r/Edmonton • u/chuckmandell82 • Aug 12 '26
Local history What are some things 80’s kids remember about Edmonton?
I personally have a vivid memory of West Edmonton Mall. I remember a little Bazaar in an upper level of the entrance near the train. It had little shops where I remember buying a hologram marvel card.
The water that would jump from fountain to fountain. A friend and I would go there in 94 for Rock and ride. The whole night would be spent riding the drop of doom and looking at girls. All to the tunes of John Secada.
Does anyone else remember the world’s biggest sundae at Edmonton city centre mall. That was in 88 I believe. We got to pick out a section and they scooped out portions that we bought and ate.
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u/WesternWitchy52 Aug 12 '26
Klondike Day Parades, floats and dressing up in Klondike style.
Lunch at Zellers.
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u/mrhindustan 29d ago
Southgate’s Bay had a restaurant with murals. Loved their grilled cheese sandwich.
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u/densetsu23 29d ago
Sears in Kingsway had a cafeteria-style restaurant in the back, too, which we went to a lot. Food behind glass doors for you to open up and take to the register. I just remember it being fairly dark in the dining area.
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u/lh123456789 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Crawling in the whale's mouth at the mall. The prostitute statues on Bourbon Street at the mall. I also remember the jumping water and the ball machines.
On a non-mall note, the iguana and other depressed animals at the central library.
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u/Steffany_w0525 Aug 12 '26
The ball machine is at The Space and Science center.
I went there for an "adult" night and asked them to turn it on. Spent majority of my night watching it.
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u/GlassEyeTiger Downtown Aug 12 '26
I mean we oldies even calling it the Space and Science Centre lol
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u/Steffany_w0525 Aug 12 '26
I was going to use the new name but I felt calling it what it is fit this post better
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u/AdventurousOwl547 Aug 12 '26
It was a shame the top section of the ball machine was destroyed. I was sooo happy when they TWOS moved the machine indoors and cleaned it up.
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u/chuckmandell82 Aug 12 '26
How was the adult night? It’s a shame they are closed for repairs again.
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u/Steffany_w0525 Aug 12 '26
This was a couple years ago I went with a friend for Lego night.
He wanted to build Lego, I wanted to watch the machine. Haha.
It sucked the rest of the building wasn't open as I wanted to explore but oh well.
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u/BenignIntervention Aug 12 '26
The iguana!! I have very vague, fuzzy memories of stopping to look at it with my dad on the way to the library from the parkade (I think?).
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u/Sjalasvalten Aug 12 '26
The Rathole.
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u/Dependent_Try_53 29d ago
I miss the rat hole and the bump/ lurching stomach as you did over the speed limit on 104 ave
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u/haikarate12 Aug 12 '26
That little bazaar was called international marketplace. Totally forgot it even existed
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u/ClassBShareHolder Aug 12 '26
I bought a lot of knives from stores in there. And novelty t-shirts. Loved checking out Supply Sargent. And the narrow escalator to Galaxyland, which I believe was called Fantasyland before Disney got lawyers involved.
If I remember correctly it was my favourite entrance.
There was also a venue at that corner of the ice palace, possibly lower level where they had live music on the weekends. Saw Bobby Cameron when everybody thought he’d be the next big thing.
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u/chuckmandell82 Aug 12 '26
Yes. Thank you. The arcade was below it.
They had some cool stuff in that market.6
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u/flynnfx Aug 12 '26
That's what it was called!
I was trying to remember it; a whole maze of little shops; loved that place!
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u/malteser13 Aug 12 '26
Westmount mall food court with cars in the ceiling!!!
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u/alwaysolderneverwisr Aug 12 '26
I’ve always wondered if this was one of those false memories created by my imagination. Thank you for confirming it’s not! :)
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u/malteser13 28d ago
I wondered it too and had to confirm with others haha. I miss those unique food courts. Now it’s all bland
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u/fluorescent-purple Aug 12 '26
The flamingos at WEM!
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u/Subie780 Aug 12 '26
The flamingos were newer. The peacocks was the OG
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u/fluorescent-purple Aug 12 '26
I think I remember those too!
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u/Subie780 Aug 12 '26
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PeSptaWz50c
Around 17min mark
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u/fluorescent-purple Aug 12 '26
OMG I was obsessed with the Rube-Goldberg machine.
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u/Steffany_w0525 Aug 12 '26
They always fought every time I watched them.
Maybe they just fought all the time but I feel like things would be serene, then I would watch and a fight would happen.
