Before The Malls, There Was Church Street

[Henry]

Last night's news mentioned the fact that some 20 years ago you could drive up lower Church Street in Burlington with your car.  Not sure when it was that you could drive all the way up from Main Street to Pearl Street with your car, but I do remember doing that back when I worked in Burlington before I started at IBM.  There weren't any parking garages back then and sometimes you had to drive around a bit to find a parking space, especially on Church Street.  You look at it today and with all the businesses that were there back then, you wonder how they ever got anybody to shop there, but once you found a parking spot, maybe even on a side street, you walked up and down and didn't move your car until you were done.

[JoeT]

Funny, Henry...

I saw that story and wondered that exactly... Church was *the* place to shop even though it was sometimes a pain to go there.  Best place to park was the lot next to the police station (both of which are now City Market). 

If you wanted records, Hi hi gear, clothes, etc, Church Street was one of two choices...the other being Gaynes on Williston Rd.  There were a few local stores that are gone now (like Phil's in Essex).  Oh yeah, the other big shopping destination was Forest Hills in Winooski.

I do remember people "cruizing" up church street on Saturday nights.  Ahhh, those were the days!

[Henry]

Well, I have to mention this, because my boss at Vermont Confectionery had a Salmon Colored 1955 Cadillac Convertible and on occasion would send me up to Henry's Diner to pick up his dinner.  He would say, "Why don't you take my car??"

Well, the shortest route from 67 King Street for me was up King Street to Church Street and up Church Street to the end then take a left and take the street by the Old Cathedral and on to the Street where Henry's diner was.  Of course I couldn't always find a parking place the first time, so sometimes had to make several loops.  How I loved that convertible, it was quite the car.

I'm sure my boss knew I might be taking the longest route.