Monday, October 27, 2008

You Know You Grew up in Simi Valley When...

I think we've all seen those e-mail forwards titled "You know you grew up in the 80's when..."; well, thanks to Facebook I've stumbled upon "You know you grew up in Simi Valley when...", an ode to my childhood hometown. Awesome!

I've highlighted the ones that particularly stand out to me. I'll probably be thinking of things to add to this list all the rest of this week! But, for now:

1. You remember when Sycamore Plaza was the "cool" place to hang out.

2. You remember when The Regal replaced Sycamore Plaza as the cool place to hang out.


3. You can go anywhere in Simi and run into at least five people you know.


4. You have friends or you yourself live in a gated community.

5. Going to the beach is considered a local trip.

6. You remember complaining about having to go all the way to Northridge to shop at the mall.

7. It was a very exciting day when Simi Opened it's own mall.

8. You have had a pass to Oakridge Health Club at one point in your life.

9. At least one of your friends or you yourself live in Indian Hills


10. Each of the 20 Starbucks is one of the local hot spots (nah, I was part of the Denny's crowd...)

11. Your friends or bf/gf has hung a banner over the side of the 118 to wish you a happy birthday.

12. When you were a teenager your idea of a good night of partying was going to LA and using your fake I.D

13.You know about the monster rivalry between simi high and royal..... (yep, I almost didn't consider applying to USC because they had Simi colors...)


14. And you affectionately refer to santa susana magnet school as "the Fagnet school" (what? I never heard this. But Hollow Hills Fundamental was definitely "Hollow Heads Fun for the Mental")

15. All of your ex bf/gf know each other and are probably friends.

16.The people you were in kindergarten with were in your graduating class in high school.


17. Most people's idea of going to college means enrolling at moorpark.

18. you know that nicknames for moorpark include "harvard on the hill" and "Kraproom"

19. Going to "the arena" is like a high school reunion.


20. When you visit other cities and you see homes for sale "starting in the low 600's" you find yourself saying "whoa that's a great deal!"

21. You remember what a big deal it was back in the 80's when it snowed in simi. (Oh my gosh. It's still a big deal!)


22. You have a season pass to magic mountain and sometimes go Friday nights after the football game. (if there are no good parties going on)

23. In elementary school you went to the Ronald Regan Library for a class field trip cause the Reagan library is in our backyard.

24. Most people go to 24 hour fitness to check each other out and NOT actually workout.


25. When you remember the pumpkin patch on the corner of tapo canyon and alamo where borders bookstore is now.

26. And then you'd look across the street and see a huge field of orange trees instead of that police station.

27. When your childhood memories include attending the RINGling brother's circus where the regal plaza is now.

28. when you've been to easy street arena at least once to ice skate.

29. You remember getting all your friends together to go see a movie at the MANNS theatre for $2.

30. When you run into your teachers at restaurants, banks, markets, etc.

31. You thought PHAT FRIDAY(now Mayhem) was awesome.

32. You question why Santa Susana High School is a magnet school.

33. You remember the Drive in theater where the mobile home park is now by the run down K-mart, which used to be cool too.

34. You remember when more then just Simi and Royal marched the Simi Days Parade, and it was actually judged! (Oh, I loved performing in parades! Until I sprained my ankle in the Simi Days Parade my senior year...)

35. Ralphs was THE grocery store in Simi

36. Rancho Park was a GREAT place to play at.

37. Tapo Car Wash was the ONLY place you could sit inside your car while getting it washed.

38. Watching 4th of July Fireworks was only available on the side of the road or sitting on your parents' roof because the Santa Susanna Park hadn't been built yet.


39. Steer and Stein was a classy place to eat steaks at. (Haven't heard of it. But Tony Roma's, that was the place!)

40. You shopped at Gemco and Alpha Beta.

41. You've gotten really fast at packing up your car when fires approach.


4 comments:

prayforchaos said...

When I was a kid, in the early 80's, we used to go to the 4th of July Fireworks which I think was at the high school. There were skydivers before it got dark. I think we had to pay to get in. It was cool.

Anonymous said...

You remember when Santa Sue High was Sequoia Junior High.

You remember Gemini Alt. High School.

When The Simi Valley Public Library was over on LA Ave.

When Mountain View Elm. were the Honey Bees. And Hillside JH were the Hawks.

Anonymous said...

When you used to go roller skating at the Ranch Club Skating Rink in Santa Susana.

You went to the movies at the Larwin Square Theater (I was Assistant Manager).

You lived in Bellwood Estates (peopled called the Texas tract).

You were in the first classes to use the NEW Simi Valley High School.

You got your burgers at the Corral on Los Angeles Avenue.

When the only way to get to the San Fernando Valley was over the Pass Road.

Anonymous said...

How about the only way to get to Moorpark was a rode, not a freeway

When you skated the empty pools at Hope Town

When you saved your hard earned money to go buy Garbage Pail Kids at Baseball Card Etc.

When you rented movies at Alamo Video (curse blockbuster)

When they know your name at Chi-Chi's Pizza

When Thrifty's was still around and sold ice cream for 25 cents