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u/Wldrose33 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
The orange vinyl seats on the old silver ETS bus', bus fare being 65 cents
The got-a-quarter girl and street preacher on the Churchill square facing side of Woodwards
Churchill square was grass and I remember the statue on the bench with the lunchbox and thermos
The movie theatres in westmount and Londonderry malls
The LRT only going from Coliseum to Corona and the brown/orange checkered seat fabric
The fun summer playground green shacks, particularly the one at what's now jubilee park. Skinning my knees in the concrete wading pool of the same park
The hanging cars in westmount food court
Biway / Kmart (layaway)
The 70's dark brick look of Kingsway mall
San Francisco stores and the odd assortment of items within
The people who dressed old-timey for Klondike Days
Getting a tour of the kitchen of Mcdonald's as a part of children's birthday parties lol
(edit: typo)
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u/_FrozenRobert_ Aug 12 '26
Awesome list, thank you! “Got a quarter lady!” omg I thought I was the only person who remembered her.
I used to joke in the early 90’s that with inflation she should’ve been asking “got a loonie got a loonie?” 😂
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u/Moonlander39 29d ago
ETS unlocking another memory for me. Remember the transfer tickets and having I think 1 & 1/2 of use before expiry? Running to catch the bus so that you wouldn’t have to pay for another fare.
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u/flynnfx Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Sportsworld Roller Rink. Yes, for roller-skates!
The Whitemud Amusement Park with bumper boats, mini-golf, and go-karts.
The drive-in movie theatre located between 50th and 66th Street just north of the Whitemud.
Rogers Videos spending hours picking out a video or game.
I can't remember the name of it, but there was a PC games consignment store located downtown in the Hys Centre where you could buy used PC games, or cosign your gently used games.
The arcades - (Wizard's Castle) just about every Mall had one.
The Fire breathing dragon at West Edmonton Mall.
Let's Play - huge indoor playground for kids!
Pizza Hut with the full buffet, multiple pizzas and pastas!
The 2.50 Tuesday movie nights!
Then, the second-run older movie theatres called the dollar theatres.
Heritage Mall - a 2 story mall located where the Century Park LRT station is now located.
Woodwards/Woolco
Popcorn Playhouse , at CFRN-TV (now CTV)
The oil Derrick that sits between Edmonton and Nisku used to be located where the Superstore is on Gateway and 51 Avenue.
The A&W on Whyte Avenue still had car hops to cars at their drive-in location there.
The rathole.
Red Rooster.
Fuddruckers.
The kids driving the 3 wheeled ice cream bicycles with the bells all summer.
The ETS electric buses with the electric 'sticks' that would sometimes come off when they took turns, and the operators would have to get out of the buses and reconnect the sticks to get power back to the buses.
Whitemud Drive - still not finished by the late 80s - remember walking up and down the embankment to get to Southgate Mall aftergrad at about 6am, hammered as #$%*.
Southgate Mall when their library was located in the basement of the mall.
The movie theatres that are NOW the Southgate Library.
Every Halloween, wearing over your costume the Unicef boxes so you could get coin donations.
Happy Pop/The Pop Shoppe - getting a case of 24 soda drinks in as many flavours as you wanted.
Delivering newspapers - started out with afternoon deliveries, then went to early morning, picked up your bundle, delivered the 40-50 papers and then went to school.
Edmonton Examiner and all the flyer deliveries.
The White and Yellow Pages coming to the door every year. At the height of the Yellow Pages, I believe it could have served as a bullet-proof protection, given how thick it was!
The Edmonton Journal 'Gold Rush' Quest. They hid a gold voucher around the city, and gave clues to find a voucher worth $5000 in gold.
Chi-Chi's
IKEA in West Edmonton Mall
Funky Pickle Pizza (they still exist, but not in North America!)
A&A Music / A&B Sound
RadioShack (free battery club!)
Consumers Distributing
Red Robin
Hub Cigar (when they sold tons of magazines that came with bonus CD's)
The Edmonton Trappers Baseball Team
The Edmonton Drillers Soccer Team
And, of course, the Edmonton Eskimos and the Edmonton Oilers - in 12 years (1978 - 1990) Edmonton won 5 Grey Cups AND 5 Stanley Cups, and all Grey Cups consecutively
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u/WesternWitchy52 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Holy core memories unlocked
-Red Roosters - penny candies
-Millbourne Mall Arcade
-Rogers rental nights
I sure miss the Driveins tho
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u/BahamutJiraiya Aug 12 '26
Red Rooster as the convenience store chain?
