106 Reasons you know you're from Kitchener
You know you're from Kitchener when...
- You have been to Pepi's Pizza
- You partied (You're old) or watched a movie (really old) at the Lyric.
- You remember the old Hi-Way Market; wooden floors, lobsters and all! Charcoal Restaurant used to be upstairs.
- Mothers pizza, Ponderosa
- You damaged your car (or an ambulance!) going over the Strange Street Railway crossing.
- Dutch Boy, Towers, Robinson's, Consumer's Distributing, Big Bill's Bargain Warehouse, Krazy Kelly's, Woolco, Woolworths, Simpson's, Kresge's, Bargain Harold's
- Mount Trashmore (old dump on Ottawa turned toboggan hill, now a city park)
- Rockway Restaurant, Charcoal, Golf's, Reggie's Sandwich Factory, The Corkscrew, Country Boy, Swiss Castle Inn, Long John Silver's, Charlie's, The Spaghetti Factory, Chi Chi's, Crock "n Block, Ennio's, Mei King, H. Salt Fish and Chips, Athenian's, The Three Minute Deli, The Purple Turtle,Royal restauant, Chicken Nest
- Skating at Victoria Park,
- The Capital, The Odeon, The Cineplex, The Fox, The Lyric, Kings College Cinemas, Fairview Mall Cinemas, The Hyland, Raymond's Nut Shack beside the theatre
- The Great Skate Place, Super Skate Seven, Roller Alley, The cement rink at Bingeman's, Phoenix Roller Sports, Roller skating at the Aud, Queensmount & Wilson Arenas
- The OEP, Don Cherry's, Phil's Grandson's Place
- The Eat 'n Putt
- You walked around with different coloured balloons at LULU'S (you're old)....or shopped at the Kmart that was there before that (really old!)
- The Coronet, The Pit
- Zappers, Flynns, Wizard World, Georgies, Tony's Billiards, Gentleman's Billiards, Masters
- OKTOBERFEST (should be at the top of the list, but I didn't want to renumber everything!!!), Oncle Hans
- Old Fairview Mall...Food Court in the middle with the big Orange Julius and the indented area in front of the Bay...Woolco at the other end, Zehr's in the middle...puppet show machine...
- Drive ins--Twin City Drive In, KW Drive In (Bridgeport), Parkway Drive In
- RANGERS!!!
- You have been served by a car hop at the A&W...On Victoria, Highland, Kingsway Drive, or at King and Weber in Waterloo.
- Bar Time..Stages, Inner City, Volcano, Ricki Jo's, Sammy's, Casey's (Wloo), Metropolis, Stampede Corral, Whiskey Jacks, Quinn's, Doogie's, Chatter's, Pop the Gator, The Hoodoo Lounge, Taps, Ichabod's, Ethel's, Ruby's, The Flying Dutchman, Houligan's, Pop the Gator, Phase Phour, Down Under, The Circus Room
- BF Goodrich, Uniroyal, Budds, MTD, Bauer's, Arrow Shirts, Kaufman's, Greb's, Schneider's, Seagram's, Labatt's, Pepsi (Wilson&Fairway), Coke(King St), Rumpel Felt, Dominion Bakery, MacIntosh Cleaner's, Newtex, Custom Trim, Epton
- Harmony Lunch, Jimmy's Lunch, Big John Subs, Hamburger Heaven, Pita Pit, Yellow Submarine, Sonny's, Roy Roger's, Nick's Subs
- Bingemans--Camping, Chym Days; Sportsworld
- COE, Bangarama
- Rebels, Raiders, Gaels, Trojans, Renegades, Vikings, Knights, Lions, Blues (These are the old ones so let me know if I missed any)
- Towne Bowl, Victoria Bowl, Brunswick Frederick Lanes, Waterloo Bowling Lanes, TC's (Waterloo Square)
- Trolley buses
- Walper Terrace, Valhalla
- Yet more bars--The Station, CJ's, Tommy's Place, The East End, The Duke, Huggies, The Grand, The Lanc
- Area Specific Aromas--Courtland Ave btwn Stirling and Ottawa (Schneider's), Kingsway Drive near Franklin (Dare Cookies), Victoria and Edna (Weston's), Wilson Ave near Wabanaki (Kuntz)
- Kresges and Woolworth's lunch counters.
- Goudies tea room.
- The Fox theatre across from what is now the Record.
- When Witter's Fuel on Victoria St. was the only gas station open on Sunday
- When only three buses a day went to Fairview Park Mall and Woolco was the anchor.
- The Palladium Restaurant...where everyone hung out after work on Friday night.
- The Strand Bowl, above Dutch Boy on King St. at Young...with pin boys
- The General, a fixture for years in Bridgeport, part of Kitchener.
- Golf's Steakhouse.
