Let's Loiter at Oak Park Plaza!!!
When I was still planning on writing the big "Crapids" issue of Wasted Quarter, (working title: "A Steaming Pile of Crapids!") one of the feature stories planned was...
My initial pool of Oak Park Plaza related images consisted of just a few photos taken in 2006. Nowhere near enough to tell the story of this falling apart shopping center... So I returned in 2011 (and again in 2015) to photograph it more extensively.
My only visit to Jubilee as a functioning business, came in January, 1996. Crazy Carl and I decided that we should go grocery shopping. It was the only time we made such a plan, and proved to be pointless because we didn't eat most of the stuff we bought. It went bad and we never went grocery shopping again as long as we lived together...
Jubilee had been a grocery store of multiple names in it's history. While I'm not 100% certain on my sources of information, I heard that it started as a Piggly Wiggly back in the 1960's, when the center was built. Over the years it wore names such as Country Club Market and Super Value Foods, before becoming Jubilee at some point in the early 1990's.
Shortly after I took photos of the shopping center in September, 2015, the former Jubilee Foods was demolished, along with a good chunk of the north end of the complex.
Jubilee Foods was replaced with a shiny new Cub Foods. Nowhere near as large as typical metro area Cub stores, but it has what you need, when and where you need it...
Since moving back to Crapids, Laura and I have been without our own address. We have temporarily spilt up in order to live at our respective parents homes and drive ourselves insane... However, there are times where we need a quiet place to meet up, think and discuss current and future plans... Be it what kind of car she should buy, where we should look for our next place to live or what we should have for dinner...
Or we are just standing outside Cub Foods late at night, much like Jay and Silent Bob stood in front of the Quick Stop...
(I recently read that Kevin Smith is trying to line up funding to make his series "Hollyweed"... Yes, a dispensary show… So gas station life wasn't enough, you have to go after My Buddie too? Stop ripping me off Silent Bob! What, are you gonna start a zine next?)
Let's pretend we can tear Cub Foods down (which I'd LOVE to do!) and rebuild the abandoned and rotting Jubilee Foods, so we can look at that instead!
Actually, no you wont... Jubilee's prices were ridiculously high... Which is why Jubilee closed in the first place...
If you price everything higher than it is available in any of the tens of other grocery stores in the area, that you are competing with, you are turning the lights off on your "low prices" sign, and hanging this one up instead...
Back in September 2011, Oak Park Plaza was a featured destination on my MUST PHOTOGRAPH list. For said mission, I recruited fellow Crapidian, Eric Jay (not his real name), to assist me...
At that time, it looked as if some crews were cleaning the Jubilee, removing much of it's defining grocery store features. The high wall had been removed from the front glass, allowing a decent view of the entire store.
Since Jubilee was fairly small, you could see almost the entire store from the front windows. Most of the aisles were somewhat intact, and you can still kinda read the directory signs hanging from the ceiling.
The store was so old that it actually gave a damn about customer service, and had a one-way drive up where an employee would bring your purchases out to your car for you!
Compare that to today, where you're lucky if the grocery store doesn't make you be your own cashier!
Actually, it's a good thing that it's not still 2011, or Laura and I wouldn't be allowed to loiter at Oak Park Plaza...
Besides our current loitering, my experiences with Oak Park Plaza stem mostly from 1988-1993. And my memory of what was once here isn't all that good...
They lead to a retail area not fronted by large windows, but instead by brick, with narrow windows up by the ceiling...
Though in 2015, much of this (former Snyder Drugs) store is being used for storage by Frattallone's Ace Hardware. Who have parked a bunch of lawn mowers underneath the "Household".
At the point when I took these pictures (September 18, 2015), the place had barely been cleaned. It looks like their closure was a typical daily closure...
In 2018, the storefront that housed part of the Cafe, is now part of an Oak Park Plaza property office. The complex is chock full of vacancies, so they might as well use a spot for in-house planning...