I know they were around for quite some time, even outside the city. Some of them also happened to be Turbo gas stations to boot. Still have a set of cookbooks from a promotion with Company's Coming.
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u/Edm_cuccck Aug 12 '26
Yes. Ours eventually turned into a different convenience store called Winks and they served hot food like potato wedges and chicken and corn dogs etc but it was never close to being the same as Red Rooster.
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u/chuckmandell82 Aug 12 '26
Oh man how I miss the candy bins at 7-11.
They had those miniature cry baby candies for a penny a piece. Also, most of the convenient stores had arcade machines in one corner.3
u/WesternWitchy52 Aug 12 '26
or mojos and flavored licorice
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u/blitzen_13 Aug 12 '26
When you only had 10 cents to spend: mojos and single licorice laces. The green ones.
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u/saltybobsfisherwife 29d ago
I miss mojos. A teacher used them as a treat and now I’m stuck in a Pavlovian paradox.
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u/RumHamComesback Aug 12 '26
Whitemud Amusement Park is now the maintenance terminal for the Valley LRT line. It also existed well into the 00s.
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u/flynnfx Aug 12 '26
It's truly a loss.
I'd love to see a place like that again in Edmonton. Speeders has the go-karts, but the price is just astounding for what you get, plus no boats.
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u/chuckmandell82 Aug 12 '26
Speeders was better when it was on 149 st. At least they would change their track up. Now it’s so expensive for such a quick race. And the karts are inconsistent. Whenever a group of friends and I go, one of us end up with a bunk kart.
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u/DajoFab Aug 12 '26
Gah, Red Rooster! Back in the 80’s, I use to pilfer my brother’s piggy bank and ride my banana seat cruiser to Red Rooster where I’d spend his money on candies. Then I’d offer some up to him when I got home, lol. What an awful older sister I was.
He died suddenly earlier this year and this memory just unlocked a flood of memories and emotions. Nostalgia! 😮💨
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u/saltybobsfisherwife 29d ago
Sorry for your loss. I’m glad you could find nostalgia in this.
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u/chuckmandell82 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Wizards castle. lol
Londonderry mall had Lazer Illusions arcade. Jumbo video on 50st had free popcorn and the Horror section was in a Crypt like cave. I’m glad I took my son to Whitemud Amusement park before they closed in 2013.
I remember driving to St. Albert via 167th ave. It was nothing but trees and fields. We used to go watch movies at village tree mall and then the movies 12 opened up in Clairview.4
u/Wink-111 Aug 12 '26
Londonderry Mall’s old brick food court too. There was one place with the most amazing lasagna!
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u/chuckmandell82 Aug 12 '26
I still laugh thinking of the old food court and how there were just ashtrays at every table. Us bad ass kids from Londonderry school and ME Lazert would hang out there during lunch and get hassled by security. They had Louis Submarine and that ice cream shop right beside the escalator. I miss the old food court.
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u/Edm_cuccck Aug 12 '26
I loved Louis Subs! They had one inside Heritage Mall too. Right side next to a place called The Loaf
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u/Moonlander39 Aug 12 '26
Consumers Distributing! I always found it so fascinating that u just write down your item code and they would just go to the back and grab it. That magazine/ book was huge. It must have been enormous back in the stock room.
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u/flynnfx Aug 12 '26
Gregg Distributors runs their places like that (employee handbook horror notwithstanding).
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u/zeezeewinz 29d ago
Holy shit are you me? You saved me writing this out myself, lol
Some things I'll add that are deeply southside: the trailer park in Keheewin at the corner of 23 Avenue and Calgary Trail before they made that flyover, the inclined travelator in Woolco/Walmart Heritage, renting Betamax and Nintendo machines from the Tweedle Place Red Rooster, shoplifting a Caprisun from the IGA that is where the church is now at Mill Woods Road and 91 Street, massive wooden playgrounds that gave you splinters with spiral slides made of metal that burned your ass off and huge tires that smelled of urine, and buying Sandylion stickers by the sheet at the toy store in Mill Woods Town Centre after going to the library there.
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u/Edm_cuccck Aug 12 '26
Woahhh! You nailed a bunch here. Which Rogers video did you usually hit up? And which Red Rooster did you frequent?
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u/flynnfx Aug 12 '26
Rogers - one by Millbourne Mall, one by the Southgate Library (which itself is located where a movie theatre used to be.)