- The Cloverleaf, now the Flyover (accident central)
- You know what I mean by the old guy that used to walk back and forth from Cambridge to Kitchener everyday pushing his bike. I don't think I once saw him riding the darned thing.
- The abbreviation KW.
- You remember real, live bears at Waterloo Park
- When you know that the "Twas Now" bridge also says "Tis Then".
- Swimming at Kiwanis Park
- Rockway Gardens
- You know that the Central Meat Market is not a bar
- Shuffleshop (dance at the church on Water), Sweeney Sweets, Tyson's (Icecream), Chicken Nest, Kitchener Dairy
- You know that the Joseph Schneider House is the oldest dwelling in Kitchener.
- You wanted to have your birthday party in the Ronald McDonald Caboose
- Dance upstairs at the Aud with Grantley
- Old City Hall complete with clock tower (skating on front lawn in winter)...tower now in Victoria Park.
- Doon Heritage Crossroads/Doon Pioneer Village
- Pioneer Tower
- The Evergreen Motel
- The Barra Castle
- The Renaisance Dance Club, above Kitchener Dairy...not to be confused with Club Renaisance (sp?)
- Bridgeport Speedway
- You have been to some event at the Victoria Park Pavillion...but knew to stay away from the bathrooms
- Can't forget the Edelweiss
- Market Square, King Centre
- You witnessed a midair collision between two airplanes over Stanley Park in the mid 1970's.
- You feel the need to tell people that Jill Hennessy (Crossing Jordan) went to Grand River Collegiate and Lennox Lewis went to Cameron Heights and Jeremy Ratchford went to KCI.
- You know that Sugar Bowl, Sumac, Apple Bowl, Tenderfoot, North, Mic Mac and Front are runs at Chicopee.
- The Tulane
- Rosslynn Grove, Leisure Lodge
- The Waikiki
- Pop Shoppe Pop
- The Concordia Club, The Schwaben Club, The Alpine Club
- Taps and Ichabod's! Apparently you have to be 40 or over to remember these.
- The Challenger Restaurant - also known as the Breslau hotel (best rolled ribs in town)
- The Doll House / Huggies - soon to be a round a bout.
- Dutch Boy Cadets, Dutchboy Drum & Bugle Corps, Ventures, and Kiwanis Kavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps, Flying Dutchmen and Northstars, Preston Scout House Band
- Betty Thompson, Johnny Walters, Lisa LaFlamme, Jeff Hutchison, Dave Mac Donald, Morris Keston
- Cruising King Street on a Friday night with the windows down and the tunes cranked!!!
- Cressman's Bush
- Major Hooples Boarding House, Lee Aaron
- Teli's Deli, Angelo's, Randy's Fries in King Centre Food Court
- Eaton's on the corner of King and Water Streets
- Tin Roof (Victoria and King)
- The Bookmobile
- You wonder what the heck that sculpture on the courthouse lawn really is (worm? sausage?)...and how much the city paid for it....
- The old railway tower on King near Victoria, the man had to lower the gates when the trains came.
- Sam the Record Man, Pintos, Casablanca Books, Budd's Clothiers, Carl Heintzman Music store
- The Granite Club(the food was almost as great as the curling!
- People ask if you live in Waterloo, and you say no, Kitchener!!
- You remember when you would send a 6-year old child walking to school, 1 mile away, in nasty Winter weather, without a second thought and make him come home for lunch
- You remember watching the motorcycles climb the hills behind where A&W used to be on Highland Road.
- You remember going to Porky Nickelsons on Highland Road for an ice cream cone.
- You crowded into the dinky bus terminal on Duke Street on cold days...even though it smelled like urine or vomit or both....
- You have been kicked out of the Stampede Corral by Rocky for wearing a ball cap backwards, having rips in your jeans (only if you are a guy), or line dancing, or any reason he felt like...
- You remember the Tien Ho at Bridgeport and Weber...before it was a Shopper's. Or if you're even older...you remember Tops as the only Chinese restaraunt.
- You know that Weber Street is pronounced WEEBER and not WEBBER!!!
- You know that a single street CAN travel in all four directions...ie King Street South, King Street North, King Street East, and King Street West.
- You have eaten Banana Cream Pie from the Pioneer BBQ.
- You know that Kitchener was originally called Berlin.
- You swam all afternoon at the Municipal on Queen Street when they had two concrete islands, and no hourly checks for drowned swimmers. It was pronounced 'Mune-i-ci-pal', not municipal.
- You know what The Green Monster is...
- You remember playing chestnuts during recess..... "I've got a ten year older!!"
- You or someone in your family knows or has the cookbook "Food That Really Schmecks," by Edna Staebler(Kitchener native).
- You look forward to buying corn from Hurley's...out Erb Street.
- You loved going to the old farmer's market.
- Gold's Gym (King Center) was THE gym.
- When all the phone numbers started with (Sherwood) 74_-____, and you could have milk delivered to your door