Anyways... In 2011, next door to the Cafe (that I don't know the name of, other than "CAFE"), was the Framer's Workshop. Which was still open in 2006, when I took this picture. As was Pizza Now, where some friends of mine used to deliver.
Amongst the current vacant storefronts sits long time Oak Park Plaza anchor store, Frattallone's Ace Hardware.
Had I bought that wood protection when I took this picture, my wood would be in danger in less than two months!
Since I mentioned hanging out at the Oak Park Plaza in the late 1980's and early 1990's, let's revisit some of that era!
Back in those days, my friends and I would hang out at my friend Scott's townhouse. Almost every time we visited, we would walk up to Oak Park Plaza, which was less than a mile east of where he lived. Just after starting high school, Scott got a job washing dishes at the China Inn.
But a lot of businesses on the south end have left the plaza, with hints of what was still on the walls...
The main reason we wanted to walk up here was the "Way To Play" Arcade. Always packed with people from Northdale Junior High School, we'd often run into his other friends while there, wasting hours away just as we were. Way To Play got in all the new games that we'd read about in our video game magazines (wish I still had some of those...), and we'd either play them, or watch other people because that was free. Street Fighter was huge, and people that were good at it drew a crowd. As did APB.
Come on, street gangs flinging syringes of drugs that inject you if you get hit, running over people in a Corvette, explosions of flaming body parts! That was some cool shit for the late 80's!!!
We stayed at his house one night in the winter of 1989, making the walk up there in sub zero temperatures the next morning. Doors were wide open, so we walked right in. None of the arcade machines were on, and most were being crated and moved out the front door. We were quickly told to leave as the arcade was closed for good.
And all of that was gone by the Summer of 2016, for Oak Park Plaza's grand pointless remodel!
For a while, an indoor RC car dirt track was set up in one of the stores. We watched that a few times when walking through, but it didn't last.
Besides the obvious reason of just needing something to do, walking to Oak Park Plaza was our choice of outdoor activity because it held several stores of interest to us. Personally, I was fine with just going up there for Extra Innings. Once a small baseball card shop, it swelled at one point to the size of Dayton's (according to Trav). My mom never came out this way, so I rarely got her to take me here.
And the early missions were for Garbage Pail Kids cards, and deep envy over the uber-expensive first series cards in the display case. Just looking at their inventory was usually enough for me (it had to be, I usually only had a couple of bucks at most to spend per visit). I could see all the expensive single cards up close that I'd only read about in the price guide magazines. Wax packs from all brands available dating back to the late 1970's.
My meager money spent at Extra Innings went for 1988 Fleer Minnesota Twins cards, 1988 Donruss The Rookies singles and 1989 Fleer packs (in a fruitless search for Bill Ripken "Fuck Face" cards). A Spring 1989 walk to Oak Park Plaza gave the sad news of the store's sudden closure.
None of my friends cared -in fact they were probably happy since they didn't have to wait for me- but I was seriously bummed.
They've been at Oak Park Plaza longer than any other business (as far as I know)... That photo is from 2011.
During one of our winter walks to the Way To Play, I slipped on ice on the sidewalk in front of Star liquor store... My feet flew out in front of me and my head bounced off the cement. A guy inside came running out and asked if I was OK. I told him that I didn't know...
A row of buildings front University Avenue, blocking much of Oak Park Plaza from traffic. This is likely a cause of the neglect the public feels towards the shopping center. Out of sight, out of mind... They thought Cub would draw businesses in, but so far they haven't...
The southern entrance to the shopping center is protected by Finest-1 Auto Care. Which is fine... They have their clientele...
Up until the mid 2000's, this corner was where a buncha Blainians rented movies! Before Movie Gallery failed, Mr. Movies, Adventures in Video, and all the way back to the mid 1980's and Gary's Home Video called this place home.
I walked out on the job when they wanted to train me in on how to make fresh fried chicken. I refused to train on it for months because of all the extra work involved over what I had been doin. Yeah it tasted good, but it was a giant greasy, dirty pain in the ass to deal with. When management insisted, I asked for more money. They refused so I quit.