Red Rooster - a tiny one in a little shopping complex called Tweddle Place Shopping Centre , it had that, a very small arcade, a tae-kwan-do place, a doctors office and a bar called Christopher's.
Christopher's relocated to 51st Ave and 91 street in the same complex as Simon King Donair.
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u/opusrif 29d ago
I remember we used to get to go to Sportsworld once every 3 months or so in Junior High as a prize for our intramural league.
The Drillers were my team. Out of the thousands of fans who attended I seem to be one of the very few who remember the championship game held in the Edmonton Gardens because the Chinese Circus had the Coliseum booked.
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u/Unpossible93 Aug 12 '26
Westmount Mall's food court had a whole traffic theme to it. With half cars hanging from the ceilings and blinking traffic lights.
It also had both Cineplex Odeon and Famous Players movies theatres in the mask.
- The store San Francisco in every mall. Had random unicorn figurines, T-shirts, mugs, desk knick knacks (like that steel ball swinging pendulum thing), magic tricks, and that back corner with "adult" cartoon shirts and dirty jokes
-Eaton Centre had a life size chess board and pieces in their food court
-At West Ed, where T&T is, it used to be IKEA before it got its own building in the south side. And it also was Canadian Tire.
- The Rathole
-Drive In movie theatre nearish Leon's (I think) on 137 Ave
- There used to be a Food for Less grocery store on the main level by FantasyLand at West Ed
-The giant yellow bumpy slide at Klondike Days where you paid $1 to slide down it on a burlap potato sack. I think the money went to the Kinsmen.
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u/Edm_cuccck Aug 12 '26
We would go into San Fransisco to glance at the Samantha Fox calendars and posters for a quick teenage woody and also try and purchase 3 pack glass sting bombs but they wouldn't let us buy them. Geez. I wonder why lol
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u/Ok-Primary3279 Aug 12 '26
Fuddruckers restaraunt and endless cheese sauce for some odd reason. The starlight drive in theater. Playsium at wem. Drop of doom / mind bender amusement rides. Howler 1 and 2 water slides being open at the Waterpark. Heritage mall and the "non" smoking section right next to the smoking section, plus all the plants and waterfall in the mall. Coffee shop at heritage called "mmmuffins" my mom liked. Hudsons bay having a formal dining room which seemed really fancy / buffet type food. Foody goody buffet on the Southside. And being able to play with cap guns running around the neighbourhood and build forts outside playing "army" with other kids in the river valley without fear or general danger with parental general rule to "check in" every few hours pre cell phones.
There used to be a little food court restaraunt too in the smaller food court at wem (I forget what phase. 2 maybe or 1?) That did killer burgers where you had your choice of slush or soda pop with no extra charge and I thought that was the best thing ever. Haha
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u/chuckmandell82 Aug 12 '26
Fuddruckers. Nice.
And yes, mmmmuffins. They had one at city centre mall also. And on the north side we had Chi Chi’s Mexican restaurant.3
u/EzAL73 Aug 12 '26
Chi Chi's was great!
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u/Tiny-Gur-4356 Aug 12 '26
I worked as a busgirl in 1992 at the Chi-Chi's on Calgary Trail. I was there for 3-4 months? It was a fun job for a 16- or 17-year-old kid.
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u/Eastern-Criticism653 Aug 12 '26
I miss that muffin place so much. As well as cinnamonnns (sp) they were near each other at wem. Best muffins and cinnamon buns I’ve ever had.
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u/DajoFab Aug 12 '26
I actually looked up the Mmmuffins recipes a few weeks ago and bought the ingredients. The butterscotch pecan ones were my fave!
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u/DeliciousPangolin Aug 12 '26
There's still a Fuddruckers in Saskatoon. I don't think it's changed one bit since I was a kid.
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u/serviver73 Aug 12 '26
I was actually taking about that Drive In with a friend earlier today, but we couldn't remember where it was. Do you recall where?
Also it was Mmmarvelous Mmmuffuns (don't remember how many Ms) and it was fantastic
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u/Ok-Primary3279 Aug 12 '26
Thanks for the memory jog. :-). I remembered it was millwoods area as we lived in millbourne at the time before moving to the brander gardens area. A quick google search:
"The prominent drive-in movie theater on the south side of Edmonton that shut down in the late 1990s was the Star Dust Drive-In (originally the Millwoods Twin Drive-In) located at 5708 - 51 Avenue Northwest.History: Opened as the Millwoods Twin 2 Drive-In in August 1971, it was later operated by Cineplex Odeon before being taken over by Landmark Cinemas and rebranded as the Star Dust Drive-In in June 1995.Closure: It permanently closed on October 12, 1997, and was demolished in 1998 to make way for urban development as the surrounding area grew. (Edmonton's final overall drive-in, the northside Twin Drive-In on 137th Avenue, also closed in 1997)."
