The Mighty 690

If you grew up in Thousand Oaks during the same time that I did, I don’t need to tell you about The Mighty 690.

You remember, and can still here the bizarre, Spanish intros they’d play before you’d hear Duran Duran, Alan Parsons, Gary Numan, E.L.O., Ozzy Osbourne, Thomas Dolby, e.g..

The history of the AM radio station is right here.

The Oaks Mall Used to Be Awesome

Before 1977, when The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks, California first opened, I went to see the circus on the same plot of land. I was only five years old, and seeing everything under the big top is one of my first childhood memories.

But I spent literally hundreds of hours in the Oaks Mall – as a little kid, as a teenager, and as a young adult. I basically grew up in those buildings. And unlike the Oaks Mall there right now (just re-modeled in 2009), it used to be a fun place to go if you were a male (now there is literally nothing for a non-metro-sexual to look at, unless you feel like counting GameStop). It was a different world, I know – first of all, JCPenny‘s used to sell music, toys, and candy.  I used to buy 45’s there with my mom. I would sing the song I was looking for and she would help me find it; “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” by Electric Light Orchestra, and “With A Little Luck” by Wings are two I remember buying there vividly. (I still have both 45’s.)

Then there was the arcade, TILT.

Michaels’s Toys, Hobbies & Crafts. Did I buy Matchbox cars there? Yes. Did I buy a plush Chewbacca doll there? Yes.

There was the UA movie theater. I was really spoiled, I have come to realize, as I saw these films, and many, many more, in that good old theater in the Oaks Mall:

Rocky II, Grease, E.T., Poltergeist, On Golden Pond, My Bodyguard (1979), Clash Of The Titans, The Cannonball Run, The Cat From Outer Space, The Aristocats, The Black Hole, Star Trek, Superman, 9 to 5, Arthur, Tootsie, Rocky III, WarGames, Revenge Of The Nerds…I could go on and on…

There was The Expanding Wall. Just a cool store that sold all kinds of fun crap.

There was The Wherehouse. I bought my first three LP’s there.

There was Musicland.

There was this cool Chinese food place called HiBeef.

See’s Candies. (It’s the only thing that’s still there, and has never moved, as far as I can remember.)

I walked through there the other day. In one door and out the other. At least there used to be a CVS. Nowadays, if you want to buy a pack of gum, or a battery or something, you won’t find it here. It is a mall for the rich now. Rich females. So, if you are a rich female, check out the Oaks 2009. Otherwise, stare into space with me and lament.

The Thousand Oaks Drive-In

The Thousand Oaks Drive-in, which was actually located in Newbury Park, used to sit along side the 101 freeway between the Ventu Park Road and Borchard Road off-ramps. If memory serves me well, it closed sometime in 1982, and then sat vacant – the old colorful walls still standing and/or leaning – until early in the following century. The last movie they showed was a special re-release of “Jaws.” *

Growing up, I saw many movies here – “The Love Bug”, “The Rescuers”, and “Grease”, to name a few. And it was exciting to be in the parking lot across the street (now the Blockbuster Shopping Plaza) and be able to look up and see the top of Rizzo’s head on a big screen.

Of course, there is a Kohl’s there in that spot now. I’m guessing no one will ever write a blog with their childhood memories from Kohl’s.

(*To the best of my recollection, a special re-release of “Jaws” was the last film shown at this drive-in. However, the Facebook page, I Grew Up In Thousand Oaks says “Risky Business” and “Private School” closed the place.)

Do You Remember When The Janss Mall Looked Like This?

This photograph of The Janss Mall, in Thousand Oaks California, used to hang on the wall in the now closed Frank’s Charbroiler, which was located right around the corner from where this picture was taken. Whether or not the above snapshot is from the 1960’s (The mall opened in 1961) or the 1970’s, I’m not sure. It looked just like this when I started going there in the mid-70’s.

The first time i saw Santa Claus, it was at this mall. A big, sparkly, colorful house with Styrofoam snow, leaking tinsel and candy canes, sat somewhere in the location of the top photo. I told him what I wanted for Christmas, lept off his lap and left. I was so ecstatic that I needed one last glimpse of Mr. Claus, so I pointed my toes, lifting myself up high enough to peak in the window on the side of his hut. He was standing there talking to someone with his fake beard pulled off, hanging around his neck, to the side. And right there, at the Janss Mall – the first time my heart was just broken.

You wouldn’t recognize any of it today. Newberry’s was a huge department store with clothes, music, toys, etc.  This was our Target in the 1970’s. Only it was better. It had a soda fountain.