You're paying me enough to make frozen burgers and shit... You're not paying me enough to get involved with raw chicken goo... I will go work in a gas station for the same pay. It is far less creepy there!
They sit on the corner of University and 109th Avenue, the north entrance to Oak Park Plaza, as it has for many years. And S.A. is still providing convenient snacks and beverages on demand, just as they have for many years...
Which isn't even in Coon Rapids...
But it's close!
The main draw for me was the LOOOOONG abandoned Jubilee Foods grocery store.
My only visit to Jubilee as a functioning business, came in January, 1996. Crazy Carl and I decided that we should go grocery shopping. It was the only time we made such a plan, and proved to be pointless because we didn't eat most of the stuff we bought. It went bad and we never went grocery shopping again as long as we lived together...
Jubilee had been a grocery store of multiple names in it's history. While I'm not 100% certain on my sources of information, I heard that it started as a Piggly Wiggly back in the 1960's, when the center was built. Over the years it wore names such as Country Club Market and Super Value Foods, before becoming Jubilee at some point in the early 1990's.
As far as I know, it closed in 1998 or 1999.
But let's skip ahead to today!
The rest of the shopping center was given a facelift.
A brand new facade was built along the length of the stores...
The parking lot was replaced and re-paved and made less treacherous...
And no new tenants moved in!
But it looked a lot nicer!
Maybe you need wood?
Since moving back to Crapids, Laura and I have been without our own address. We have temporarily spilt up in order to live at our respective parents homes and drive ourselves insane... However, there are times where we need a quiet place to meet up, think and discuss current and future plans... Be it what kind of car she should buy, where we should look for our next place to live or what we should have for dinner...
Quite often, we find ourselves loitering on Oak Park Plaza benches like this one...
Where the view of Blaine is just as Blainey as it was before they remodeled the shopping center...
(I recently read that Kevin Smith is trying to line up funding to make his series "Hollyweed"... Yes, a dispensary show… So gas station life wasn't enough, you have to go after My Buddie too? Stop ripping me off Silent Bob! What, are you gonna start a zine next?)
Let's pretend we can tear Cub Foods down (which I'd LOVE to do!) and rebuild the abandoned and rotting Jubilee Foods, so we can look at that instead!
That's far more photogenic!
Look at this decrepit and unwelcoming store entrance! Doesn't that make you want to buy food?
Nothing a fresh coat of paint (and some actual working lights) wouldn't fix!
See! They're friendly here!
They left the door open and everything!
You'll like the variety...
And you'll love their quality...
But you'll remember their low prices!
Actually, no you wont... Jubilee's prices were ridiculously high... Which is why Jubilee closed in the first place...
If you price everything higher than it is available in any of the tens of other grocery stores in the area, that you are competing with, you are turning the lights off on your "low prices" sign, and hanging this one up instead...
Back in September 2011, Oak Park Plaza was a featured destination on my MUST PHOTOGRAPH list. For said mission, I recruited fellow Crapidian, Eric Jay (not his real name), to assist me...
There's reflections of us taking some of these photos... I'm on the right, Eric's on the left...
At that time, it looked as if some crews were cleaning the Jubilee, removing much of it's defining grocery store features. The high wall had been removed from the front glass, allowing a decent view of the entire store.
Looking in from the entrance, then walking to the left...
Up front there was a big heavy metal desk. I'm assuming this came from the store office.
Hopefully that sweet ancient Pepsi crate was salvaged...
Customer service needed at register 7!
I wanna buy this Icee! Like now and stuff!
And register 6 is still stocked with paper bags!
Even if Jubilee closed in 1999, that is some seriously outdated cashiering technology they had going on...
I do like the sphincter shaped UPC code scanner though...
I'm also a big fan of the shuttered cigarette racks hanging above registers 4 and 5...
Register 2 has a scale for produce! And a radar gun to keep in-store traffic in-line!
What was left of the service counter, hiding behind a big VISA...
Now let's jump forward four years and go back to the right!
