Nostalgic Albert Lea
By request, I'm posting a recent list of now-defunct landmarks from my hometown of Albert Lea, Minnesota. In many ways, this list is an obituary of the fading business community in a once thriving town. Just last weekend, I took a walk through the 40-year-old Skyline Mall on the west side of town to see about seven or eight operational businesses compared to the more than two dozen empty storefronts. At this pace, the mall could be boarded up completely in a couple more years. But on a sunnier and more nostalgic note, here is my random list of 20 boyhood memories from Albert Lea, Minnesota......
1) The downtown Herberger's (in the current Brick Furniture building). It was a two-story department store with an escalator going upstairs and an elevator going down, which was pretty snazzy for 1980's Albert Lea. The downtown Herberger's location closed in 1987 when the store moved to its current drab location as a Northbridge Mall anchor. As a rule, malls have killed the character of old-school department stores. The Albert Lea Herberger's is a perfect example of that.
2) Wallace's department store on the corner of S. Broadway and W. Main Street downtown, up the hill from Snyder Drug. Another old-school department store with some real character. It closed at some point in the early 1990's, along with its sister store in Albert Lea's evil twin to the east, Austin.
3) Staying downtown, there was the short-lived Tiffany Too-Da ice cream parlor which stayed open roughly a year in 1985-86. I remember going for a banana split on a couple of occasions after my T-ball misadventures at Morin Park.
4) The old Casa Zamora Mexican restaurant which was located on South Broadway across the street from the now-defunct KFC.
5) The old Dog and Suds drive-up restaurant on E. Main St. where the current Casa Zamora has relocated to. I believe Dog and Suds closed in 1988 or 1989.
6) The greasy spoon QuikStop across the street from Godfather's Pizza. QuikStop was owned by a large Latino man with the surname Madrigal and stayed open into the mid-1980's.
7) Up until 1985, Hy-Vee was the only store off of the now heavily-developed I-90 freeway exit on the north side of town.
8) The Pamida on the far south side of town (corner of S. Broadway and Margaretha) was the only discount store in Albert Lea up until 1985 when Pamida built a second store near Hy-Vee next to the aforementioned I-90 corridor. I have fond memories of frequenting the south side Pamida and getting a gumball out of their penny gumball machine as well as the latest copy of TV Guide. The new north side Pamida was completely bereft of character but was in a more optimal location. The old Pamida closed a year later in 1986 with the construction of a new ShopKo store on the north side. Wal-Mart opened in the Skyline Mall the following year in 1987.
9) A Montgomery Wards store was the hub on the west side of the Skyline Mall (where the now defunct Wal-Mart now rots). Wards closed in 1983.
10) A fun little Ben Franklin store was located next to the old JCPenney's on the east side of the Skyline Mall. Also on the east wing of Skyline was the clothing store Stevenson's. Stevenson's closed in the mid-1980's, Ben Franklin in the early 1990's, and JCPenney's in the mid-1990's. Not a good 10-year stretch for the east wing of the Skyline Mall, but hey, at least the hardware store is still in business.
11) Crossing over to the north wing of the Skyline Mall sat an IGA store where employees went on strike in 1983 and closed a couple of years later. Just north of IGA near the north entrance/exit was the Boy Blue ice cream and snack shop which also closed in 1985. I fondly remember a few trips to Boy Blue on my way home from Friday night tae kwon do classes.
12) The Boyd and Jacks grocery store, which changed its name in 1983 to Nelson's County Market along Bridge Avenue. The site is now home to the Nelson's gas station and a strip mall which seems to do a pretty good business.
13) The Dairy Queen across the street from the Freeborn County Courthouse on South Broadway was the only Dairy Queen in town up until 1987 when another one was added in the Skyline Mall expansion. Today, I think there are officially 396 Dairy Queens in Albert Lea, one for every 46 residents in town, and all owned by Ron Kraus.