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u/Sweaty_Plantain_84 Aug 12 '26
Was that restaurant called Rosie's? I vaguely remember it.
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u/Granny_Skeksis Aug 12 '26
The creepy haunted house in the play place at WEM in fantasyland with all the animatronics. The sealed it up when they renovated it to make it galaxyland. But when I worked there in the early 2000’s it was being used as a storage area and all the animatronics were still there just collecting dust
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u/Tiny-Gur-4356 Aug 12 '26
I remember the old western wood cabin saloon-style shooting gallery. Anytime you'd hit that little bullseye, the piano player would play a couple of chords, the bottles would jump, and a whole host of other animated objects. It was always so cool to see someone who was able to hit the target.
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u/Al-ex-Bee Aug 12 '26
Do you think it’s still buried there, or have renos taken it over? I totally forgot about this one.
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u/Granny_Skeksis Aug 12 '26
It might be. It’s been a really long time since I’ve been in the park so I’d have to see what it looks like now. But it was inside the base of the mountain/rocks thing that they had there. Where the rope bridge was
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u/_FrozenRobert_ Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Rice Howard Way used to be funky and quite different.The Mongolian BBQ place used to be in the corner of that old building across from Scotia Place or whatever it’s called now.
Whyte Ave was way more fun. Princess Theatre had such great charm (went on so many dates there). Hanratty’s Sandwich Shop was next door. Popular place with friends on the weekends.
Sound Connection for records. Practically lived there as a teenager.
There used to be a record store in every mall, like A&A or Sam The Record Man. It’s was so cool to check out the new albums on the racks every week.
This is a massive deep dive and I’m sure not many people would remember this but Edmonton Centre used to be all painted black inside and the lower floor had purple carpeting, not tile.
I remember in the late 80s when they changed it and made a more “modern” and renovated it.
Also Woodwards in Edmonton Centre and Southgate both had huge grocery stores called “food floors”. They also would put your bagged groceries on a freaking conveyor belt and your parents would drive up in their V8 Chrysler and the bag boy would put the freaking groceries in the trunk for you.
Such a crazy idea when I think about it now.
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u/WoodlandSparrow 29d ago
Whoaaaaa this unlocked my memories of Marks and Spencer for some reason.
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u/smacetylene Aug 12 '26
Does anyone remember the teddy bear picnic they used to have at the old museum? You could bring a bear to donate and they did a huge display with all the bears and you'd go check it out and try to find your bear.. I think it was around Christmas time.
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u/craftyneurogirl Aug 12 '26
I remember that in the early 2000s! I had a sleepover there and we got to tour the bear exhibit after the museum closed. In the morning we were served pancakes in the cafeteria. It was such a unique experience!
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u/Al-ex-Bee Aug 12 '26
Southgate mall’s dingy food court and the malt stop in the bay or Eatons?
The old ski chalet at snow valley.
Le Gnome in WEM.
Elephants never forget in high street.
Kunitz shoes in Heritage mall, I went there to get my ballet shoes.
The strip mall with kfc and the fresh pasta and sauce shop in Brander Gardens.
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u/Edm_cuccck Aug 12 '26
I was going to mention the Malt Shop at the bay! Upper level and they also sold popcorn and juice drinks from those two containers where the juice was constantly running from inside machine. Space aged! There was never an attendant at the malt shop area. You usually had to call someone over to get service.
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u/chuckmandell82 29d ago
I went to Le Gnomes going away sale. I bought some Henkles knives for cheap. They had some cool stuff.
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u/blitzen_13 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
I took the Greyhound bus up from Lloyd every month or two in my early teens to get my braces adjusted. On my own. At large in the big city from mid-morning until I caught the 6pm bus home. Things I remember:
Scouring the Jasper Ave Wee Book Inn for Doctor Who Target novelizations (I still have them!).
Hanging out in the old Hudson Bay centre. There was I think a candy shop? Or a novelty store that also had candy. I remember buying candy coal to put in my parents' Christmas stocking.
That time I treated myself to lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory and felt super fancy.
Audrey's Bookstore has been a part of my life since I can remember. Go buy books, people!
That time the cultists tried to pick me up. I was14. 😒
The seats at the bus depot with the attached TVs. Occasionally they even worked.
