-in complete with a movie drive-in.

Visiting dimestores was a major treat of shopping at Eastgate. I remember receiving two baby chicks at Easter and having to part with them at their maturity. Instead of gazing and perusing video games, children of the day gazed at numerous fishbowls. I remember receiving several guppies and one blue gourami fish. Needless to say, the fish types were not compatible and the guppies did not survive.

Dimestores also served as the place to purchase 45 RPM records. I remember many trips to both stores to secure the latest WIFE hit.

Many of the clothing stores were locally owned such as the men’s stores of Harry Levinson’s; Hudson’s and National Shirt Shop. Women’s clothing stores were the upscale Roth’s; Morrison’s, Lerner Shops and Wasson’s.

Unfortunately, the mid-70’s marked the opening of Washington Square Mall which was three miles away. Most of the stores left to set up shop in the new mall.

Sam’s Subway (later Stockholm House) closed and later became the Arrangement Disco. The mall then built a food court offering the wonderful Schoop’s Hamburgers and hot dog, pizza and cookie stands.

In the early ‘80s, Eastgate Mall was revitalized as the Eastgate Consumer Mall and it flourished several years with stores such as F & M and Burlington Coat Factory. The closing of Burlington Coat Factory marked the end of the Eastgate era. One of the last stores was an auction house which truly paved the way for the sad demise of an eastside mainstay.– Eastgate Mall, which will be auctioned in late January.