14) The now-vacant grocery store on South Broadway was a Red Owl up until the early 1980's, then became El's Fine Foods, and has switched owners a couple more times, the most recent being Buy 'N' Save. Now, like so many places on South Broadway, the store sits empty and sad.
15) A pizza parlor named Rocky Roccoco was located on W. Main St. in what is now the China Restaurant. I believe it opened in either 1986 or 1987 and stayed open a couple of years.
16) Borderline Pizza has two locations in Albert Lea, the original downtown which opened in 1985 and one in the expansion part of the Skyline near Dairy Queen in 1987. Both Borderline Pizzas closed in either the late 1980's or early 1990's.
17) Riverland College was called Albert Lea Technical Institute up until the late 1980's.
18) The Northpark department store was a classy old-school department store on Bridge Avenue that stayed open until just after the turn of the millennium.
19) Way down on South Broadway was the old Captain's Quarters seafood restaurant which went down 1984-ish after its owner was discovered to be earning more money peddling drugs than jumbo shrimp.
20) The Golden Parrot restaurant was an institution downtown when I was a boy, although my original assumption of where it was located (I believed it was in the Lea Center building) now appears to have been erroneous. My main memory of the Golden Parrot was riding with my dad to pick up food there on New Year's Eve 1984-85, when he got pulled over for expired license tabs. I believe the Parrot closed within a year or two after that.
Those are my main 20. I welcome any visitors who have additional memories of Old Albert Lea to pile on with comments.
1) The downtown Herberger's (in the current Brick Furniture building). It was a two-story department store with an escalator going upstairs and an elevator going down, which was pretty snazzy for 1980's Albert Lea. The downtown Herberger's location closed in 1987 when the store moved to its current drab location as a Northbridge Mall anchor. As a rule, malls have killed the character of old-school department stores. The Albert Lea Herberger's is a perfect example of that.
2) Wallace's department store on the corner of S. Broadway and W. Main Street downtown, up the hill from Snyder Drug. Another old-school department store with some real character. It closed at some point in the early 1990's, along with its sister store in Albert Lea's evil twin to the east, Austin.
3) Staying downtown, there was the short-lived Tiffany Too-Da ice cream parlor which stayed open roughly a year in 1985-86. I remember going for a banana split on a couple of occasions after my T-ball misadventures at Morin Park.
4) The old Casa Zamora Mexican restaurant which was located on South Broadway across the street from the now-defunct KFC.
5) The old Dog and Suds drive-up restaurant on E. Main St. where the current Casa Zamora has relocated to. I believe Dog and Suds closed in 1988 or 1989.
6) The greasy spoon QuikStop across the street from Godfather's Pizza. QuikStop was owned by a large Latino man with the surname Madrigal and stayed open into the mid-1980's.
7) Up until 1985, Hy-Vee was the only store off of the now heavily-developed I-90 freeway exit on the north side of town.
8) The Pamida on the far south side of town (corner of S. Broadway and Margaretha) was the only discount store in Albert Lea up until 1985 when Pamida built a second store near Hy-Vee next to the aforementioned I-90 corridor. I have fond memories of frequenting the south side Pamida and getting a gumball out of their penny gumball machine as well as the latest copy of TV Guide. The new north side Pamida was completely bereft of character but was in a more optimal location. The old Pamida closed a year later in 1986 with the construction of a new ShopKo store on the north side. Wal-Mart opened in the Skyline Mall the following year in 1987.
9) A Montgomery Wards store was the hub on the west side of the Skyline Mall (where the now defunct Wal-Mart now rots). Wards closed in 1983.
10) A fun little Ben Franklin store was located next to the old JCPenney's on the east side of the Skyline Mall. Also on the east wing of Skyline was the clothing store Stevenson's. Stevenson's closed in the mid-1980's, Ben Franklin in the early 1990's, and JCPenney's in the mid-1990's. Not a good 10-year stretch for the east wing of the Skyline Mall, but hey, at least the hardware store is still in business.
