This used to be a grocery store. Today, it's an Elk's Lodge and you must know the secret handshake to get in.
I don’t trek back to this area of Brooklyn Park often. This trip to take pictures was the first time I’ve been in the area in, oh, probably 9 or 10 years. I guess it’s because it makes me too sad. The Brookdale Dr./Newton Avenue/Humboldt area is my ol’ stompin’ grounds. This is where I grew up–these are the places where my brother and I (and the neighborhood kids) would ride our bikes. We moved out of the area in 1998, just as things were going downhill. I guess I just like to keep the memories of how it used to look when I was a kid, rather than taint them with the harsh reality of what it’s become.
To be honest, it wasn’t that bad. I was expecting to see knife fights, armed robberies and crack slanged to and fro. What I did see was a few troubled youths walking down the sidewalks, screaming profanities at passing cars and a shitload of cop cars. I had to be quick with the pictures–I didn’t want to look like I was staking out the place for a robbery.
First up is this little strip mall named “Brookdale Crossing.” According to the Brookdale Animal Hospital website, this strip mall has been here since AT LEAST 1987 (though I thought it was built in the early ’90s…), because the pet hospital occupied one of the mall’s spaces back then. This strip mall was a flop, even when it debuted. I don’t think the place ever rented out even half of its spaces.
This used to be a Tom Thumb at the Brookdale Crossing. The side of the building was perpetually tagged. It went out of business sometime in the mid '90s. Today, it's a church.
Brookdale Crossing is one of those strip malls where a lot of sketchy shit happens. Even when I lived in the area, there was always something off about this mall. A lack of adequate parking lot lighting made it spooky–but ideal for a lot of juvenile delinquent shenenagines–especially tagging. I was surprised not to see any graffiti when I was there, but even back in the day, some wall or door was always tagged. The back of the mall was the worst.
The graffiti was pretty lame. This wasn’t Crips-versus-Bloods type shit. Stuff like “HI MOM!” in dripping orange Krylon was as menacing as it got. There was no artistic creativity involved whatsoever. It wasn’t the type of graffiti that made you think, “Damn. How did someone get up there?” or “Wow, that’s actually kind of neat.” No, this was lazy graffiti at its best. The teen taggers didn’t bring a ladder or multiple colors of spray paint or learn how to write in cool fonts. Instead, they just raided Dad’s garage and took the first spray paint can they saw, and at dusk, headed to Brookdale Crossing to tag the back door of Pizza Hut. C’mon guys, at least use a snappy catchphrase or draw a mural. Simply writing “Revolt” on the side of Tom Thumb just isn’t worth getting arrested for. Go to New Hope’s Winnekta Avenue and wait for the train. You’ll see plenty of inspirational graffiti work.
Brookdale Crossing
I know there was a video rental store here–Mr. Movies? I think its original location was in this strip mall, but then it moved across the street to the little strip mall attached to Bill’s Superette.
The large building was a grocery store. It might’ve been a Country Market? We shopped there occasionally, but their prices were a bit steep. It didn’t last long.
Today, the nameless supermarket is an Elks Lodge, one of those fraternity organizations where members wear weird hats and chant and need to give a password to the Grand Poobah in order to enter the building…which obviously made me think of the Flintstones’ Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes.
Other tenants were Pane in the Glass (a stained glass craft store–’ya gotta love the name!), a barber shop (they had one of those twirly poles!) and Pizza Hut. We bought an obnoxious amount of Big Foot Pizzas there in the ’90s. I was surprised to see Pizza Hut still there, but kudos to them!
That’s all I can remember. I’m guessing Brookdale Crossing had your usual line-up of strip mall stores: an insurance office and a dry cleaners, but I can’t say for sure.
Across the street from Brookdale Crossing lies the Brookdale Animal Hospital and a tiny strip mall with an Angenio’s Pizza (that’s one pizza place from which we never ordered).
Kiddy-corner from Brookdale Crossing sits Bill’s Superette (a gas station favorite of my childhood) and a small strip mall. Back in the day, it was home to Dominos Pizza (again, we ordered pizza from here far too often!) and a flower shop.
Now, about that Brookdale Animal Hospital. The building is located across the street from Brookdale Crossing and it used to be a 7-11. It opened in 1991, which was the same time when we got our doggie. So, since it was so close, this is where we took him for check-ups. I am thrilled it’s still here–and Dr. Jeffrey is still there! I doubt he remembers our doggie, but he was wonderful. I didn’t get a picture of the building, but there is one on their website.
"Lesh schee...wut do you want fer Christchmas, little girl? Oh, ish okay, I only had one beer."
A wee bit further down Brookdale Drive lies the VFW. We went to many bake and craft sales here. At Christmastime, Santa made an appearance. One time, my mom took my sister to visit said Santa. When they arrived at the VFW, Santa was on “break.” They waited around, until they saw a soused Santa stumble out of the bar and trip down the stairs. Despite his inebriated state, my mom still had my sister sit on his lap. During her visit, she didn’t get any promises of Polly Pockets under the tree–all she got from Santa was a broken mini candy cane and a strong whiff of booze breath.
Go even further down Brookdale and you’d discover a neighborhood favorite: Tom Thumb. It was there in the ’80s and ’90s. Today, an ethnic grocer occupies its space.
This small building once housed three tenants: a liquor store, a hair salon and Tom Thumb. However, in the early eighties, the hair salon went out of business, giving way to Tom Thumb’s expansion.
