Remember The Joey the Clown Show? That's me in the middle 2nd row
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Growing Up In Charlotte
Growing up in Charlotte-then vs. now
My childhood experiences growing up in Charlotte were completely different than my own children’s upbringing. I was born in Charlotte N.C. in 1956 and grew up in the Eastover neighborhood through the 1970’s. While the first phase of Eastover was built back in the 1930’s, there was still plenty of undeveloped land behind my house that extended from The Mint Museum to Twiford Pl., down to Briar Creek and beyond to Randolph Rd.
TV (black and white) was only allowed on family nights, so we made our own outdoor fun. My next door neighbors had a stable on the 2 lots behind our house and my sister and her friend’s boarded horses there. As a matter of fact, there were lots of kids I knew who kept horses in their backyards. Many rented their ponies by the week from Mr. Robinson, who lived in Derita, or boarded thier horses at Mr. Walker's farm in Cotswold on the corner of Sharon Amity and Walker Rds.
We played in Briar Creek (only a handful of homes had swimming pools), built our own baseball diamond, had forts in the woods and rode our minibikes, go karts and motorcycles everywhere we needed to go.
Our parents rarely drove us anywhere. We walked or rode our bikes to school, baseball practice, friend’s houses, etc. Our parents didn’t always attend our baseball games, so getting to Little League baseball practice and games required crossing a pipe over the creek to the field on Randolph Rd., where the Eastover Medical Parks are now.
All of the gas stations were full service, and almost every drug store had a lunch counter.
Most of these soda shops in Eastover and Myers Park, like Park Place Pharmacy (next to the Manor Theater), Hoods (Providence Rd. Sundries), Eckerds (Fancy Pants and Tootsies Too), and Wad’s (on East Blvd) are no longer in existence.
Lake Norman and Lake Wylie contained very simple weekend cabins, since most of the waterfront was leased by Duke Power Co. Boat traffic was minimal and no commuters to Charlotte or permanent homes existed.
Uptown Charlotte was called Downtown Charlotte, Bank of America was called NCNB, and while there were a few stores like Belk’s and Ivey’s and a movie house (the Carolina Theater), the streets were “rolled up” after 5:00 p.m. and it really wasn’t safe to venture down there after dark.
Charlottetown Mall was the first of it’s kind and was located between Myers Park and Dilworth, where the new Metropolitan and Home Depot Design Center is now located. Southpark Mall and a lot of the surrounding retail and business parks was the Morrison family dairy farm complete with silos. This was a favorite place for riding our motorcycles and having “bush” parties in Junior High School.
The Charlotte city limits extended just past Wendover Rd, Fairview Rd. was not built and 2 lane Sharon Rd led directly to The Quail Hollow Club (home of the Wachovia Championship) through what is now Sharon Hills Rd. Beyond here, the land was mostly horse farms, like where The TPC at Piper Glen is located. The Ballantyne area was the Morrison family’s hunting preserve.
Real Estate has always been the best investment in Charlotte. In 1986, I paid $124,000 for a 3 bedroom/2 bath brick ranch on Maryland Avenue in Myers Park. Because of infill development, it's value in todays market is well over $600,000 just for the lot! Due to South Charlotte’s tremendous growth, what is considered to be “intown” has steadily spread out from Myers Park to Wendover Rd., Sharon Lane, Fairview Rd. to HWY 51 to now I-485. Charlotte’s development continues to spill into Union County and into upstate South Carolina towns like Ft. Mill and Indian Land.
Much of Charlotte and vicinity is virtually unrecognizable from as far back as just 10 years ago!
My childhood experiences growing up in Charlotte were completely different than my own children’s upbringing. I was born in Charlotte N.C. in 1956 and grew up in the Eastover neighborhood through the 1970’s. While the first phase of Eastover was built back in the 1930’s, there was still plenty of undeveloped land behind my house that extended from The Mint Museum to Twiford Pl., down to Briar Creek and beyond to Randolph Rd.
TV (black and white) was only allowed on family nights, so we made our own outdoor fun. My next door neighbors had a stable on the 2 lots behind our house and my sister and her friend’s boarded horses there. As a matter of fact, there were lots of kids I knew who kept horses in their backyards. Many rented their ponies by the week from Mr. Robinson, who lived in Derita, or boarded thier horses at Mr. Walker's farm in Cotswold on the corner of Sharon Amity and Walker Rds.
We played in Briar Creek (only a handful of homes had swimming pools), built our own baseball diamond, had forts in the woods and rode our minibikes, go karts and motorcycles everywhere we needed to go.
Our parents rarely drove us anywhere. We walked or rode our bikes to school, baseball practice, friend’s houses, etc. Our parents didn’t always attend our baseball games, so getting to Little League baseball practice and games required crossing a pipe over the creek to the field on Randolph Rd., where the Eastover Medical Parks are now.
All of the gas stations were full service, and almost every drug store had a lunch counter.
