There\u2019s a weird moment that hits you as an adult when you realize something from your childhood didn\u2019t go away; it just quietly stopped existing while you were busy growing up. There was no goodbye tour. Zero closure.<\/p>\n
One day it was there, and the next day it was a fun fact you have to explain to younger people who don\u2019t believe you (or don’t care much to hear about it, when it comes to my little sisters).<\/p>\n
Ask anyone what they\u2019re surprised isn\u2019t around anymore, and the answers come fast. I know they do. I did it. I invited my friends on Facebook to tell me all of the things from their childhood in Lubbock that they are shocked are no longer around. The list was long.<\/p>\n
Let’s break it down together.<\/p>\n
When Going Out Meant Going SomewherePhoto by Sean Benesh<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n Blockbuster. Hastings. Video stores in general. Places where you wandered the aisles forever, arguing over movies, judging covers, and occasionally renting something wildly inappropriate because nobody checked. In Lubbock, Hastings, especially, still hits people emotionally. A place that wasn\u2019t just a store, but a full-on weekend ritual. For me, it was almost daily with the 50-cent VHS rentals. Sigh.<\/p>\n Read More:\u00a0Can You Name These ’90s Rock Radio Hits From Their Opening Lyric?<\/a><\/p>\n The Places That Raised Us (And Then Vanished)Image by Harut Movsisyan<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n Then there\u2019s Joyland, which may as well be sacred ground for Lubbock kids. First dates. Family nights. The terrifying joy of rides that probably wouldn\u2019t pass inspection today. More than one person said they\u2019re genuinely sad their kids won\u2019t ever experience it, and honestly, same. Add in places like Home Plate Diner, The Brittney Restaurant, and Legacy Play Village, and suddenly it\u2019s not just nostalgia, it\u2019s friggin’ grief with nachos.<\/p>\n Back When Music and TV Actually Meant SomethingPhoto by Chris Benson<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n Technology took a lot of casualties, too. AOL chat and Messenger. Yahoo games. MySpace. CDNow. MTV when it actually played music. Entire corners of the internet that raised us emotionally, socially, and sometimes VERY irresponsibly. Throw in old Nickelodeon shows, Saturday morning cartoons, and suddenly you realize kids today don\u2019t understand planning your life around a TV schedule. Hell, I’m bummed I can’t watch Saturday morning cartoons now as an adult. My parents used to sit in and watch them with me, too. They were laughs for the whole family.<\/p>\n Things We Lost That Weren\u2019t Physical (Well, except for Bjorn’s loss)Photo by Claudio Schwarz<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n And then there\u2019s the stuff that feels half-joke, half-truth. People miss manners, respect, common sense, humanity, and even the illusion of societal decorum. Someone said they\u2019re surprised child discipline isn\u2019t the same anymore. Another simply said, \u201cMy youth,\u201d which\u2026 fair. Extremely fair. Bonus points to my pal, Bjorn, who mourned the cartilage in his knees. Sigh.<\/p>\n The Stuff That Disappeared\u2026 Probably for Legal ReasonsPhoto by Angela Loria<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n Some things vanished for good reason, like\u00a0Jarts (yard darts of death), candy cigarettes, and the constant childhood fear of dying in quicksand. Others disappeared quietly, like full-service gas stations, roller skates with a key, or kids just being outside until the streetlights came on. We spent hours at the park doing nothing, and it was the best time of our lives.<\/p>\n Everyday Things That Quietly Slipped AwayPhoto by mostafa meraji<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n And then there\u2019s the biggest heartbreakers: rent under $500, Walmart layaway, full shopping malls, Kmart, Beanie Babies, Zima, Reebok Pump shoes, and Lisa Frank everything. It was a strange time. A\u00a0time when neon dolphins and rainbow leopards ruled our folders with zero irony.<\/p>\n Sigh…<\/p>\n What all of this really proves is that things didn\u2019t just define our childhood;\u00a0experiences defined\u00a0it. Places to go. Time to waste. A slower pace. Fewer screens. More chaos. More freedom to\u2026have fun.<\/p>\n We didn\u2019t realize it at the time, but we were living through the \u201cremember when\u201d era. And now we\u2019re the ones explaining it to young pups, and it usually starts with, \u201cOkay, but you had to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n Keep scrolling for more Lubbock nostalgia in the galleries below…<\/p>\n Joyland Nostalgia: Photos That Bring Back the Best Lubbock Memories<\/p>\n Joyland was a quirky, vintage treasure that Lubbockites enjoyed for generations. It is deeply missed, but lives on in memories, and in great photos like these. <\/p>\n Gallery Credit: Renee Raven<\/p>\n Never Grow Up: A Peek At Lubbock’s New Toy R Us Location <\/p>\n Lubbock is home to a new Toys ‘R Us pop-up inside South Plains Mall <\/p>\n Gallery Credit: Renee Raven<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a weird moment that hits you as an adult when you realize something from your childhood didn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169,223],"class_list":{"0":"post-88678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lubbock","8":"tag-lubbock","9":"tag-lubbock-headlines","10":"tag-lubbock-news","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}