Have you recently gone back to an old hangout and discovered that everything was different? Can you ever go home again?

-- Anonymous, August 06, 1999

Answers

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I've moved pretty far away from the town I went to college in. I miss those old hangouts though.

The basements of those fraternity houses -- probably still the same! The bars we'd frequent have all become a bit more upscale than I remember them. I've been back to a few of them and they are now catering to more of the yuppies that have moved into town, instead of the young college crowd. One thing didn't change though, they're all still meat markets.

Colleen

-- Anonymous, August 06, 1999

I haven't visited the old neighborhood in more than a dozen years. Brownsville Brooklyn, circa 1976, was still a world of congo drums, dashikis, Black Power chants and "community." When we visited Stone Avenue {our old block was renamed Mother Gaston (?) BLVD} had been somewhat revitalized; yet there was no longer any sense of vibrancy and togetherness. Everyone had moved, died or wished themselves alone. The drums were gone (mostly), dashikis were few and far between - replaced with b-boy gear - and hateful speeches railing against Reaganomics and certain white people replaced rallies against ALL white people. At least Bed-Stuy afforded us more fun: breakdancing, summer jams and b-ball everyday.

I really wanted to revisit in 1986 just before my graduation from John Dewey. In the end the ceremony lasted hours, it was extremely hot and Pops met up with a few friends from the old neighborhood.

Roommate Lee and I were discussing going back to the old neighborhood just to see how much it's changed. Well actually, I just want to driveby s l o w l y. I don't want to run into any of the remaining old faces and I fear that Green Avenue and the surrounding blocks still haven't really recovered from the Blackout of 76.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 1999

No, you can never go home again, unless you don't mind that eveything will be changed when you get there.

Some of my old hangouts in SF have actually not changed very much in 25 years, except for the fact that now when I got there, almost everyone there is about the age I used to be 25 years ago.

Certain places out of town where I used to love to go and just hangout in the 70's, like The Depot (bookstore) in Mill Valley, are now overrun with middle aged women who work out too much (Pilates studio) and have had facelifts and/or breast implants and buttlifts, and drive Beemers, SUV's, or Mercedes - or even Mercedes SUV's, and now all the quaint little cottages in the redwoods cost more than half a million dollars. It used to be such a sweet little town, and affordable even, and more diverse groups of people lived there and hung out there - but now it's way beyond yuppified and it makes me sad every time I pass through, which is very seldom anymore.

Judy

-- Anonymous, August 08, 1999

I went back up to Arcata this spring (for mine honeymoon) to visit some old college hangouts and found that not too much had changed. Cafe Mokka (greatest coffee shop in the universe) was exactly the same blindingly wonderful place it had always been (their prices hadn't even gone up that much), Tin Can Mailman Bookstore had rearranged their shelves but were otherwise still the same, Don's Donut Bar (open 24 hours) was the same except for the addition of an ice-cream freezer and an espresso machine, and Hey Juan! Burritos hadn't changed a bit and was in the process of beating the pants off a recently-opened Taco Bell franchise. But the Jambalaya, formerly the only bar/live-band combination in Arcata, had closed down. My bar period was too brief to form any distinct "hangouts" so I don't have as much attachment to them as I did to a place like Cafe Mokka. I know someday I'll visit and it won't be there anymore but it was nice to be there this spring and feel 19 again for a little bit.

-- Anonymous, August 09, 1999

Hey Beth.. I'mn right there with you on the Pine Cove. I've been there once - that was enough. I don't much care for that place.

I used to hang out at Mr. Pockets Billiards in Grass Valley. It literally the only place to hang out for younger than 21 people. It was an old dirty noisy pool hall, and we loved it. Any time you wanted to meet up with your friends, you'd just tell them to meet you at the pool hall. Anytime you couldn't find your friends, you just head to the pool hall, and if they weren't there, someone there knew where they went. Man, that place was great. For some dumb reason , the owner turned it into a place called "Jitters & Hops", supposedly a coffe bar, microbrew, and club. It lasted about 3 weeks. They sold out and now it's the home of the largest surf/skate shop in Grass Valley. I liked it better as a pool hall. There's no place to hang out, there's no way to find people without it, and the town is back to being boring. Beth, if you saw the news the other night, you may have noticed that there was a segment about graffiti in Grass Valley. I bet that wouldn't have happened with Mr. Pockets there - there's not much for the kids to do in that town now. There's the movies, until about 10, there's bowling one night a week, and that's about it. Boring. No wonder 1/3 of my graduating class were already parents. MellieBee

-- Anonymous, August 09, 1999