I was glad to run across my old friend, Westwood Lanes.
It's disappointing to see how rundown the place is. Notice the cracks in the parking lot with the numerous amounts of weeds growing in between.
Since this area is close to the Swinney Park area, one would think that folks would want to keep it up - looking decent.
Right now, it looks like a giant eyesore.
I wonder how long it's been empty???
During my quick in-and-out trip Sunday, I stopped through the Parkwest area and captured some pictures of the places that "used to be". Mind you - my point of capturing the stuff wasn't to tell you that what exists there today is crap and what used to be there was much better.
Nope. I'm just tellin' you what it used to be. Commentary for what may or may not be current and past crap may be alluded to within each individual blurb next to the photo. Otherwise - no sweeping generalizations on the current state of this strip mall area.
For all of you young'uns, believe it or not - at one time - Parkwest - used to be a thriving suburban-like area - just around the bend from downtown (via West Jefferson). I wish I could tell you the history of this place. Sadly, I know - well - not much. I know that it existed in the early 70's. But none of my Fort Wayne history books give this stripmall the time of day (except to acknowledge that it existed). If anyone knows the history of this place - speak up and share!
Confession - the place has always struggled with establishing and maintaining its own identity. I'm not sure why. Maybe cause we folks on the southwest side, didn't have the money you northsiders had ;) ahem.
This is the front, main entrance to a place that used to be a department store. In the 70's - it was Mr. Wiggs. In the 80's - it was Heck's. Both were very generic department stores - something like a KMart or a Walmart.
I worked inside of here during 1986 as a teller for Anthony Wayne Bank. If you walked into Heck's, we were located in our own area, to the left.
Or basically, in the area where this door is now located.
This is the back corner of what used to be the location of International Business College. I took a couple of courses there in the 80's.
This used to be Godfather's Pizza. My husband (boyfriend at the time), really like GF Pizza. Me - not so much.
Always heavy on the stuff that I wasn't fond of and their cheese had that non-descript, generic taste.
This used to be Scott's Parkwest. It was quite the place. In fact, it was my official, first job after graduating high school and it changed my life in many ways.
In a series of six degrees of separation (at least I'm guessing that's how many there were), I can trace back meeting my husband to the hiring of me at Scott's - and in particular - me being assigned to the Scott's at Parkwest.
Side note: before you start thinking that this was as easy as him coming into the store - think again. I don't think the man ever stepped south of the Mason-Dixon line (i.e. Main Street) in his life. He barely crossed over Coliseum Blvd. - and then - only for special occasions like O'Sullivans and Coney Island. But more on all of that LATER.
This was a thriving store, undergoing massive remodeling in mid 1985 (I was hired during the grand re-opening!). Dave Burkhart was the store manager. He was a cool dude. I think this Scott's ended up closing around 2000. I blame the adhd development of Coventry (and Jefferson Pointe) on the demise of this particular store.
Since I'm diagressing...Coventry was quite the controversy in the mid-80's. I remember the citizens of Aboite fighting with the developer (Zehr?) and with the then - Allen County Commissioners. Lots of back and forth over the 100 + acre re-zoning - but as we know - the developer won. And now, that area is like its own little city. Too bad people didn't have the forethought to take all of the energy and put it into revitalizing the downtown area 20 + years ago...
Not really "Parkwest" - but more like the Time Corners area - was this building which is a combination Office Depot and Fresh Mart. It used to be Cub Foods. I worked here part-time.
Posts
All Comments