Next to Tom Thumb sits a gas station. This place looks the same, except for the name. It went through a LOT of name changes during my life in BP; the only one I can remember was that it was a ’76 at one point. My parents fueled up here a lot and bought smokes (Marlboro Lights, if you must know. My dad put the carton in the freezer to keep ‘em fresh and collected Marlboro Miles (he didn’t care too much for Camel Cash). Oh lord). Yeah, at one point, both of my parents smoked. But this was the ’80s…it seemed like all adults smoked back then. Thankfully they quit.
The former Tom Thumb
If you’re expecting stories of how I got a lot of five finger discounts at Tom Thumb, you’re mistaken. I was a good girl and so was brother. But not Eric, the neighborhood hoodlum. One time, when Eric and my brother went on a Tom Thumb run, he stole a pack of Sixlets. The boy had great taste in candy, I’ll give him that, but the poor life choice got him grounded for a week. My mom gave my brother a stern lecture that he wasn’t allowed to go to Tom Thumb with Eric anymore. In case you’re wondering, no, Eric isn’t singing show tunes in prison. He turned out a-okay.
If you remember this particular Tom Thumb, then you probably remember Bernard, or “Bernie”, as he was more affectionately known. Bernie was the manager, or perhaps the owner of the Brookdale Drive Tom Thumb. He was a cool dude and he knew us by name.
When you walked into Tom Thumb, the area to the left showcased produce of questionable freshness. The store had about 6 aisles, offering candy, toys, cereal, baking mixes and other processed food. I don’t remember what the back wall had; milk and soda bottles were sold on the far right wall. The deli area (usually manned by Bernard himself) and a self-serve fountain drink station were in the front, offering goodies such as and 72oz. cups to fill with your favorite carbonated beverage (I was partial to the Cherry Coke).
Speaking of which, one time, my brother and I rode our bikes up to Tom Thumb to fuck around. We didn’t know what we wanted; we just wanted to go to Tom Thumb. We each ended up buying a 72oz. cup of Cherry Coke. Outside the store, we tried to hop on our bikes, but realized riding our bikes with a 72oz soda would be challenge. We went back in the store, explaining our
If Tom Thumb didn't have the candy we wanted, we'd walk over to this gas station to see what offerings they had in stock.
conundrum to Bernie. He handed over two paper bags and we placed our sodas inside. *shakes head* A liqued beverage inside a paper bag at that age…how classy. After we got back, we dodged Mom and made a beeline to my brother’s room, where we holed up all afternoon, guzzling thousands of calories in soda and playing Night Trap on Sega CD.
So what would we buy here?
Mom would buy Polka Dot milk, frosted cake donuts out of the display case (damn those were good!) and ciggies. Sometimes, she’d buy us some JoJo potatoes from the deli. Tom Thumb’s were the bomb diggity.
My brother and I would buy Donruss and/or Topps baseball cards, a copy of the Auto Trader, candy CANDY candy, Dell’s latest word search puzzles magazine, packets of Panini stickers (Barbie albums for moi, He-Man for bro) and these really good turkey sandwiches from the deli.
One other Tom Thumb memory that sticks out in my mind is the time we spotted the ice cream man at Tom Thumb. Seeing the ice cream man’s truck parked outside of Tom Thumb pretty much took out the mystique and magic of the ice cream man. Tom Thumb’s his dealer? He’s buying his Flintstone Push-Ups, Rocketpops and Chipwiches out of their Good Humor freezer and selling them to kids for twice the price? Just who does he think he is, tinkling down the street, selling ice cream novelties with a 200% markup to hungry children? It was a tough lesson in economics for a 10 year old girl. Despite finding out his source, we still chased the ice cream man with our bikes whenever we heard the bell ring. Like cattle to the slaughter…
Unfortunately, Tom Thumb went bankrupt in 2004, closing all 131 stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
My mom got a gut-ache eating at Bok Ho. We never returned.
Next door to Tom Thumb was another building. I want to say it was some sort of child care place, but I can’t remember. Today, the place looks like it’s under renovation by new owners, but the oval sign remains, telling me it once was *maybe* a Children’s World??
One other place worth mentioning is Bok Ho, the disgusting Chinese restaurant with a name sounding like it’s a profanity you’d use when getting into a pissing match with an enemy.
“BOK HO!”
“Oh yeah? Well BOK HO you too!”
“BOK HO to you and yo’ mama!”
“….”
Back in the day, the building was red and lacked windows. We ate there once and never returned. We went to House of Hui’s for our chicken chow mien. I don’t know when Bok Ho went out of business and this other restaurant moved in. This was here the entire time I lived in Brooklyn Park–you could say it was a landmark on the corner of Humboldt and Brookdale Drive.
Oh, there wasn’t always stoplight here. I can’t recall when the city installed them–my guess is early ’90s or late ’80s. I had to walk to school when I attended Monroe Elementary in the ’80s, so I remember the stop signs well. Looking back, it’s a damn long walk, even for an adult. She was probably scared out of her wits every morning and afternoon when I’d walk home! No wonder my mom and all the other neighborhood moms lobbied the school to get us buses. (and they did, starting when I was in second grade).
So that’s once section of Brooklyn Park’s Brookdale drive for ‘ya. Any memories you want to share? Did you shop at Tom Thumb? Did you steal stuff from Tom Thumb? (SHAME ON YOU, but I want to hear the juicy details!). Who got the squirts after eating at Bok Ho?
Photos taken August 2010.
