I've seen the 5th Avenue Plaza sign many, many times before....but the plaza is rather small in comparison to today's strip malls. This sign can be found on Upper 55th Street, which is the border of Inver Grove Heights and South St Paul and of course 5th Street. However, it's called 5th Street in South St Paul, but once you cross the border into Inver Grove, the street name changes to Carmen Avenue.
May 23, 2010
5th Avenue Plaza
I've seen the 5th Avenue Plaza sign many, many times before....but the plaza is rather small in comparison to today's strip malls. This sign can be found on Upper 55th Street, which is the border of Inver Grove Heights and South St Paul and of course 5th Street. However, it's called 5th Street in South St Paul, but once you cross the border into Inver Grove, the street name changes to Carmen Avenue.
I must have driven past this corner sign thousands of times growing up as my great-grandparents lived a block away.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of those "landmarks" you just take for granted, but now when I see it online, it definitely tugs at my heart and brings back the memories.
I remember the days when this plaza had a grocery store, Hardware Hank, and a drug store.
Thanks for your comments Jeff, I know exactly what you're talking about with the taking landmarks for granted.
ReplyDeleteThese visual landmarks are disappearing in numbers. Not only from businesses going out of business, but those that remain, they update their signage or storefront.
For example, I was going to take a photo of the Drakulas Bowling sign, but nope, that is now gone and it's been updated with a new, smaller, fancy LCD version. My chance to capture it has passed.
Dang. Drakulas would have been a good one. How about something from Simley High? Or some of the churches in the area? Or city park signs? Those might be less prone to updating. I bet SSP has some old signs still around, right? Another area that has changed a lot is Robert Street in WSP. If there are any older ones there, they might be gone soon. Another good one would have been the old Trail Dodge ten gallon hat.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting these Steve--I'm enjoying them from out of state.
cheers,
Jeff
How long have you been away from the area?
ReplyDeleteRobert Street, I hardly recognize it any more. Almost every business has been destroyed and rebuilt. Sure, there are some buildings that remain, but a good majority of them rebuilt further away from the street.
I'll swing by Simley in the next week or two, plus anything else that looks visually interesting.