11) Crossing over to the north wing of the Skyline Mall sat an IGA store where employees went on strike in 1983 and closed a couple of years later. Just north of IGA near the north entrance/exit was the Boy Blue ice cream and snack shop which also closed in 1985. I fondly remember a few trips to Boy Blue on my way home from Friday night tae kwon do classes.
12) The Boyd and Jacks grocery store, which changed its name in 1983 to Nelson's County Market along Bridge Avenue. The site is now home to the Nelson's gas station and a strip mall which seems to do a pretty good business.
13) The Dairy Queen across the street from the Freeborn County Courthouse on South Broadway was the only Dairy Queen in town up until 1987 when another one was added in the Skyline Mall expansion. Today, I think there are officially 396 Dairy Queens in Albert Lea, one for every 46 residents in town, and all owned by Ron Kraus.
14) The now-vacant grocery store on South Broadway was a Red Owl up until the early 1980's, then became El's Fine Foods, and has switched owners a couple more times, the most recent being Buy 'N' Save. Now, like so many places on South Broadway, the store sits empty and sad.
15) A pizza parlor named Rocky Roccoco was located on W. Main St. in what is now the China Restaurant. I believe it opened in either 1986 or 1987 and stayed open a couple of years.
16) Borderline Pizza has two locations in Albert Lea, the original downtown which opened in 1985 and one in the expansion part of the Skyline near Dairy Queen in 1987. Both Borderline Pizzas closed in either the late 1980's or early 1990's.
17) Riverland College was called Albert Lea Technical Institute up until the late 1980's.
18) The Northpark department store was a classy old-school department store on Bridge Avenue that stayed open until just after the turn of the millennium.
19) Way down on South Broadway was the old Captain's Quarters seafood restaurant which went down 1984-ish after its owner was discovered to be earning more money peddling drugs than jumbo shrimp.
20) The Golden Parrot restaurant was an institution downtown when I was a boy, although my original assumption of where it was located (I believed it was in the Lea Center building) now appears to have been erroneous. My main memory of the Golden Parrot was riding with my dad to pick up food there on New Year's Eve 1984-85, when he got pulled over for expired license tabs. I believe the Parrot closed within a year or two after that.
Those are my main 20. I welcome any visitors who have additional memories of Old Albert Lea to pile on with comments.
posted by Mark at 5:28 PM
10 Comments:
I remember the old JC Penny in Skyline mall. We were shopping for back to school clothes. My mom lost track of me and I took off with the cart racing it arond the sqaure track in the store. It was fun until I hit an old lady in the hip, my mom saw it happen and red-faced grabbed my arm and scolded me. Those were the good ol'days.
I remember the old Pamida and many of the restaurants, but some of the old DT department stores you referenced don't come to mind.
Tom, the JCPenney in question remained open longer than most of the Skyline Mall stores I mentioned. I think it was about 1993 or 1994 when it went under.
Surprised to hear you remember so many of the old restaurants since your experience in Albert Lea was so limited. Looks like your recollection is better than Christensen....and he grew up in Freeborn County!
Here's an update to your post. I currently live in Albert Lea.
Quik Stop - was owned by someone named Jiminez before Greg Madrigal bought it. Greg Madrigal sold it to someone else (don't recall who), who closed it in 1989.
There is no longer any Pamida store in Albert Lea. The south location is HealthReach, and the north location is a Sears/Midwest Wireless/Slumberland Furniture store. There are also two hotels, an Applebee's, and a McDonald's next to it, and two gas stations (one no longer open) and an Arby's across the highway from it.
The Skyline Mall is now Skyline Plaza, and is pretty much an "office" mall and senior citizen's center. The old hardware store is gone, but we now have a Hardware Hank in the former Osco store.
The Red Owl/El's Fine Foods/Super Fair Foods/Buy-N-Save is now sitting empty, though some people use the parking lot to display vehicles for sale from time to time.
We also are down to two Dairy Queen locations - one in the Northbridge Mall parking lot (was a Hardee's), and the other in the former Korner Mart location on South Broadway. Their former Broadway location is the new location for Albert Lea Tax Service.