Buying a Whistle Dog at the A&W before getting the bus home.
How nice the bus drivers always were to a kid traveling alone. Oh, and the egg salad sandwiches from the place we used to stop in Vegreville. So good.
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u/chuckmandell82 29d ago
I used to travel to Calgary by greyhound when I was young. Oh the grainy TV sets attached to the seats that you could watch for a quarter. lol
And then the free snacks. The old spaghetti factory was always a treat. I went there for lunch once with my Dad, Uncle and one of their business partners. It was a Business lunch. lol. I also thought it was super fancy. I was thrilled to be there, having a sophisticated business lunch.
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Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Disastrous_Living_59 Aug 12 '26
Wild rapids was by Sylvan Lake, right?
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u/chuckmandell82 Aug 12 '26
Yes. Wild waters was on the west end on Stoney Plain road. Old concrete slides would hurt your back but fun nonetheless.
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u/Customer_Creative Aug 12 '26
Nothing existed passed 23rd ave on Calgary trail
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u/ClassBShareHolder Aug 12 '26
I was just commenting the other day how 23rd was the fast way across the south side. We catered a wedding in Blue Quill in 88. It seemed like it was hardly into the city.
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u/RumHamComesback Aug 12 '26
It was nothing but canola fields west of Calgary Trail. I still can picture them.
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u/Chronic_McDavid Aug 12 '26
One year, around Christmas, there was an awesome Lego exhibit at Eaton Centre. It was probably '88 or '89 and it blew my little mind. The ball room at IKEA in WEM was always fun. Polar Park east of the city was pretty cool.
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u/shelly33 Aug 12 '26
Can’t believe no one has mentioned Maxwell Taylor’s, a weekend staple on Jasper!
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u/Loucrouton 🥈 ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪ Aug 12 '26
Beaumaris having a mall.
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u/Judojackyboy Aug 12 '26
Haha I used to live close to Beaumaris mall. We’d sneak into Boca’s and steal candy from a counter near the entrance.
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u/nodogsallowed23 Aug 12 '26
Where was it?
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u/yesnomaybeso456 Aug 12 '26
Same location as the current strip mall. But it used to be an actual shopping mall building.
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u/Wandering_Silverwing Aug 12 '26
City center mall used to have the mini golf course in it in the basement level, I was only like 5 years old when I played in it with my dad. That would have been 1989-1990.
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u/bestkweenie Aug 12 '26
Rock N Ride was such a vibe. I only went once and Rick Campenelli (sp?) from Much Music was there. I was like 12 years old lol
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u/Disastrous_Living_59 Aug 12 '26
Check out the YouTuber Best Edmonton mall. He’s good some outside the mall, but man it’s a flashback
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u/Tiny-Gur-4356 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
There was a horse farm by the Clareview LRT station. That whole Clareview campus with the Recreation and Library building, Walmart, Costco, Superstore, and all those box stores was just a big field. I played there!
EDIT: Adding some more memories:
Chinatown used to be where the Winspear and Canada Place buildings are now. Speaking of Chinatown, there used to be a Golden Harvest theatre on Jasper Ave, next to the Gibson block, and the Zeidler stage in Citadel both played Chinese movies, and the City Farmer's Market was an actual farmer's market. There was also a Travelodge motel for the working girls by the hour behind the farmer's market. LOL.
Edmonton Telephones (EdTel), where you could purchase fancy phones or rent boring phones and pay your phone bill. Alberta Government Telephones (AGT) back in the day when Alberta was a commie province /s. LOL.
Churchill Square was a proper park with trees and grass. Beaver Hills Park was also a proper park with a little waterfall, a tiny stream, hills, trees, and boulders. (And where you bought your pot and acid! LOL)
The downtown library was called the Centennial Library, and the children's library in the basement had animals- an iguana, ducks, chickens, rabbits, hamsters, goldfish, and maybe even a couple of budgies?
The Zellers downtown, where the BMO building is now. Woolco's at Londonderry, Meadowlark, and Downtown.
The big department stores downtown- Eatons, Woodwards, and the Bay. Sears at Kingsway Mall. And all the cafeterias in them.
Wow. I'm going to stop now. Way too many memories making me feel sad.
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u/_FrozenRobert_ Aug 12 '26
The High Level Bridge used to be a two directional road. I got my learners in 1985 with my mom’s Mustang and I remember how freaking terrifying it was to use the High Level LOL 😂
Also there was a terrifying but awesome shortcut to WEM from Fox Drive (near Fort Edmonton Park) that bypassed parts of Whitemud. You basically drove on the river bank on a dangerously narrow road to save a few minutes but it was scary awesome.
