Jackson Jambalaya

wow, the good ole days. Worked at Geno's airbrush through high school and first couple of years in college. Lot's of fun back in the day I'd spend my whole paycheck at Camelot Music. Crazy how things have changed so much.

Krystal near the entrance. A safe place for lunch. The smell of tires being changed at Sears Auto Center, thousands of tires. Riding escalators up stairs and taking a quick look at mannequins in underwear. Hanging out on the Sears tool aisle for awhile.

From the Building Jackson Chamber of Commerce newsletter, April, 1975.

"New 120-acre mall, commercial center announced; will employ 3,000 and cost $100 million. Site preparation is already underway. The location is bounded by Robinson St. on the west, U.S. Highway 80 on the north, Lynch St. on the south and I-220 on the east. Co-developers are Homart Development Co. a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears, Roebuck & Co., and Colonial Properties of Montgomery, Ala.

Sears and three other department stores will anchor the Mall, which will be two-story and year-round climate controlled. The complete development calls for 125 specialty stores and 1,500,000 sq. ft. Parking will be provided for 7,000 automobiles.

In addition to the Mall, other facilities in the development include:
1. A 50,000 sq. ft. convenience strip center anchored by a supermarket.
2. A convention and 300 room motel complex.
3. A high rise office building, theatre and other free standing buildings.

Scheduled opening of most units is 1978. Developers state that the mall-commercial center will be larger than any similar development in existance in Atlanta, New Orleans or Memphis."

this is just a condensed version. The entire version is available to review at the MS Department of Archives & History.

What was the name of the ice cream place where they'd get a vanilla or chocolate ice cream bar, dip it in chocolate, and then roll it in nuts? I think it was upstairs near the airbrush shop and Diamond Jim's (where I spent waaay too much money), but not in the food court itself.

Breslers

Standing in line at Sears, level I, to pick up Christmas order at the window or, if big, they would roll it to the doorway of the warehouse area and help put it in your truck or car.

Several men on the floor who knew the ins and outs of all the washing machines, dryers, microwaves and refrigerator/freezers.

Hustle and Bustle of McRaes, people everywhere looking through racks of clothes and standing at checkout lines.

Christmas Wish Books on the counters.

Yep, that's it! Thanks. I've been trying to remember the name for years.

I remember visiting my grandmother at Sears where she worked in the women's clothing department after she retired from the phone company. Always had fun doing that and being dropped off with my friends at the movies. No worries back then, just good ol fun. Now you need an assortment of weapons just to drive past it.

Driving around Metrocenter is now like being at an ATV park. It will test those shocks for sure!

It's not dangerous anymore. Those types have nothing to steal so they have moved on.

Driving around Metrocenter is now like being at an ATV park. It will test those shocks for sure!

Harrumph! Then I shan't drive my $80,000 vehicle around there. I'm not really sure where Metrocenter is, but if its parking lot is as rough as the Rennaissance then my $80,000 vehicle can't handle it.

Before there was Bresler's, there was Bob's. It was lower level across from Chick Fil A's original location. There was an old lady named Velma who worked there and would ask if you wanted nuts or chocolate chips. If you told her they were chocolate sprinkles (which they most definitely were) she'd argue with you!

I was hoping to see Lee King and the Mean Machine dancers boogeying on the edge of the fountain as they filmed the opening to the Black Gold Disco Music Machine.

You could load packages into your vehicle, leave it unlocked, and go back inside for more shopping.

You would think an $80,000 vehicle could withstand almost anything. My Honda minivan drives over to the Burlington at least twice a week and withstands the rough terrain just fine. Of course, it didn't cost anywhere near $80,000. Let's just throw that out there again, $80,000. What a hoot!

I spotted Diamond Jim's Arcade. Spent a ton in there. Didn't see Orange Julius but was a big fan. Also loved the Service Merchandise out back. They had EVERYTHING.

"You would think an $80,000 vehicle could withstand almost anything. My Honda minivan drives over to the Burlington at least twice a week and withstands the rough terrain just fine. Of course, it didn't cost anywhere near $80,000. Let's just throw that out there again, $80,000. What a hoot!"
September 3, 2015 at 9:12 PM

Possibly, if you were better at long-term planning, prioritization for resource allocation, cost-benefit analysis, and risk management, then you would be have a safe and comfortable car. Not that there is anything exceptionally wrong with a Honda Minivan.

My husband is from a 'Mercedes family'. And he apparently has a higher tolerance for malfunctions. So, he has one of these: http://www.caranddriver.com/mercedes-benz/s-class
It's marginally safer than my car, but not quite as quiet. You will notice that eighty thousand Dollars will NOT buy one of those. We understand that replacing the shock absorbers will cost over fourteen hundred Dollars....EACH. Hopefully, you can understand why we prefer to avoid bumps, and even jiggles.

I'm from a 'Volvo family'. But Ford ate Volvo. Then, Ford vomited-out Volvo, and a Chinese company licked up the mess. So, now, we're a thrifty 'Lexus family'. My husband's family makes more money. But my family HAS more money - because we tend to KEEP it (and squirrel it away in places where it's apt to have babies).

So, I have one of these: http://www.caranddriver.com/lexus/ls When Bruce Jenner killed the lady on the PCH, I studied the wreck carefully. She (the victim, not Kaitlyn/Bruce/Granny Jenner) was driving an older Lexus LS. It took being rammed by Jenner's go-cart-hauling Escalantaay, and then a partial-offset ramming by an uber-deadly Hummer, to kill the poor lady. There was negligible deformation of/intrusion into the passenger cabin, though. I was impressed. So, I moved up from ES to LS. (the new ones are even heavier, and their partial offset protection now gets top ratings).

Cars in Mississippi are never optioned minimally-enough. You can't avoid the 'extras'. And so, when the dust had settled, I'd written a check for eighty and some change. I really don't need a six thousand Dollar sound system for learning foreign languages. But I've got one. Then again, telephoning in that car is like being in a sound studio - totally effortless: a vast improvement, really, over the previous system. Considering my hourly rate, the upgrade has already paid for itself.

So, unlike my husband, who will trade his glitzy Hitlermobile before the warranty is up, I plan to keep my Lexus indefinitely. We have one child at Saint Andrews, and one at Princeton. I'd prefer to keep this car until the younger one is out of residency. And I don't want to pay for new shocks or struts or gaskets... or anything else that can be damaged by careless driving.

Yes, my Lexus can go over bumps, thousands upon thousands of times, before cumulative damage becomes apparent. But THEN... THEN, you go over that 'ONE BUMP TOO MANY', and you're writing out a big check and feeling like a yutz for not having been more careful. I do not EVER want find out what new suspension components would cost, for my current car.

@12:53
Whatever family you may or may not come from, it's pretty apparent that it's not a family of class.

Chocolate pie at Morrison's after a satisfying lunch.

My like new 1993 240 Volvo will eat that parking lot at Metrocenter for lunch and ask for seconds. Bugger that Mercedes!

By the way.. the rebel flag killed the Metrocenter!

I thought Volkswagens were Hitlermobiles...

Usually there are two kinds of people who mentions how much something costs: (A) People with NEW money; (B) People who live beyond their means.

The $80,000 vehicle was a reference to the Renaissance thread.

Drove an 89-year-old aunt around Renaissance, to show her the sights. Otherwise, I won't stress the suspension on my eighty-thousand-dollar car, by driving it over the "cobblestones".