Most of these soda shops in Eastover and Myers Park, like Park Place Pharmacy (next to the Manor Theater), Hoods (Providence Rd. Sundries), Eckerds (Fancy Pants and Tootsies Too), and Wad’s (on East Blvd) are no longer in existence.
Lake Norman and Lake Wylie contained very simple weekend cabins, since most of the waterfront was leased by Duke Power Co. Boat traffic was minimal and no commuters to Charlotte or permanent homes existed.
Uptown Charlotte was called Downtown Charlotte, Bank of America was called NCNB, and while there were a few stores like Belk’s and Ivey’s and a movie house (the Carolina Theater), the streets were “rolled up” after 5:00 p.m. and it really wasn’t safe to venture down there after dark.
Charlottetown Mall was the first of it’s kind and was located between Myers Park and Dilworth, where the new Metropolitan and Home Depot Design Center is now located. Southpark Mall and a lot of the surrounding retail and business parks was the Morrison family dairy farm complete with silos. This was a favorite place for riding our motorcycles and having “bush” parties in Junior High School.
The Charlotte city limits extended just past Wendover Rd, Fairview Rd. was not built and 2 lane Sharon Rd led directly to The Quail Hollow Club (home of the Wachovia Championship) through what is now Sharon Hills Rd. Beyond here, the land was mostly horse farms, like where The TPC at Piper Glen is located. The Ballantyne area was the Morrison family’s hunting preserve.
Real Estate has always been the best investment in Charlotte. In 1986, I paid $124,000 for a 3 bedroom/2 bath brick ranch on Maryland Avenue in Myers Park. Because of infill development, it's value in todays market is well over $600,000 just for the lot! Due to South Charlotte’s tremendous growth, what is considered to be “intown” has steadily spread out from Myers Park to Wendover Rd., Sharon Lane, Fairview Rd. to HWY 51 to now I-485. Charlotte’s development continues to spill into Union County and into upstate South Carolina towns like Ft. Mill and Indian Land.
Much of Charlotte and vicinity is virtually unrecognizable from as far back as just 10 years ago!
kennyj62 said...
I would love to learn more about Charlotte of the 60's and 70's (our so called "Wonder Years". I look forward to seeing more of the "Then and Now" stories, and hope to see photos of the same sort. Thank you for starting what is a fascinating look into our past!
I would love to learn more about Charlotte of the 60's and 70's (our so called "Wonder Years". I look forward to seeing more of the "Then and Now" stories, and hope to see photos of the same sort. Thank you for starting what is a fascinating look into our past!
mary said...
Yes, those were the "good old days", when your parents told you to go out and play and you got home just in time for dinner! I was one of those girls with the pony in the backyard. We rode all day , and when we got thirsty we tied the ponies up either under the stairs at the Mint Museum and ran inside to the water fountain, or rode up to Eckerd's, where we tied the ponies up to the basketball goal behind the store. We could go into Eckerd's and sit at the counter and order a cold drink while Hugh McManaway would tell us stories in rhyme about not wearing lipstick!
Yes, those were the "good old days", when your parents told you to go out and play and you got home just in time for dinner! I was one of those girls with the pony in the backyard. We rode all day , and when we got thirsty we tied the ponies up either under the stairs at the Mint Museum and ran inside to the water fountain, or rode up to Eckerd's, where we tied the ponies up to the basketball goal behind the store. We could go into Eckerd's and sit at the counter and order a cold drink while Hugh McManaway would tell us stories in rhyme about not wearing lipstick!
ExitSouth.com said...
Everyone had their "soda shop" favorites, so I'll add Hardee's Pharmacy (@ Selwyn/Colony Roads) and Rose's at Cotswold (remember popping balloons to win a bananna split?) to the list. Have fond memories of the Charlote Observer Kite-Flying contest on the old Celanese field (now SouthPark Mall- Piedmont Town Center area) and remember one year's winner made a huge 25 to 20-foot long box kite! Also, driving into town from Providence and Sharon Amity (lived in Cotswold) you could see the Charlotte City Limits signs just before Wendover Road. When not riding, we'd be riding bikes.... everywhere! And I now won't let my kids off our street! Better stop writing for now.... I'm starting to feel really old! Thanks a lot, Bill!
Everyone had their "soda shop" favorites, so I'll add Hardee's Pharmacy (@ Selwyn/Colony Roads) and Rose's at Cotswold (remember popping balloons to win a bananna split?) to the list. Have fond memories of the Charlote Observer Kite-Flying contest on the old Celanese field (now SouthPark Mall- Piedmont Town Center area) and remember one year's winner made a huge 25 to 20-foot long box kite! Also, driving into town from Providence and Sharon Amity (lived in Cotswold) you could see the Charlotte City Limits signs just before Wendover Road. When not riding, we'd be riding bikes.... everywhere! And I now won't let my kids off our street! Better stop writing for now.... I'm starting to feel really old! Thanks a lot, Bill!
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