Childhood memories

As often times that happens, something current will trigger my memories of something past. This time around I was talking to someone about the closure of KB-Toys. As a child there were two stores that made me jump for joy when my parents said we were going to town, KB-Toys and Ernie's Toyland. I would love to link more information about Ernie's since it was unique to Yuba City, but there isn't a wiki or history about this place beyond a blurb located here. I should probably explain a bit of history about our fair town before I drive down memory lane. In the '80s this little hole in the wall place had no big name stores. FAO Schwartz in San Francisco was a long ways away, and I wouldn't make my first visit until the '90s. Before "The Mall" came to Yuba City, we had Ernie's, and that was pretty much it. I remember they had aisle upon aisle of toys, a small play area that consisted mostly of a wooden train set, and some plastic kid's seating. As a child the store felt gigantic, and it was sectioned off in age groups from toddler up to adult. In my adolescence, I covered about three sections worth of space in that old store ranging from He-man to Atari games. The owners eventually went batshit insane like most people do who try to run a business in the area and moved over to a small shop in Marysville where they sell collectible dolls.

My fondest memory of Ernie's besides recalling the smell that greeted me at the door (if they could bottle that smell, I'd set it along side the new book smell and enjoy a moment of peace every now and then while inhaling) would be my trip to visit the He-Man cast. That's right, He-Man was my hero for a long time in my childhood. If my memory suits me, the cartoon was out long before G.I. Joe and Transformers were on the heels, though my first experience with transforming automobiles came from the Go-Bots when a kid brought a transforming ambulance to school one day and I instantly knew it would be a hit. For a few years I ate, breathed, and lived He-Man and fondly remember the Battlecat figurine I had, along side a panther that had glued on fur. They just don't make toys like that any more. I met Orco, my personal hero and friendly neighborhood mage (I wonder if this later played a role in my accidental Freudian selection of a mage in World of Warcraft). Orco's figurine left much to be desired of the well-loved mage. It was hard plastic, with a small device that would send him around in circles across the table.

I suppose the main point to this blog entry is that a piece of my childhood has been whittled away with the closure of KB-Toys. Sure we still have a Toys R Us around, but I didn't grow up traversing the far too crowded and narrow aisles of Toys R Us. The close to an era my friends.