September 2015 saw a far less jubilant Jubilee Foods...
The registers and aisles are all gone. But at least the cigarette racks are now freed from their shutters!
Fresh what?
And it's kind of a dick move to not take down the directory signs, but to just leave them hanging...
That's going to confuse the shoppers...
At least they left the door unlocked during business hours!
Okay, now that we've got our groceries, we should complete the rest of our 7 year old errands...
Wait! One more thing about Jubilee!
The store was so old that it actually gave a damn about customer service, and had a one-way drive up where an employee would bring your purchases out to your car for you!
Compare that to today, where you're lucky if the grocery store doesn't make you be your own cashier!
More peeling paint!
Up next on the to-do list is to pick up that Dry Cleaning!
At Crest Cleaners!
They were still operating at Oak Park Plaza in 2011...
However, by 2015, they abandoned the Plaza and left a giant mess behind...
But I'm sure everything the left was completely non-toxic!
But all is still vibrant at Oak Park Plaza (in 2011 at least), as Neighborhood Dollar Plus Grocery had just opened 9 days prior to my photo taking mission! (Do the math if you're curious)
Unfortunately, by September 2015, Neighborhood Dollar Plus Grocery was abandoned as well...
They at least kind of cleaned up their mess. Even taking their light bulbs...
But they left the Dairy Snack Center!!!
Though neither of us are likely to do any biking or skating anytime soon...
Such a simple and iconic (for Blaine) logo... I miss it!
Besides our current loitering, my experiences with Oak Park Plaza stem mostly from 1988-1993. And my memory of what was once here isn't all that good...
I seem to remember there being a Snyder Drug store around the middle of the shopping center.
Perhaps it was behind these doors...
A peek inside showed this... I see "Pharmacy"!!! That certainly could offer some clues...
Next door to Maybe-Snyders, was this cafe that had very recently closed (as of September 2015).
At the point when I took these pictures (September 18, 2015), the place had barely been cleaned. It looks like their closure was a typical daily closure...
Instead of the permanent closure this would be...
Including "wildest dreams" picture of what it could look like if it ever hit full occupancy!
Or maybe this was the cafe? I really don't know...
That goes back to the fabled days of Flintwood!
Try and redeem this! It'll be fun!
Which was also there and open in 2011...
When they offered One Time Wood Protection!
But for only 7 years...
Had I bought that wood protection when I took this picture, my wood would be in danger in less than two months!
And sure enough, now that everything's new, they're not protecting wood anymore...
Cue the flashbacks!
Back in those days, my friends and I would hang out at my friend Scott's townhouse. Almost every time we visited, we would walk up to Oak Park Plaza, which was less than a mile east of where he lived. Just after starting high school, Scott got a job washing dishes at the China Inn.
Here is China Inn in 2006...
China Inn in 2011...
And an abandoned China Inn in 2018...
Some more...
And more...
It's really funny that the interior has been left pretty much intact and Simon's China Inn left Oak Park Plaza...
Meanwhile, back in 1989...
I played a lot of NARC because I loved the graphics and graphically violent theme.
Come on, street gangs flinging syringes of drugs that inject you if you get hit, running over people in a Corvette, explosions of flaming body parts! That was some cool shit for the late 80's!!!
We stayed at his house one night in the winter of 1989, making the walk up there in sub zero temperatures the next morning. Doors were wide open, so we walked right in. None of the arcade machines were on, and most were being crated and moved out the front door. We were quickly told to leave as the arcade was closed for good.
Sad day in 1989...
I still have a 32 ounce plastic Way To Play Arcade cup from a visit's refreshment.
That space in the mall was converted to a dollar store the next time we came up.
By 2011, even that place was nothing more than a label scar...
And all of that was gone by the Summer of 2016, for Oak Park Plaza's grand pointless remodel!
For a while, an indoor RC car dirt track was set up in one of the stores. We watched that a few times when walking through, but it didn't last.
I have no pictures of that place... But it was really cool!
