Comments on: Northland Shopping Center Artifacts

By: Another Great Mall Gone: Northland Shopping Center | The Wellston Loop

Another Great Mall Gone: Northland Shopping Center | The Wellston Loop — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:19:01 +0000

[...] July 26, 2005; July 31-September 4, 2005; and September 24-November 9, 2005. A final entry – “Northland Shopping Center Artifacts” – details the many items Weiss salvaged during the demolition. Virtually all of the posts have [...]

By: Denise Blanco

Denise Blanco — Sat, 28 May 2011 21:02:32 +0000

I truly loved reading about Northland Shopping Center. That is a place that will live in my heart forever. I was born in 1954 and grew up and to this day still lives in Dellwood. I worked at Famous Barr for a very long time as well as The Lerner Shops.
I remember as a kid waking to Northland with my 8th grade class going to Kresgese to pop a balloon to see how much my banana split was going to cost.I loved when ir was free or a penny. I probably have more memories of Northland Shopping Center then anything else. This has been great! Thank You

By: admin

admin — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 10:43:30 +0000

Elmonte,
You’re absolutely right about those red candles – it DID mean Christmas was coming!

How hard that must have been to be part of the demo crew. It was a long, sad job, I’m sure.

Please do see if you can find the photos. Would love to share them on BELT.

By: Elmonte

Elmonte — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:55:21 +0000

Thanks for the memories. Born in 57 and spent most of my life since in north Saint Louis county less than a handful of miles from Jennings. I Have many fond memories of Northland especially the big red candles on the roof during the holidays, You could see them from hwy 270 and West Florissant at night and combined with the chill in the air you knew Christmas was close. Fast forward nearly 4 decades and I am a laborer for the demo contractor who wrecked Northland – River Roads and a host of other Saint Louis landmarks. Talk about bittersweet.I managed to salvage a couple hundred of the limestone masonry units from the lower level exterior facade. They were destined for the fill pile for the basements but were resurrected as landscaping on a couple of personal projects. Took a few pictures as Famous Barr was dropped I’ll see if I can dig them up and submit them.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:55:29 +0000

Lets see.My mom worked at Famous forever.When I learned to drive I would go wait out front in the car for her to get off work. Had my first wreck in a car in the parking lot. That was back when they were improving the drive thru at the bank.I remember the Halloween paintings on the windows.Going to the stores to buy a 45 record for 50 cents.The mini golf on the corner.The 4th of July fireworks.It was quite a place.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:31:24 +0000

We are in Jennings right now trying to see all of the places where my parents lived and worked in the early 60′s. My parents lived on Lucas-Hunt. My father was on staff at Calvary Baptist Church and worked part-time at Northland Bank. He would walk from the house to work. My mother did a lot of shopping at Northland and especially Famous Barr. Thank you for sharing all of this. They will enjoy the pictures and comments.

By: Roger Knipp

Roger Knipp — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:34:37 +0000

I grew up in Ferguson and my mother worked at Famous-Barr. I got my first glasses in the office building and bowled at the lanes. You bring back great memories. We used to watch fireworks in the Northland parking lot, sent up from behind the main sign.

Here is a question – when I was a child in Ferguson, our teacher showed us a “city symphony” style film that had no actors and showcased areas around St. Louis. It prominently showed Northland, brand spanking new. Any chance you know what that film is or how to find it? That’s what I was looking for when I saw your site. Its probably a 30 minute short, not a feature film.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:35:00 +0000

I vividly remember in the 60′s and early 70′s my mom taking us to the woolworth’s to ride the ceiling tram. This tram had 3 or 4 cars each joined with an accordion crawl through connection. we could look down upon shoppers as the tram ran around on the ceiling. At one point the tram went through a large rubber set of doors to the outside of the store and around corner of building and then back in another set of rubber doors to end the ride. I still remember the old wooden stairs and heavy wire mesh in the back of the store where you went up to board the tram. I have talked with several people who said that they had forgotten about the tram until I mentioned it. I would love for someone to send in a picture of this tram.

By: OriginalGlitterGirl

OriginalGlitterGirl — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:04:00 +0000

Hi, I came across your site while “Googling” info on “Northland”. (It’s amazing that people–including me! –are still posting comments over a year later!

I was born in 1969–the youngest of 3 kids, and we lived off of West Florissant and I-70.
“Northland” was THE place to shop…and it was GLORIOUS!!!

I recall the beautiful stained-glass windows, and the old-fashioned pharmacy. (My pediatrician was located in the area, and we used that pharmacy to fill our prescriptions.)

My mother used to have to “trick” us into going to the doctor (because, invariably, the dreaded “SHOTS” ALWAYS occured there! The free lollipops were the only “boon”!

My fondest memory of “Northland” was of “Famous and Barr’s” FABULOUS TOY DEPARTMENT! It seemed to be a virtual SEA of NEVER-ENDING bliss! It was a CITY OF TOYS! …And I was its QUEEN!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 05:11:00 +0000

Does anyone remember-the bowling alley in the 60′s had go-go girls dancing in cages…heard a few stories about that from my mom-it seems pretty bizarre from todays standards that you could go into a bowling alley and see that,guess it was more in the loung area