The Record Theater in Norwood. This state-of-the-art record store was like no other I had ever seen. Entire walls of 8 track tapes were behind plexiglass with holes cut in it. The holes were large enough for your hand to fit through, but too small for the 8 track (shoplifting prevention technology of the 80's!). The concept was simple. Find a tape you were interested in buying, reach through the plexiglass, grab it and look at it. If you didn't want it, it was returned to its place on the shelf. If you did want to buy the tape, drop it onto a continually running conveyor belt that transported it to the cash register. Walk over and pay for it. (and yes, this is where I bought my Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd 8 tracks). Now we simply download everything from iTunes.
Godfather's Pizza (right next door to the Record Theater). Big, thick, Chicago-style pizza. I didn't think the pizza was that great, but dad liked it because they served beer. I liked it because they had a cool pinball machine. We usually went to Godfather's for dinner and then to the Record Theater... Family entertainment at its finest!
Germantown Pizza (you only remember this if you were from St. Bernard)--- Local pizza joint that smelled musty and garlic-y. For a few bucks you could order a pizza bread and play video games. We thought we were big stuff!
Showbiz Pizza Place--- This was the forerunner to Chuck E. Cheese. Never before could you get pizza, be entertained by an animatronic band and play in one of the coolest arcades in the city. This place was "Da bomb!" when it first came out. In the beginning Showbiz wasn't just for little kids. It was designed for people of all ages... even my grandma liked it.
Malibu Race Track (right next to I-75 in Sharonville). This place was a huge go-kart track, but the karts were made to look like race cars. It was realistic car racing (for its day) and it also had a huge arcade.
And speaking of arcades... My brother and I recently had a conversation about our time spent in video arcades. We decided that if we could get back every quarter we ever put in a video game slot, we could retire comfortably.
Putt-Putt Golf and Games in Evendale--- I spent so much time here that it warrants its own post (stay tuned). Remember the huge fiberglass golf ball on a gigantic tee that sat out in the middle of the driving range field? If you ever drove on Reading Road you couldn't miss it.
Farrell's Ice Cream (Tri-County Mall area). This place was built in the style of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor. I remember they had a gift shop with lots of trinkets, but most of all I remember what they were best known for. An ice cream creation simply called a "Zoo". A Zoo was intended for many people to share. It was a large bowl with about a thousand scoops of ice cream, several sauces, nuts, whipped cream and cherries. The Zoo was ordered for parties and was gaudily decorated. I remember they used to delver the Zoo to the table amid a whole lot of hoopla. Servers yelling and cheering, people playing kazoos, somebody pounding a bass drum and people playing other crazy instruments. It was a really noisy and wild place (as far as ice cream shops go, that is).
It's amazing to think of the number of places that used to be around, but have long since disappeared.
The top photo shows a Zoo sundae. The middle photo shows the famous bass drum. The bottom photo is not the Cincinnati location, but does look similar (minus the blue canopy) to the one I remember.
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