Running through the best capitalism has to offer, the late 70s and early 80s were the height of guilt-free luxury - so suck it 2000s, you kinda suck so far (thanks, terrorism).
I remember riding my Huffy off-road bike through Tara Hills off of Brookhurst and Crescent, just across the street of Brookhurst Junior High. It used to be a dirt lot, now a combination of crap mini-malls that don't keep a business for more than 2 years at a time. The neighborhood kids and I would get up early and develop the lot a little at a time - the apex of which was the giant hill in the center where you could get some decent air. The guys with the light bicycles could get up 6-7 feet and end up in a heap below. It was decent.
Down the street and to the right on Lincoln was the primary strip back then. You had your cloth store next to Gemco. You had your Jack in the Box (now gone), but one of the only ones in Anaheim at the time. Ole's was down the way from Top's Auto, which is across the street from Linbrook Bowl. Used to ride the bike up to the corner of Lincoln and Brookhurst, but never had an interest in crossing the street. That was about 3/4 of a mile away from home and I must have instinctively knew my limit.
Down the other way, where I would go constantly, another bowling alley just off Lincoln next door to Fedmart. The Fedmart center at the time had a pizza joint (the best), a Big and Small and some other small brick and mortar shops (I think one was a vacuum shop). Across from there, where Crescent turned back into Lincoln, there was a Computer Store (only recently closed), a model train store and I think an ice cream joint. It would eventually become the Lincoln Antique mall until that bubble burst a decade ago. Now it's a mash-up of forgettable little 99 cent stores and nothing.
The pizza was under a buck a slice and a great big drink, those clear red plastic buckets filled to the brim with Coke, had to be under .50. If you had two bucks, you ate, drank and had enough to hit a greasily handled video game. Two bucks wasn't the easiest to come by, but once a month you could get away with it. The place was dark, with wood accents, no windows and only the fluorescent signs to light it. It was a good place to hang out for an hour with my foul-mouthed friends - who always a few years older than me and getting into trouble. Bastards.
Fedmart became Target, which closed four years ago or so, to move down the street on Euclid. That location used to be a used car lot, an Arby's, and, at one time, a Bob's Big Boy. The only thing left on that street is a shoe store, car wash, Denny's and a bar further south. Oh, and El Taco is down that way too.
Just logging it, since I remember riding on my dependable black Huffy. Thing never got stolen, probably because it weighed like a tank. Couldn't break the damn thing - good old bike.
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