Riverland Community College has had several names. From most recent to oldest, they are: Riverland Community College, South Central Technical College (Albert Lea Campus), Albert Lea Technical College, Albert Lea Technical Institute, Albert Lea Area Vocational Technical Institute. They've ditched many of their technical programs, unfortunately, including their drafting program - though some of the manufacturing companies here have a need for designers.
Captain's Quarters has changed names so many times, I don't even remember what it's called these days. It was the Office II Bar at one time, but it's changed at least twice since then.
Here's one you might remember: Mitch's 66, on the corner of Fountain and Vine. Mitch probably made more money selling candy to neighborhood kids than he did pumping gas - unfortunately, Mitch died of cancer in 1994. That store was a second home to me - I grew up right next door to it.
Also, a few more downtown stores: The Wizard's Den arcade (later moved to the Skyline Mall), Sound Around (record store), Your Best Shot (pool hall/arcade) and Merill's Popcorn, which is still in business (though the original owner died years ago), as a popcorn wagon in the parking lot of Northbridge Mall.
Great blog post, by the way. It brought back a lot of memories.
1) Herberger's started as 'Skiners-Chamberlin', later becoming known as 'Skinners'. The escalator was the first in AL and was quite a draw, probably showing up about the same time as TV. The south part of the first floor originally was a grocery store.
6) Jessie Jiminez
7) Prior to HyVee there was a Mobil station on the West side of the road near I90 that closed several times for lack of business.
8) The original 'old' Pamida was the Stardust (?) roller rink, and may have been a lumberyard before that. I still am in ecstasy over skating during the 'spotlight' skate with some 7th grade flame.
9) The first Wards was on the SE corner of Broadway and Main. The move to Skyline Mall put it in real competition with the Sears store which was a block west of Broadway on Main.
10) The original Ben Franklin was a very small store on the east side of Broadway just north of Skinners (Herbergers). It was kitty corner from Woolworth's.
12) The original Boyd and Jack's burned down during a homecoming football game (Abott Hill site not north Bridge). Boyd and Jack's opened temporarily at the Fairgrounds underneath the grandstands.
13) The original Dairy Queen on Broadway was owned by Ray Hangge. I had my first job there. Ray was the inventor of the Buster Bar.
18)Northpark was originally the 'Northside Drug' and had a full service ice cream bar. The store featured fine gift items. It may have been owned by the Langemo (sp) family. In the late 1950's the building was expanded to the east.
I too am originally from Albert Lea; if you go to http://www.mnhs.org/library/ and go down the blue column on the side to the 'photo and art data base' key in Albert Lea in key word and leave the years empty it will pull up photos from before the turn of the century up to fairly recently. A boatload of photos going back a long long time
I was born and raised in Albert Lea, Back in the days where EVERYTHING was uptown,,
Never heard of "Sarah Palin" being from Albert Lea...
There was also a Piggly Wiggly at Skyline Mall
I lived in Albert Lea as a young kid from 1969 to 1972 and have very fond memories of living there. I went to Oakwood Elementary School from Kindergarten thru 3rd grade before moving which I think is gone now. I remember going to the Skyline Mall most every Saturday and would look around the stores while my Mom got her hair done spending the most time at Ben Franklin. I remember the JC Penny, Montgomery Wards and Osco Drug store and others. I think there was a restaurant with trays in the Mall as well? My family would occasionally eat at the Skyline Restaurant and Lounge where they had a tree with name tags at the counter as i remember. The few times we would come back to visit we'd stay at the Kahler Hotel and swim in the pool which was fun as a kid. I also remember riding bikes up to the Country Club to swim at the pool in the summer. Is the Country club still there? Anyway, I have very fond memories of being there.
More memories.
My Brother worked at Boyd and Jack"s and Sanders Drug Store while he was in high school.
I also remember going out to eat with my parents at the Elks Club and a supper club called 'The Stables'. Very fun memories.
That restaurant was Cafe Don'L
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