If interested in more memories of this place, check out link at bottom of entry...Enjoy... by wraiths82
Fort Pierce used to be full of life and shops that were all over the United States. Our Walmart didn’t run the show, it was a small one that did close by a certain time. There were fields of trees that surrounded that area before Super-Walmart came and dominated our town. Down the road was the Orange Blossom Mall that had Sears, Belks, jewelry stores, dollar stores, assorted goods, KB Toys, shoe stores, the arcade and food court. We didn’t have to go out of county to get to a mall!
There was Bob & Todd’s which was a smaller neighborhood grocery store. Down the road from that was Dairy Queen-which was sold back to the corporation a few years ago-now St. Lucie county doesn’t have a Dairy Queen anywhere! ((the injustice; the inhumanity!)) Not far from there was the old Winn Dixie which is now a food bank. Right next door to that was a drug store and icecream shop; both are long gone now. Follow the trail down to downtown. Our old library with the two stories where so many of my wonderful times were spent. The Great Illustrated Classics I discovered and teen authors I fell hard for. Knowing a library like the back of my hand and feeling like it was a second home… I loved the kid’s section, I could find any book I’d read before and loved-no problem. The new library I don’t have a clue on! The oasis out back of the library is still there but its been cut back. The old library now is a field of grass-but not for long with the way our town loves brick….and traffic circles. Across from it was the grassy field before the old boardwalk where it was wooden and picnic tables to sit at and enjoy the view of the Indian River. Now its all brick and palm trees and stone and cement. We have a fountain …but I’d trade it back in a heartbeat. The old harbor was there too where you could see the various boats out in the water docked…the hurricanes destroyed those, and I don’t think they’re building them back. Streets have changed and traffic circles are all the rage here…we went from having…one to having two more in addition in less than 2 years. Bah!
Driving south into town; the old donut shop that morphed into a pizza shop that now is some dog stand. I remember chatting with the people there when it was a donut shop and my dad worked next door and then when it became a pizza shop. We keep meaning to go to Jensen to see them at their pizza shop there. The old Jiffy Photo with the huge mural…that’s gone, Jiffy is still there but not their mural. Coming into town, the old Steakhouse is a bar I think now. The Pizza Parlor turned into Payless and JRs is still there looking ramshackled as ever. The Mitsubishi car place morphed into a truck/trailer sort of place… The Sabal Palm Plaza jigged around. Where Staples is now, was Publix, that I visited with my grandma and loved. Where Publix is now was Woolworth’s and I loved the sales there. Where Big Lots & Bealls outlet was JC Penney. Bon Worth was Joanne’s Fabrics. What fashion stores is next to Staples was an Eckerds that I flirted with a cashier at…the other fashion store near the Publix was Portside Imports that I found so many treasures at! The movie theater is still there, but has undergone new management a half dozen times by now, and no longer smells of mold! Some things are good with the changes I guess.
Go farther south and the plaza with my favorite thrift stores has been bulldozed down. The two old retirement communities were run off after being bought up or something along those lines with land domain called. It’s sad to see all that space being wasted when the city could be making money from them and providing a great service too. The old theater was down there too, that you could smoke and buy booze at. I remember seeing Pocahontas there with my nieces.
Maybe change is good in many ways…sometimes I wish it didn’t seem to take a town down in the process…
http://www.43things.com/things/view/1169583
over 4 years ago
