View Gallery: Parkdale Plaza in Corpus Christi Kangaroos, tapirs, llamas and anteaters were among the more exotic menagerie offerings. In October 1968 a traveling domesticated petting zoo brought about 60 animals for folks to pet and snap pictures with. But I never realized how often Parkdale Plaza played host to a range of traveling exhibits. Seeing a carnival in a shopping center parking lot isn’t an oddity to me. I’m not sure how long the program lasted, but references in the Caller-Times television listings petered out by the end of 1965. The youngsters were interviewed by Rusty, a woman in Western gear, and encouraged to bring their pets along with a drawing or other artwork to be featured on camera. More: #TBT: Corpus Christi bowlers picked up spares and strikes at these historic bowling alleys Watch Video: Parkdale Plaza in Corpus Christi A weekly children’s television showĪ June 1965 clipping described “another ‘first’ for the largest and most progressive shopping center in South Texas.” This time it was a weekly television show for children, “Rusty and the Little Wranglers.” Local kids were invited by the Parkdale Plaza Merchant’s Association to sign up to appear on the show, which ran at 8 a.m. The new shopping center with Walmart as the main anchor opened in 2011.īrowsing through the clippings on Parkdale Plaza, these were some items that caught my eye. Following a brief resurgence in the early 1980s, Parkdale Plaza declined until it was finally torn down in 2009. More: #TBT: La Retama Library occupied old City Hall building downtown on Mesquite Streetīut Parkdale received the same fate it originally doled out when Padre Staples Mall opened in July 1970. Some of the stores at Parkdale Plaza at its opening day were department stores Lichtenstein’s, JC Penney’s and White’s an HEB grocery store variety store Neisner’s along with Richard’s Shoes, Texas State Optical, Charm Fashion Shop, Town ‘N Country Fabric Shop and Culli’s Camera Store. Benches and large planters provided a patio-like atmosphere. Shoppers were lured away from downtown by the large parking lots and canopied walkways between clusters of shops. But when the shopping center opened in April of 1957 on 32 acres in the vicinity of South Staples Street and Gollihar Road, it was the premier retail location in town. One that stood out: Weiner’s in Parkdale Plaza.īy the time I was shopping there in the late 1980s and early ’90s the complex had been declining for years. As August wanes, a friend’s Facebook post reminded me of the back-to-school shopping stops of my childhood.
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