“A Blast From the Past” by Leah Jackson
Her name, Debbie. She was born in fort Atkinson in 1963 though she spent most of her time in Janesville. She remembers her first day in Janesville: she thought “it was bare; there was a drive in theatre when the current famous Dave’s is located and Woodman’s was where the post office was.”
Her father, Walter, was an auctioneer, who had a lot of business here in Janesville, from estate sales to automobile auctions, but his favorite auctions were antique auctions. He was a very well known man in town since all the auctions he had were for the townspeople. This is why Debbie had spent so much of her time in Janesville; she would accompany him to nearly all of his auctions.
Her two favorite places to go were Donutland and Dave’s Frosttop. At Dave’s Frosttop, there were women who brought your food to you via roller skates who wore short skirts and dress shirts. It was similar to A&W. She recalls her favorite meal there “the Maid Rite burger: loose, fried, hamburger meat on a bun, with French fries and a root beer.”
For stores, there was a K-mart, same location as the current K-mart. Downtown there was a Ben Franklin, which had a soda fountain where they would make your sodas for you. Ben Franklin was probably one of the cheapest stores in town to her memory. She remembers when the mall came to town, there weren’t many stores, J. C. Penny, Bergners, Montgomery Wards were some of the firsts then it had just expanded from there.
For fun, Debbie and her friends would go roller skating at Tanglefoot down at Riverside Park. She said, “It must have been fairly cheap because we went ALL the time.” The drive-in movie theatre was another hangout for her and her friends. After seeing movies, they would go downtown and drive the circuit. There were also a handful of bars that people could hang out at; in her time Debbie says that the drinking age was only eighteen. Her boyfriend at the time spent a lot of time out at the bars because he was “too cool for things like roller skating”.
Debbie is impressed with how Janesville has improved over the years. There are more places to shop, a variety of places where people can get food, although she does think that there could be more of a selection of things to do for younger people. She misses some of the things that Janesville used to offer, but she made many wonderful memories over the years with things constantly changing.
“You never realize how much changes until you really stop to sit down and think about it.”
Her father, Walter, was an auctioneer, who had a lot of business here in Janesville, from estate sales to automobile auctions, but his favorite auctions were antique auctions. He was a very well known man in town since all the auctions he had were for the townspeople. This is why Debbie had spent so much of her time in Janesville; she would accompany him to nearly all of his auctions.
Her two favorite places to go were Donutland and Dave’s Frosttop. At Dave’s Frosttop, there were women who brought your food to you via roller skates who wore short skirts and dress shirts. It was similar to A&W. She recalls her favorite meal there “the Maid Rite burger: loose, fried, hamburger meat on a bun, with French fries and a root beer.”
For stores, there was a K-mart, same location as the current K-mart. Downtown there was a Ben Franklin, which had a soda fountain where they would make your sodas for you. Ben Franklin was probably one of the cheapest stores in town to her memory. She remembers when the mall came to town, there weren’t many stores, J. C. Penny, Bergners, Montgomery Wards were some of the firsts then it had just expanded from there.
For fun, Debbie and her friends would go roller skating at Tanglefoot down at Riverside Park. She said, “It must have been fairly cheap because we went ALL the time.” The drive-in movie theatre was another hangout for her and her friends. After seeing movies, they would go downtown and drive the circuit. There were also a handful of bars that people could hang out at; in her time Debbie says that the drinking age was only eighteen. Her boyfriend at the time spent a lot of time out at the bars because he was “too cool for things like roller skating”.
Debbie is impressed with how Janesville has improved over the years. There are more places to shop, a variety of places where people can get food, although she does think that there could be more of a selection of things to do for younger people. She misses some of the things that Janesville used to offer, but she made many wonderful memories over the years with things constantly changing.
“You never realize how much changes until you really stop to sit down and think about it.”
