You Know You're From Flint....Part Two

It’s been awhile since I stared at the blank screen of my computer all night thinking of  new and different ways to fill in the preverbal blank space after those famous five words: “You know you’re from Flint…..”  Well…it’s time to fill in the blank again with a brand new edition of “You Know You’re From Flint….”

….when you have to explain to someone that 7-Up isn’t just a soft drink – it can also be an additional coney in a bag of a half-dozen. 

…if you can remember taking driving lessons at either Southwestern or Northwestern and having to wave your hand out the window when the instructors called you out over the loudspeakers for not stopping at a stop light or stop sign.

….if you can remember before HBO – the cable system offered a movie service called “Channel 100”.  

….if you can remember when Channel 5’s logo was the outline of a hand.  

…..when you can remember that even before there was something called the Crim Race – there was a sporting event called “the Canusa games” that young people could look forward to  every summer.  

…..if you can remember grocery stores with such names at Mansour’s, Feke and Yott, Mitchell’s, Hamady’s, Hickory Meat Block, Thompson’s and Double D Supermarket.  

….if the first car that you ever own had the nameplate of “Blain”, “Knickerblocker”, “Al Bennett”, “Superior”,  and  “Vern Parsall” somewhere on the car .  

….if you ever had to sell something at Julie’s Pawn Shop just to have a few bucks in your pocket.  

….you can remember bringing a quarter into school each week for your teacher to put in your Citizens Bank Christmas club account that the bank set up all the classrooms in Flint. 

….if you can remember the owner of the Ponderosa Steak Houses surrounding himself with kids in his television commercials.  

….if you remember shopping for a television or an appliance at Greenley’s, a mattress for your bed at Pearless and by living room and dining room furniture from one of the many companies owned by Ron Ralston.  

….if you can remember when Bill LaFave was “the magic carpet man” in his Karen’s Carpets television commercials.  

….if you ever attended a Carl Casper auto show at the IMA Auditorium.  

….if you went out for pizza at Ruggerio’s on Chevrolet Avenue, Lugi’s on Davison Road, Little Ceasar’s in the South Flint Plaza, or Roma’s Pizza on N. Saginaw.  

….you bought your pet food and pet treats from Dotty’s.  

….if you can remember when the Small Mall was Flint’s first mall and Miller Road with filled with trees and forest.   

…if you ever visited the main branch of the public library to view what happened on the day your were born on microfilm of the Flint Journal   

….if you can remember “The Music Warehouse” upstairs in the Bronson-Fisher building or the practice rooms where many of Flint’s rock n’ roll musicians jammed before their paying gigs.  

….if you can remember Kinnee’s Cheesecakes on Corruna Road.  

….if you can remember renting a movie for your Betamax from Rainbow Video 

….if you ever attended a Citizens Bank Christmas Carol Sing-A-Long or listened to a live broadcast of it on WFDF  

….if your car was ever searched by police before you entered Sherwood Forest for “Wild Wednesday” or “Super Sunday”.  

…if you ever joined a softball league and played a game under the lights at Whaley Park.  

....if you ever joined a bowling league and have trophies to prove it. 

…if you know someone who raced their car over the weekend at Auto City Speedway.  

…if you can remember the Burger King restaurant on the corner of Second and Saginaw.  

…if you can remember Question Mark of Question Mark and The Mysterians living in a house on Miller Road (near where Target is today).  

…if you had a reverb installed on your car radio or your first eight-track player installed at Duke’s Tape Shack on Dort Hwy. 

…if you or someone you knew painted something on “The Rock”. 

...if you can remember when Mott Jr. College was Flint Jr. College. 

…if you ever had to get a used auto part from one of the auto junk yards on Dort Hwy. 

…if your first one or two years of school were spent getting an education in a primary unit in your local neighborhood. 

…if you cheered for a friend or co-worker that was fighting in one of the Toughman fights at the IMA Sports Arena.  

….if you ever arranged to meet someone that you connected with during the weekend on WTAC’s “Dateline”. 

…when you can remember the only twenty-four hour drug store was the Herrlich’s store on Detroit Street and you were a little afraid of some of the people who you might meet there in the middle of the night.  

…if you ignored your parents warnings about all of the thugs and hooligans that hung out downtown and went there anyway.  

…if you ever helped your friend or had your own Flint Journal paper route (and knew how to fold the paper properly – before rubber bands and plastic bags).

…if your summer was spent making extra money selling ice cream from one of those white Hav-A-Bar ice cream carts.  

…if you can still remember Federals department store in the North Flint Shopping Center and South Flint Shopping Center or the Woolco store in the Eastland Mall. 

…and your choices of where to go to get wasted on Dort Hwy was either Conto’s or The Light…or you went downtown to Doobie’s or The Phone Booth for an evening of folk music. 

….you can remember when Flint didn’t have a public television station and “Sesame Street” actually aired on Channel 12.  

...you can remember when Luke Choate did the news and Dick Bing did the sports on Channel 12 news.