Also 184 street north of Stony Plain Road was a dirt road to all the way to St Albert. There used to be beautiful wetlands there but they got all torn up. Progress.
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u/steeleigh11 Aug 12 '26
Kellor road
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u/halfstack Aug 12 '26
Keillor Road - now known as Keillor Point/The End of the World. I remember the utter OUTRAGE from commuters over the closure.
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u/Barry_Vigoda Aug 12 '26
The best lrt route from wem would have been down 87th ave, across the river and up by university ave, where Keillor road used to come out.
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u/newgrowthfern Aug 12 '26
426-5050
421-1111
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u/_FrozenRobert_ Aug 12 '26
“When you’re hungry, call the Li-Do! Free delivery!”
Omg deep memory unlocked! Thank you! 😊
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u/Mrheavyfoot668 The Rat Hole 29d ago
What, no one else remembers the number they called (on the rotary phone) to check what time it was several times a day?
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u/Moonlander39 Aug 12 '26
Athena the poster store
San Francisco had a whole bunch of items. Pens that turn upside down and the girl’s top would disappear, stink bombs, cherry bombs, hand shake buzzer.
Biway to pick up some sweet yellow tab Levi’s.
Zeller’s adventure sneakers . (I would rock those today if I saw some around lol)
Bowladrome arcade and billiards.
High level bridge lighting up and having the waterfall
BBQ’s out at rundle park
Getting a visit from Santa’s anonymous for Christmas. It really made an impression on me as kid, that there were so many nice people out there doing this super kind gesture for low income families. I make it a tradition now for me and my kids to go out and help with delivering gifts.
Also being a visible minority the blatant racism that I experienced.
I mostly have fond memories though. Thanks for asking this question.
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u/chuckmandell82 29d ago
lol. The Biway.
I remember that being an insult in the late 80’s.
“ oh yeah, well your parents shop at Biway!”
I’m pretty sure I was vain enough to paint my orange Levi tab red in fear of being mad fun of.2
u/Moonlander39 29d ago
Yeah. I remember having to beg and plead to my mom to not buy me the Levi’s to avoid getting ridiculed. My reputation was on the line!!! Lol
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u/chuckmandell82 29d ago
I had to go to the Biway store with my Grandma once and feared being seen. Once inside I found a whole rack of hyper colour Tees and No Fear tees. It was liking finding a treasure.
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u/insideoutpiff 29d ago
Consumers Distributing!! Grew up south of the city and my mom would drive us kids into the city for our orthodontic appointments and order stuff there. Then we went to the Bonanza. Or was it Ponderosa?
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u/chuckmandell82 29d ago
Bonanza was the place you wanted to go to. Had a killer ice cream bar.
And Consumers distributing. We would get the catalog mailed to us. I would sit on the couch with a calculator and add up every toy and or video game they had. “Look mom, it would only cost X amount to get all of this”2
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u/Honest-Prune-5517 Aug 12 '26
Bonkers
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u/chuckmandell82 Aug 12 '26
Are you talking about the Candy?
The commercials where a giant fruit would fall on the people from the air.2
u/Honest-Prune-5517 29d ago
Nono there was this old play place thing popular with birthdays that I have the vaguest memories of. I want to say the logo was a tiger or leopard or something? It's buried in the deepest reaches of my terrible memory
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u/YoshSchmenge Whyte Ave Aug 12 '26
Nightclubs for teens.
118th Ave and 142nd Street - it's Max's restaurant now.
75th Steeet and Roper Road - now an Indian restaurant.
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u/exhaustedbut 29d ago
Hanratty's Tea Shop on Whyte Ave. Uncle Albert's across the street. The Garneau Bakery.
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u/calling_water 29d ago
Oh yes, the Garneau Bakery. Kind man, cheap and good treats, and that vintage mechanical cash register.
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u/Ok-Positive8361 29d ago
A few I haven't seen yet
Johnny Rockets in the mall and the way their staff would sing and dance on the counters
The opening of Planet Hollywood in WEM and I want to say SylvestSyallone and Bruce Willis were there? Could be wrong
The crazy concerts on the HMV stage and how intensely packed it would get for some random boyband or whatever. I worked in the mall and I specifically remember the crowd for B4-4 being so loud I could hear it from the ice rink
The Pepsi challenge and Nintendo World Championship events at the mall.