Behind the handicapped parking sign was once the home of Extra Innings...
Besides the obvious reason of just needing something to do, walking to Oak Park Plaza was our choice of outdoor activity because it held several stores of interest to us. Personally, I was fine with just going up there for Extra Innings. Once a small baseball card shop, it swelled at one point to the size of Dayton's (according to Trav). My mom never came out this way, so I rarely got her to take me here.
And the early missions were for Garbage Pail Kids cards, and deep envy over the uber-expensive first series cards in the display case. Just looking at their inventory was usually enough for me (it had to be, I usually only had a couple of bucks at most to spend per visit). I could see all the expensive single cards up close that I'd only read about in the price guide magazines. Wax packs from all brands available dating back to the late 1970's.
My meager money spent at Extra Innings went for 1988 Fleer Minnesota Twins cards, 1988 Donruss The Rookies singles and 1989 Fleer packs (in a fruitless search for Bill Ripken "Fuck Face" cards). A Spring 1989 walk to Oak Park Plaza gave the sad news of the store's sudden closure.
No warning... Entire store empty, save for some card store related trash left behind.
None of my friends cared -in fact they were probably happy since they didn't have to wait for me- but I was seriously bummed.
Today, the long gone Extra Innings is an Anytime Fitness.
And no one has to worry about me spending too much time here...
Next door to that fitness place is Star Liquor.
During one of our winter walks to the Way To Play, I slipped on ice on the sidewalk in front of Star liquor store... My feet flew out in front of me and my head bounced off the cement. A guy inside came running out and asked if I was OK. I told him that I didn't know...
He just went back inside...
Dick!
Not even a renovation could kill Star Liquor...
But now they have added an S!
So now we've officially reached the southern tip of Oak Park Plaza...
Yet there's more!
A row of buildings front University Avenue, blocking much of Oak Park Plaza from traffic. This is likely a cause of the neglect the public feels towards the shopping center. Out of sight, out of mind... They thought Cub would draw businesses in, but so far they haven't...
The southern entrance to the shopping center is protected by Finest-1 Auto Care. Which is fine... They have their clientele...
But this is what I remember belonging here!
Up until the mid 2000's, this corner was where a buncha Blainians rented movies! Before Movie Gallery failed, Mr. Movies, Adventures in Video, and all the way back to the mid 1980's and Gary's Home Video called this place home.
Next door to that is Taco Bell if you REALLY need diarrhea...
Speaking of...
This Burger King (in 2006) was a Hardees in 1992.
I should know because I worked there....
This is kinda proof... It was my name tag... I refused to put my name on it...
And no, I do not like that song...
I don't remember when Hardees became Burger King, but in 2006, it still looked like Hardees.
In 2011, a painted roof wasn't fooling me...
By 2018, it looked more like a Burger King...
However, inside it still looked a whole lot like the Hardees I half-assed worked at from October 1992, through March 1993.
A job I never took seriously, but made fun drawings of my tubbier co-workers!
I walked out on the job when they wanted to train me in on how to make fresh fried chicken. I refused to train on it for months because of all the extra work involved over what I had been doin. Yeah it tasted good, but it was a giant greasy, dirty pain in the ass to deal with. When management insisted, I asked for more money. They refused so I quit.
You're paying me enough to make frozen burgers and shit... You're not paying me enough to get involved with raw chicken goo... I will go work in a gas station for the same pay. It is far less creepy there!
Bird on an H!
Next door to Burger King Hardees is Super America. A gas station under a Super American flag.
They sit on the corner of University and 109th Avenue, the north entrance to Oak Park Plaza, as it has for many years. And S.A. is still providing convenient snacks and beverages on demand, just as they have for many years...
During walks to the Way To Play...
During breaks at the Hardees...
During flights around the world from Crazy Carl's old house's basement...
And today, when I need something for late night curbside loitering, that Cub doesn't have in stock...
Ahhh Oak Park Plaza...
Despite going on 4 decades of significance to my life, you simply can't polish a turd...
Because it still smells like Blaine...
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