My Dead Youth

Arcades of my Youth


Introduction: This is the sad section of the web page. It is a look back at the arcades, malls, movie theaters, and the places I loved when I was growing up. This is a nostalgic walk as well as a way to show the next generation what it was like for my generation who grew up in Toledo, Ohio. I started to take my kids to dead malls in Toledo, much like taking them to see a dying grandmother. That way they would have a small memory of the malls that I knew when I was their age.
SOUTHWYCK MALL was a mall in the south west part of Toledo. It was one of the four malls I haunted in my youth. I loved Southwyck when I was growing up.
	'OLD TOWN' was the first arcade that they had at Southwyck. I was very young when this was open; I remember it being a small section of the mall with lots of small games and micro shops. It had cobblestone streets in it and rustic wood shops. They had those arcades that would press your name, one letter at a time, into an aluminum coin with a star cut out of the middle. They also had the 'play tic-tac-toe with a real chicken' game that PETA would have an aneurism if they saw it today. I have 'Old Towne' arcade tokens in my collection.
	'THE RED BARON' moved in to Southwyck when Old Town closed. The Red Baron was a true 80's arcade. It got so big that they eventually put a mezzanine in order to add a 'second floor' of arcade games. There was a Red Baron at the Franklin Park mall also. The Red Barron was directly across from The Southwyck 7 movie theatre. I saw soooo many movies at the Southwyck 7 when I was growing up. When the movie was over I would go to the payphones between the Red Baron and the Southwyck 7 and call my mom to pick me up. I would play games at the Red Baron while I waited for her to show up.
	'THE SOUTHWYCK 7' had a main hall with theaters branching left and right off of it. This layout made it easy to buy a ticket for a G rated movie and duck into an R rated movie (like Rambo). There is still a movie theater like the old Southwyck about 30 minutes south of where I live. It is in Bowling Green, Ohio and it is where I take the family when we go to the movies. We have a googleplex theatre near our house that is 3 minutes from my back door, but it lacks that "mall" feeling. When we go to the movies we go to the one 30 min away, not the one 3 min away.
	Here are some pictures I took of Southwyck prior to it getting closed and torn down. When I took these pictures they were still a few (about 5) shops in the whole mall. My kids loved running around the mall. We got to ride the carrousel. I even purchased a token to ride and kept it for my token collection. Pictures with the word (WEB) under them were found on the internet at these two sites: http://www.labelscar.com/ohio/southwyck-mall and http://www.flickr.com/photos/8474804@N05/3925950383/in/photostream/ I am using these images for educational purposes and historic reference.
	Southwyck 7 was just above the word 'You' and the Red Barron was just above the 'e' in 'are' (WEB)	At the main fountain, it had a cool stage and seating on long tiered steps	Here is a great shot of the fountain in the last picture of the kids. (WEB)	At a random fountain, there were many fountains in all of the malls back then. Fountains are cool.
	Carol riding the carousel. I still have a token to ride it.	I ate there with my wife many times. It was very nice.	Much closer to the end of Southwyck. They did not turn the fountains on and it was even more dead.	Taking one last look at the Red Barron. I tried to rescue the sign but the powers that be were worried about letting me pull it.
	So here it is getting smashed and distroyed. I saw the old sign was just behind the current sign! It was smashed too.	The End of Southwyck. A little piece of me died with it.	YouTube Southwyck Tribute	YouTube Southwyck Tribute 2
	YouTube Southwyck Tribute 3	YouTube Main Entrace	YouTube Southwyck Last Day Open	YouTube Rynolds Road Area
		YouTube Southwyck Demo

PUTT PUTT Franklin Park was one of my favorite arcades. It was walking distance from my house, my friends houses, and my grade school. I spent hours and hours there as well as quarter after quarter. I can close my eyes and remember every square inch of that place. The double smoky glass doors, the two isles of arcades to your left that lead to the bathrooms, the doors on the opposite side that lead to the putt course, the raised floor to the right that had the extra cool games (this side was re-arranged a few times), and the area where the workers sat and minded the store. This arcade was close to a mobile home park. One day a Kohl's bought the mobile home park and the Putt-Putt. The next think I know, years of happy memories line under a ribbon of asphalt.
FAT DARYLL'S was a close walk from my friend Steve's house. We would catch a movie (the theater was closed and razed) and go play video games and eat pizza. It was near a strip mall off Secor road in Toledo Ohio. The strip mall also included TAB (The Adult Bookstore) and the Jolly Trolley. Looking back on it, it probably was not the best area for a couple of 6th grade boys to be alone.
OZZY'S GAME ROOM was also a short walk from everything in my universe. It was near the corner of Talmade and Monroe in Toledo, Ohio. It was a renovated McDonalds. It had fewer games and it also a bit farther away than Putt-Putt. It also was near a much busier intersection. It was shorter lived than other arcades in the area, but it was still fun. It became a jewelry store for more than a decade. It is now a vitamin store. Oddly, it is next to a McDonalds that was built years later.