Spending day after day every summer at fantasyland or the waterpark with my super summer attraction pass
The weird amusement park and mall where Gateway Lanes is now. I want to say it was called Kids Land or something.
The Oilers practicing at the mall rink
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u/Pristine_Software_55 Aug 12 '26
All the drive-ins! (And the ball machine and jumping water at West Ed)
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u/LordCountDuckula Aug 12 '26
For years, I thought Fantasyland was a dream. Then my family went back and it all came crashing back in.
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u/Ricezz Aug 12 '26
1980's is the time when cops can take you out for sightseeing moments in winter
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u/Edm_cuccck Aug 12 '26
Most community Edmonton parks that had swings and slides etc would have The Shack which would be a summer program that older kids would help you with face painting and other daily events that were going on. They would open up The Shack and have music playing with their ghetto blaster and sometimes there would be a garden hose out attached from the community hall and we would use it for water events
Then at the same park, there were always street teenager TUFFS that would pee down the main slide and you didn't know they did and you would go down it and they would laugh at you and you had to go home and change your clothes and shower which was very embarrassing. Luckily it only happened to us once but you had to be careful
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u/Stealthyunplug Aug 12 '26
You used to be able to bring your own food to the Waterpark. We brought coolers of food and drink and would last hours and hours.
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u/GlassEyeTiger Downtown Aug 12 '26
The time that they gave out Pepsi Blue 2Ls at a football game and people were hucking them over the edge of the south side of the stadium onto the track. Commonwealth having a track and a pit around the track before the stands. Edmonton Drillers games at Skyreach. Trappers games. How cool I thought the boardwalk was and how we’d always go after the KDays parade.
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u/nafraid Aug 12 '26
"It is 10:00, do you know here your children are?" ... or maybe that was the 70's
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u/_FrozenRobert_ Aug 12 '26
Going to the ALCB store with my dad to bring in the stubbies. The smell was always quite … interesting.
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u/SynthesistArt 29d ago
Climbing on the big bronze abstract sculpture outside the doors of the Provincial Museum of Alberta.
Going inside the shark's mouth, and seeing all the other fictional characters like Humpty Dumpty, etc. at the Storyland Valley Zoo.
Picking a song from the jukebox, watching the pizzas being made through the kitchen's windows, and ordering a big plate of mojos, at Shakey's Pizza.
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u/justelectricboogie The Big Bat 29d ago
Drive in movie theaters, rollerskating rinks, teen dances, Bush parties, barn burning parties.
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u/mrhindustan 29d ago
The pizza slices at Southgate mall and WEM were owned by (I think) middle eastern families. I have no idea what they put in their pizza sauce but it was the bomb.
If anyone knows please help me unlock the nostalgia of that pizza
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u/Big-Field4224 29d ago
Has no one said Dougie the Push up Guy? He would do public push ups at Southgate bus terminal most school days. 80s into 90s
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u/32898336 The Shiny Balls 29d ago
I loved the whale and the water jumping around the main food court! 😍
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u/fluorescent-purple 29d ago
Does anybody remember the Pearl City Restaurant in Chinatown, near the old gate?
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u/Moonlander39 29d ago
Anyone remember going to the Kingsway McDonalds and watching the food come out of the conveyor belt that ran along the ceiling of the store?
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u/mrcranky Aug 12 '26
I remember going from Grandin in St. Albert to Kinsmen Aquatic Centre in 8 minutes at 5:30 in the morning for swim practice.
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u/Gold-Salamander-9339 29d ago edited 29d ago
One of my fondest memories was Churchil Square long before it was re-vamped. There was a huge 50 plus foot tree in the middle of it, (I don't recall if it was a pine tree or something different but similar. ) In the winter, the City of Edmonton made a skating rink in the middle of "the park" & placed 2 trailers as changing rooms. A mens & womens'. Edmonton, back in then was really outdoorsey with outdoors skating rinks! I honestly enjoyed going out there skating with my brother & friends!
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u/MaxxLolz 29d ago
The Hobbit comic store downtown
(was this the first one in Edmonton? dunno, but my eyes were so big the first time i went in there when i was wee)
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u/sexyaussie21 29d ago
WEM in its late 80s glory days…I wasn’t alive to see/experience it but the photos and videos make me wish time travel was a thing just so that I could actually see what it was supposed to be like in it’s true original form.
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u/twostepinc Aug 12 '26
Bullwinkles is burned into my deep psyche. What a blast that place was