OT Nostalgia: Let's Go To The Mall!
- Thread starter Farnsworth
- Start date
teenager in the 80s. We would get dropped off at either Merle Hay or Valley West, spend all day there hanging out. I thought the movie Weird Science captured that era perfectly. I would always eat at Scotto's Pizza at Valley West mall. The family owned it was from Italy, they didn't speak the best English, but they made killer pizza. They used to give a a free slice every now and again because they knew I was Italian and they called it the "Dago discount". Anyone remember that pizza place?
Map of Valley West Mall 1-20-90
Clipping found in The Des Moines Register published in Des Moines, Iowa on 1/20/1990. Map of Valley West Mall 1-20-90www.newspapers.com
Even at peak mall culture i was surprised those leather and western wear stores stayed in business.
I wonder if something about hanging out at a mall convinced people they needed leather jackets and western wear when they saw it presented to them in a mall setting.
I grew up in Indianola in the 80s and 90s so South Ridge was the usual mall. It was pretty great back then with a ton of stores so no real reason to drive further. Except in high school, Valley West became the social mall so I drove up there a time or two.
Thanks for this find! Brings back memories. Spent lots of time and money at Babbage's when we got a PC.teenager in the 80s. We would get dropped off at either Merle Hay or Valley West, spend all day there hanging out. I thought the movie Weird Science captured that era perfectly. I would always eat at Scotto's Pizza at Valley West mall. The family owned it was from Italy, they didn't speak the best English, but they made killer pizza. They used to give a a free slice every now and again because they knew I was Italian and they called it the "Dago discount". Anyone remember that pizza place?
Map of Valley West Mall 1-20-90
Clipping found in The Des Moines Register published in Des Moines, Iowa on 1/20/1990. Map of Valley West Mall 1-20-90
Not sure there were quite as many western wear stores in the DM area then than there are today. Always felt the one at the mall was overpriced too. I grew up in rural iowa and i don't remember ever buying boots or anything from the one in VWM. Usuallynhad some farm supply store like Orschlens that sold that stuff for less.
Older than most of the commenters.
Muscatine Mall (also called "The Plaza") was only there maybe a year or so when I got my driver's license. They had a Pizza Hut and I think the Saturday after I got my license I begged to let me "go into town." I'm sure I went there (the Hut) with my birthday money. Was driving a 1963 Comet Caliente. It had been rammed into in downtown Davenport (I wasn't the driver then) so had a huge divet in the back and trunk stayed closed just by hooking the bent parts over the other bent parts. And the differential was trashed - when you went around corners you could hear the gears slipping. I didn't care.
Back then they had the Hy-Vee grocery store that was an actual part of the mall itself. (They later built one in the mall parking lot - then the one out on the bypass where it is now) Walgreens had a restaurant and there was a Maid Rite down on the other end by Wards and the twin theater. I remember that Wards had some kind of a very high pitched whine when you walked in. 9 out of 10 people never heard it but I was very loud and very annoying to me.
I got a part time job at Hy-Vee then worked full time for 2 years before starting ISU.
Muscatine Mall (also called "The Plaza") was only there maybe a year or so when I got my driver's license. They had a Pizza Hut and I think the Saturday after I got my license I begged to let me "go into town." I'm sure I went there (the Hut) with my birthday money. Was driving a 1963 Comet Caliente. It had been rammed into in downtown Davenport (I wasn't the driver then) so had a huge divet in the back and trunk stayed closed just by hooking the bent parts over the other bent parts. And the differential was trashed - when you went around corners you could hear the gears slipping. I didn't care.
Back then they had the Hy-Vee grocery store that was an actual part of the mall itself. (They later built one in the mall parking lot - then the one out on the bypass where it is now) Walgreens had a restaurant and there was a Maid Rite down on the other end by Wards and the twin theater. I remember that Wards had some kind of a very high pitched whine when you walked in. 9 out of 10 people never heard it but I was very loud and very annoying to me.
I got a part time job at Hy-Vee then worked full time for 2 years before starting ISU.
Video game store, arcade, Spencer's Gifts, coin store, Orange Julius (Reuben dogs were awesome)
Those pictures just brought back a lot of memories I was unaware of….
Yeah maybe not necessarily at the mall for me but American by Wynnsong in Johnston, the Best Buy on University in WDM and there was another place by Burlington near Merle Hay (can’t remember the name). I spent a lot of time just looking at electronics and piecing together systems in my head for both home and the rides.
Bought my first flat screen TV from American. 32 inch Sony around 2006. Finally crapped our last year. Crazy that I can buy a TV twice the size now for less than what I paid back then.
