Originally Posted by
The_War_Wagon
Reminds me of crusin' Main Street in Salisbury, NC in the early '80's - same scene. 4 lanes (2 north, 2 south), & about 30 blocks or so to cruise - and head-in parking. Hootin' & hollerin' at the girls, pull over when you see some buddies - talk gearhead amongst ourselves - maybe a little drag racin', when the cops weren't lookin'.
Those were the days... things that AREN'T coming back from my youth: Mercury, Plymouth, & Pontiac.
Same thing here in my Iowa town. At least three generations "scooped the loop" uptown every weekend night and it's where you found 65% of your friends. My grandfather did it, my father did it and I did it in the 80s.
Then after a significant influx of illegals in the 90s related to a local meat packing house there was suddenly actual serious crime from drugs, assault and major theft. Some local kid finally got stabbed by some messicant and a local small town tradition ended.
In 2001 I was stunned to see the uptown area completely devoid of any kids socializing and it was 100% "recent arrivals" coming in and out of the bars. My cop buddies told me nobody lets their kid go uptown at night anymore because it's too dangerous.
Thankfully it's improved dramatically in the last 15 years but still no kids go uptown on the weekends anymore, that's all done and over with. Main street businesses that had been there since the 40s and 50s were killed off during "the change" and it now almost all bars and package stores still.
A few restaurants thankfully survived and we even got some new ones and things are getting better, but it will never be what it was. I always took for granted that on the weekends I'd be able to pop into the Maid Rite for a sandwich and a malt and chuckle at all the high school kids showing off cars and trying to talk to girls, but that is all done and gone now.
It's astonishing how much damage can be done in a single decade by foreign invaders.
It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.
Chuck, we miss ya man.
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