You ever get sad when..

[Captain Big Trousers]

The house I lived in when I was little is now condemned. It is still used in October as a haunted house. Makes me want to cry when I drive by it once or twice a year.

Bet you're sorry you killed your parents in it now, arent' you?

I keed.... I keed.

In Australia, my main childhood home (sold long ago - we moved around) has now been remodelled beyond recognition. They tore down my high school and my primary school. They tore down all the fast food places I used to frequent (and rebuilt them 200 feet away). The skating rink is now a bowling alley. The mall has been completely redeveloped - the original being completely swallowed up by the new, to the point where I can't recall where anything used to be. My local beachside bar was demolished and an upmarket one built in its place.

It's a bit like the Matrix is being reformatted so my past never existed.

You can never go home. Unless...

I am very lucky in that I live in the house my grandfather had built just before I was born....

I often sit in the living room and vividly recall the two of us watching TV. Me with my Megos and her knitting.

Very jealous. My nan lost the house in London that her father built. She was born and raised there, as was my mother, and it's the first house I lived in. I couldn't afford it these days.

The houses I lived in as a child in the UK are virtually unchanged today (on the exterior). The Shepherd's Bush house has a repaired front fence. The Peterborough house has a different front door. That's all.

[HardyGirl]

This is pretty much the reason why I didn't want to visit my old neighborhood and my old grade school when I've gone to NYC. I have Google Mapped it though...sad. But some things are still there, but for the most part, the neighborhood has really changed. It's not so bad w/ Google maps, b/c it's not like you're standing right there. For me, I can always keep my neighborhood and school just the same in my mind.

[johnmiic]

On some rare occasions I drive thru my old neighborhood. It pizzes me off to see it now. The candy store I used to buy comics at is long gone. Places that used to be empty lots have those wacky telephone, long distance call businesses built on them. The grade schools have extra wings attached and the playgrounds are 25% what they used to be.

[cjefferys]

I moved back to my childhood town about five years ago. It's sad to see all the places that I used to enjoy that are gone now. The one place still standing were I used to buy Megos is a local Zellers department store, and it looks like that will finally be closing down this year, it and the mall that it resides in have turned into a total ghost town, so it's not surprising, but depressing. I remember buying a Mego Kirk there, and it was the first store where I saw the Mego Robin Hood and Knights lines.

[libby 1957dog]

man i thought it was just me that pines for the long and recent past ,its good to know your not alone ,i miss most everthing about my past and my kids childhood ,there 17 and 19 now ,the old 1962 plymouth savoy we used to have ,i joked that my kids grew up in that car and they pretty much did ,the seaside towns that were in decline but have now become havens for drugs and crime ,the fairgrounds ripped down and empty ,the crap shops that always had something you couldnt live with out ,any way heres a song that ,to me at least sums it all up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9IUj1mDENg as some one comments its depressingly beautiful ,if you have a minuite take a listen ,i first heard this 15 or so years ago ,on country music tv ,sadly something else thats been gone along time in the UK ,i miss that as well ,but i bet you knew that with out me telling you

[Brown Bear]

Last year an apartment we lived in above a corner store burned to the ground. I had so many childhood memories playing in the backyard there and now it's gone. It makes me sad everytime I drive by.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I live in my hometown, so it's been a gradual thing watching all the stores I frequented close or change. Ben Franklin's and Howards are long gone, although their buildings remain. Ben Franklin's is currently used as the local Republican party headquarters, but it's been a flea market, thrift store, antique mall, clothing store, you name it in the last 25 years or so. Howard's building became a Big Lots until they pulled out a few years ago. It's since been two furniture stores, and is now a Tractor Supply.

All of the small drugstores in town are gone save one. It happens to be the one up the street from my dad's house, where I grew up. It's still there, but they no longer carry comics or rack toys. Sigh.

Chris

[Spawn67]

All of the small drugstores in town are gone save one. It happens to be the one up the street from my dad's house, where I grew up. It's still there, but they no longer carry comics or rack toys. Sigh.

I feel you on that one.I remember when I was young our 7-11 had all types of rack toys and comics. All the mom and pop drug stores are gone where I grew up. Some of our food stores are still there but the look remodeled and different. Every shopping center in our area looked different and each one had it's own charm. Now they have been remodeled and look the same. Half are the stores have "for lease" signs in the window and it was never like that when I was a kid.
The malls as well at least the ones still standing. When I was young the malls were thriving 7 days a week. Went back a year ago and that same mall was a ghost town. Made me sad.
Alot of the areas that were woods where we used to play are now Walmarts/Targets etc.

[Spawn67]

Hey gang! Just got back from my vacation. Went back to my neighborhood. It was good therapy for me. i brought my girlfriend with me who had never been there before. Some things were the same and others were different. It's crazy how small everything is now but i remember it being so big when I was a kid. Was strange when I went to our old shopping center and only the bowling alley that's been there forever was the only place from my childhood still standing. The KMART that had been there forever since the 70's just shut down last year. Was sad to see a big empty building where I used to get my mego's. One thing to I noticed is that most people in that area now have landscapers, they NEVER had those when I was a kid. Everyone did there own lawns and gardens and I remember talking to my neighbors doing that when I was a kid. My elementary school still looks the same but my high school look much bigger since they added on a whole bunch of new stuff. Was wild to stand in the exact same spots were I stood 25-33 years ago. Kind of eriee but in a good way. All the music stores are long gone. One thing that amazed me was how much they have built since those days. i was like "this wasn't there, that wasn't there". But it was good therapy for me none the less.

[Merlyn1976]

They don't leave you time to think about it around here...turning our interstates into 6 lanes...new business popping up everywhere...I need to move further back in the country

[Gorn Captain]

The movie theatre where I saw all my childhood movies such as Aristocats and Snow White now shows porn movies.
They still show Snow White, but the things she does to those dwarves just ain't right...

[Splitty]

The golden part of my childhood was spent in a small school in the foresty mountains. There was a nice little family community there due to the logging mills.

Now the logging mills have been shut down, the families dispersed, and drug growers and dealers have taken over. Not safe to walk in the forest alone anymore. I'd be afraid to go visit now!

darn spotted owls. *harumph*

[VintageMike]

Too many to mention. A lot it is of course things just going out of business. What irks me the most isn't just things dissapearing but whne you find something to replace it with, that too often time goes away! Not only do I get sad and many times I ofter wonder "why?". Best example: there was movie theater a few town away where I saw EVERYTHING from childhood until it closed in 2007. Also in that same area was an awesome arcade/fun center for about 14 yeas closing in 2005. Early in 2009 I discovered a mall that had what I basically considered a great replacement: a movie theater that was originally from the same chain and right across from it a game room. I was bit of a drive but I always enjoyed making a day of it. Last year AMC decides to turn the theater into it's upscale "Dine-In" completely overhauling it and as a stipulation for doing the mall this "favor" mandated the arcade close.
It's one of the big reasons I love collecting. You have these time capsules that no one can take away from you unless you yourself decided to sell them.

[Hector]

The golden part of my childhood was spent in a small school in the foresty mountains. There was a nice little family community there due to the logging mills.

Now the logging mills have been shut down, the families dispersed, and drug growers and dealers have taken over. Not safe to walk in the forest alone anymore. I'd be afraid to go visit now!

darn spotted owls. *harumph*

That makes me more sad...nature being ravaged like that...than man-made thingies disappearing.

[Splitty]

That makes me more sad...nature being ravaged like that...than man-made thingies disappearing.

No doubt.
Plus all the ravishing scares Bigfoot away.