Framingham Views

Sharon Gartenberg has a new website for things to do in Framingham. Here’s a link to click on.   http://www.framinghamevents.com/

Here’s a link to more photos of the Dennison Parade.

When we were kids, as soon as we got to the ramps at Shoppers World, we’d ask our parents “can we run down?” They’d say “Go ahead, but be careful”, and we’d call out “see you at the bottom” as we ran at top speed.

Sometimes we were there to see an attraction, sometimes just to walk around. If there were a special event, we’d go up a ramp. If it were just a flower display, or Santa, or the reindeer, we’d go down. This ramp looks like the one where the Deli was up. I thought I’d remember forever what was down, but now I’m not sure. Back in the 1960’s it was McCrory. I’ve forgotten what took it’s place.

Whatever was there, we thought would always be there. No such luck. People thought the place was too old fashioned, and they wanted something new and modern, to compete with the Natick Mall. So they ruined what probably could have been even better. Shoppers World was unique once, and if it were still there, it would be unique again.

There’s no anecdote to this photo, except that it’s rare to find a color photo of parts of Shoppers World, except in postcards. I found this Kodachrome slide, and thought the readers would enjoy it. Route 9 is in front, and to the right , if you look hard, you can barely make out the sign for the Bowler’s World, which was across the road, the site of Legal Seafoods today. On the top left of this scene, you can see the edge of the Jordan’s dome.

In the 1950’s when it got cold, they used to put up wooden panels with windows along the walkways, to shield shoppers from the wind. Kind of like enclosing the mall. Santa would arrive by helicopter, and the reindeer would be in a corral on the north end nearest the playground.

In the spring, Shoppers World planted extravagent flower beds, which were in full bloom and drew people from miles around. Someone thought these flowers were pretty special and took this picture, probably spring of 1960.

The Cinema at Shoppers World was one of those places that thousands of people will always remember through the years. In it’s early years, one huge screen seating 1432 people, and maroon curtains that would open at the beginning of the film. I remember seeing Old Yeller there when it first came out. Other films I saw in the fifties were Carousel, the DI with Jack Webb, and The Bucaneer. In the 1960’s when they opened a second theatre, I saw Viva Las Vegas with Elvis, as well as Cleopatra, and Charade. They played The Great Escape, Thrill of it All, and Come Blow Your Horn in a two week period in August 1963, and had a back to school special going on. My friends and I went to every store to get the free coupons, then proceeded to go to the movies for free everyday. Unluckily for the Cinema, it rained most of that two week period, and the theatre was sold out, probably most on those free passes. (A rainy summer day would mean an automatic sellout. Free tickets meant lost ticket sales) One day, I think probably the third time seeing Come Blow Your Horn, the Manager, who was named Mr. Romanoff, spotted me and my friends and recognized that we had been there several times. He stopped us, saying “you boys have seen movies here for free all week, why don’t you try doing something else for a change?”. We were a bit nervous, and the next day decided to go downtown to the Gorman where we watched another film. I think it was called Captain Newman, MD. Good picture, but not as good as the ones at the Cinema.

We decided to return to the Cinema the next day.

The weekend I first worked the Cinema as an Usher, we were playing The Silencers. More about those days sometime soon.

Anyway, the picture here shows the Route 9 marquee closest to Ken’s Steak House in the year 1981. I remember one of the usher’s (who shall remain nameless, because we were never sure who did it, although I thought it was Mark, Ted said it wasn’t) rearranged the letters to say something risque. I’ll leave it to your imagination.