Regional insults
Dec. 17th, 2003 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancerjodiMy co-worker was on her way out for lunch and asked if I wanted to join her at the mall. Since I already heated up my lunch and was planning on reading more of "Urban Tribes" I declined. She said "but we're going to the Ghetto-Glen Mall" :)
I laughed and she clarified further "you know, rather than the Queer-One Mall or the Scummerville Mall". I asked why the Chelsea Mall didn't make her list and she said "oh yeah, the one with the Market Basket". Yep folks, that the supermarket that Brian told me about - one time in his childhood it hit the news that two women got in a fight over the last box of Jello, in which one of them stabbed the other in the eye :)
(lets add to this note that my co-worker isn't a snob in the least bit - she is born and raised in Revere, who isn't cool enough to have its own Mall iirc).
Our city didn't rate enough to even have its own mall, either. We had Grover Cronin's (that was cool when I was a kid, and had the best holiday displays ever I think) but it was not so great by the time I got to HS. We called the Arsenal Mall in Watertown "The Trailer Park of Malls" since it didn't rate as well as those we'd go to when we *really* wanted to shop (Burlington, Natick and the old Shopper's world). The Watertown Mall, we didn't think of it as a mall really. Nobody shopped there, we just hung out with friends that worked at Strawberry's, played video games at Dream Machine, and bought drugs from the guy that worked at Bradlees and sold them to all the kids that hung out.
So what kind of regional insults did YOU have?
I laughed and she clarified further "you know, rather than the Queer-One Mall or the Scummerville Mall". I asked why the Chelsea Mall didn't make her list and she said "oh yeah, the one with the Market Basket". Yep folks, that the supermarket that Brian told me about - one time in his childhood it hit the news that two women got in a fight over the last box of Jello, in which one of them stabbed the other in the eye :)
(lets add to this note that my co-worker isn't a snob in the least bit - she is born and raised in Revere, who isn't cool enough to have its own Mall iirc).
Our city didn't rate enough to even have its own mall, either. We had Grover Cronin's (that was cool when I was a kid, and had the best holiday displays ever I think) but it was not so great by the time I got to HS. We called the Arsenal Mall in Watertown "The Trailer Park of Malls" since it didn't rate as well as those we'd go to when we *really* wanted to shop (Burlington, Natick and the old Shopper's world). The Watertown Mall, we didn't think of it as a mall really. Nobody shopped there, we just hung out with friends that worked at Strawberry's, played video games at Dream Machine, and bought drugs from the guy that worked at Bradlees and sold them to all the kids that hung out.
So what kind of regional insults did YOU have?
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Metrowest
Date: 2003-12-17 01:09 pm (UTC)Right, like there is only one ghetto :)
"There's Fun n' Drugs on Rt 9, too (Fun n' Games)."
Hee he, I LIVED there in high school!
"I was just the other day reminiscing about the way Rt 9 used to be. Remember the old Natick Mall? It was Sears, a huge multi-color lit fountain, and a bunch of trashy boutiques."
I loved how at christmas time they'd cover up that fountain and *that* was where Santa sat for pictures with kids :)
"The old Shopper's World was a trip, too. It looked like a stadium from the outside, especially with the ramps to get inside. Near the end there was a hippy store in there, I think it was a Two Moon Traders. Ahh, inscense and trashy pewter pendants."
Are you thinking of House of Zodiac?
I liked how they had real reindeer in the middle of Shoppers World in the winter, and Santa had a real beard. My first bunny was from the Debby's Pet Land that used to be there.
"And what's now Target and Panera and all that was the Lechmere Mall, which was run-down even when I was a kid. Lechmere was the height of home electronic stores (did they have other stuff, like clothes?). I think there was a Filene's at the other end, and random crap in the middle like Mrs. Fields Cookies. Oh, and Frederick's of Hollywood, where us goth kids bought our first fishnets long before Hot Topic opened in the new Natick Mall (I'm thinking 1993 or 1994; the Natick Mall rebuild didn't open until 1995ish)."
That was the Frederick's that I worked in for 6 months - it was in 1995 :)
"And, of course, between Rts 9 and 30 were also Caldor's (now Wal-Mart) and Ames (now Kohl's)."
No, Ames was on Rt. 9 in the Sherwood Plaza, you're thinking of Bradlees dude :)
"And what's with the John Harvard's Brewhouse in Shopper's World!? That's like the Utah Jazz."
Its ALWAYS busy, I have yet to eat there.
You totally need to check out Firefly's - the BBQ place that moved in to where Applebees used to be (restaurant that first opened in Marlboro).
Re: Metrowest
Date: 2003-12-17 01:40 pm (UTC)Hee he, I LIVED there in high school!
I probably ran into you there at least once.
Are you thinking of House of Zodiac?
Ahh, that'd be it. Good memory.
No, Ames was on Rt. 9 in the Sherwood Plaza, you're thinking of Bradlees dude :)
You sure? I could have SWORN that what's now Kohl's was Ames. In fact, I'd possibly put money on it. I always went to the Bradlees in Milford, so I don't completely recall, but...
Crap, my brother just confirmed that that was Bradlees. Makes sense, as the one in Milford is also now Kohl's.
Its ALWAYS busy, I have yet to eat there.
I've been in a couple times (and to the Harvard Sq. one a hundred times). It's just not the same. It blew me away when I first saw it, though.
Where was this Applebee's, now?
Re: Metrowest
Date: 2003-12-18 05:08 am (UTC)I was usually trying to kick someone's ass over air hockey or playing skee ball (to collect tickets for candy) :)
"Crap, my brother just confirmed that that was Bradlees. Makes sense, as the one in Milford is also now Kohl's."
We used to go to that Ames all of the time (it was next to Heartland, remember *that*?). My Mom and I were in there one night when they lost power and all the lights went out in a storm. I was really annoyed, because there were these really cool PJs there that my Mom was going to buy me - but couldn't, because the registers wouldn't work.
"Where was this Applebee's, now?"
Behind the Framingham Mall site (next in the Stop and Shop/BJs Plaza). Its SOOOOOOOOO yummy!
Re: Metrowest
Date: 2003-12-17 01:44 pm (UTC)I want to say "Big City Comics," but I could be wrong.
Re: Metrowest
Date: 2003-12-18 05:10 am (UTC)Shit, I can't remember. I remember there being a Lingerie Factory store there, too though :)
Re: Metrowest
Date: 2003-12-17 01:52 pm (UTC)Re: Metrowest
Date: 2003-12-18 05:11 am (UTC)Just you . . . since we weren't locals we just went there to hang out and play videogames, we didn't really interact with anyone outside of our group.
I'm not sure where my friends got their drugs really - the ones I spent most of my time with didn't do them around me :)