This photo (found online) was taken sometime in 1986. Unless you grew up in South San Jose... it probably doesn't do anything for you. On the other hand, this photo takes me back to my middle school stomping grounds.
Sunrise Plaza is a strip mall that currently looks like this:
But back in the mid 80's, it was the home to the UA Cinemas, Nova Arcade, and a local pharmacy. That's where my friends and I would to buy snacks and packs of cards before watching a movie or hanging out in the arcade.
I hadn't thought about that pharmacy in years. But a few weeks ago, Gregory over at Nine Pockets wrote a post about some Mario Lemieux cards that originally came with some candy. One of the questions he asked his readers was if there were any stationary or drug stores with racks of candy in our areas when we were kids. That immediately made me think of The Pharmacy.
By the time the late 80's rolled around, a card shop called National Pastime opened up in the shopping center.
A few years later the shop moved right down the street from my house. It's currently a nail salon, but that's a photo of the actual address where the card shop was located. I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to work at my LCS back then.
Anyways... today I figured I'd share another present from Ryan's advent calendar that is directly related to snacks and cards.
However let's kick things off with a cardboard appetizer involving two Nolan Ryan food issues:
1986 Drake's Big Hitters #33
1991 Jumbo California Seeds #20
Why am I featuring cards of Nolan Ryan? Well he celebrated his 79th birthday yesterday and he happens to be one of SumoMenkoMan's favorite baseball players.
Okay... let's get to the advent calendar portion of the post. Here's the haiku hint that Ryan wrote:
The 25th present in the advent calendar was a large box of rice crackers:
The box contained twenty individually wrapped packages that had a pack of cards attached to each one:
I opened them up, dumped the rice crackers into a bag, and separated the packs from the bags:
There were two different packages available:
Each came with a single pack attached to the back:
Here's a closer look at the front and back of one of those packs:
I cracked open the first five packs. Each contained one baseball card and an advertisement card. The baseball cards are made out of acetate or something similar:
Here's a peek at the card backs:
What about you?
Would you be more likely to purchase your favorite snacks if they came with trading cards?
There's no doubt in my mind that I'd seek out more snacks at the grocery store if they came with cards. Heck... a few years ago I bought a box of cereal mainly because it contained an uncut sheet of MLS cards.
That's it for today. Thank you Gregory for inspiring this post... and thank you Ryan for providing the snacks and cards.
That's it for today. Thank you Gregory for inspiring this post... and thank you Ryan for providing the snacks and cards.
Happy Sunday and sayonara!
22 comments:
I love flashing back to old card shop memories. That old movie theater sign pic is outstanding. Good movies, too! And yes, I would absolutely buy more snacks if they had baseball or football cards in them.
I don't think I saw any of those movies, must have come out during that '80s black hole between watching movies as a teen and then later in the decade when I was dating and going to the cinema.
Remember about 10 years ago when Topps issued cards with frozen pizza? I was at Walmart instantly looking for them -- you better believe I'd be buying more snacks if they had cards.
Absolutely I would,and I would hope they would include a checklist so I can finish off the set.
Very cool cards!
Snacks and cards together? Count me in! I remember getting bottle caps from Coke products that had baseball players on the inside of the cap. I sold all I had a few years ago. Enjoy the time all!
Snacks AND baseball cards...sign me up!
YES!
Yes, definitely. That would be awesome.
Definitely miss Wonder Bread cards - I'd much rather get them loose in the package than have to cut them out of the box. As long as they have logos and retired players, I'd be up for it.
I like the variety of cards you could find in snacks. I recall the Herr's Topps ones a few years ago, but I didn't really go out of my way to snag them. They weren't as fun as cards coming in a sweet treat or having to be cut off of a box.
(1) "Christmas tastes like fun" might be one of the best closing lines of a haiku ever.
(2) That first image absolutely reminded me of the local shopping mall/movie theater in my area when I was a kid. It was always a treat to go there.
I've been known to buy some extra foodstuffs if there's cards available. Definitely bought more Marketside Pizza when they briefly came with cards, but I never saw the Utz chips with the cards. But my favorite was when Calbee baseball chips with cards of the Japanese national team briefly appeared in a Japanese shop near where I stay when I'm in Singapore. Didn't last long but the ones I did grab are very nice to have.
That Drake's Ryan is awesome. I'd only be drawn to snack cards if they were of retired players. From the 70s- 80s, preferably.
We had a mall right across from our neighborhood! It would be that and the Jolly Jester arcade right next door to the movie theater we would hang out in.
I liked the Quaker Granola bar cards! My preference would be toys in cereal but that seems to be a think of the past!
big tone - just realized my post made it sound like that was my photo. i actually found it online. if i remember anymore interesting lcs stories, i'll try to write about them here.
night owl - i remember topps and those pizzas. never found any in my area though.
sg488 - checklist cards right now would be fine. but if got a pack of cards out of a box of cereal and one of them was a checklist, i'd be bummed :D
matt - thanks
rj sahl - i've seen a few of those coke caps at the flea market, but never purchased any. might have to look at the a's on the checklist and track them down. the bottle caps that stand out to me in my childhood were the ones with nfl helmets printed inside.
john sharp - me too
johnnys trading spot - so far it's unanimous
jeff b - hope some executives at snack or candy companies see this post and make it happen
gca - don't think i ever pulled out any cards from wonder bread bags, but i do have some (nfl and battlestar galactica) cards in my collection
the lost collector - not familiar with the herr's cards. are they the same as the utz? i wasn't able to get my hands on either.
gregory - yeah... ryan showed off his creativity with that line. when i found that photo online, it immediately took me back to my childhood.
brett alan - that's so cool that you found the calbee baseball in singapore. i've asked all of the japanese grocery stores around here if they'll ever get them, but they either say no or they sell out before i can get my hands on any. as for utz and marketplace, i was never able to find any of those products at my local grocery stores either
anonymous - i was impressed by that drake's card too. i like the photo they used... and the fact that they used the 85t card back design
uncle charlie's shoebox - they don't put toys in cereal anymore? that's a shame. you and your friends were luck to have a mall so close. ours involved a bike ride which we were more than willing to do.
One of the best parts of the 80s was baseball cards in *everything*. I'd be buying so many rice crackers if they came with cards.
Happy to see that your childhood strip mall still exists. Seems like every one by my parents' house has been converted to mixed use chain franchises with luxury condos above them. Which really sucks since all the mom and pop stores and restaurants are now gone.
Sure, although I don’t really need an excuse to buy baseball cards.
My preference would be cards in cereal.
There's a Japanese market in a nearby city and they sell Calbee snacks there... but never ones with cards attached. I'd be in trouble if they did carry the ones which came with cards.
I am currently trying to avoid snacks but I would defiantly buy more if there were cards in them. I got a bunch of the Wal-Mart Pizza cards a few years ago but I missed out on the Utz cards the same year, I never found any of those in the Phoenix area. I found Utz chips and cheese balls, just none with cards included.
Hell yeah to Big Trouble in Little China! I'm also a fan of food issue cards, and it's always interesting to me to see Japanese cards I'd otherwise know nothing about. I've definitely bought the occasional food item that came with a collectible myself. Also, more thumbs up to Ryan for his advent calendar :)
nick vossbrink - lol. ryan hooked me up with enough rice crackers to last me a month. i love it. as for the strip mall, it's still there... but it looks a lot different
kcjays - kelloggs would totally increase their sales if they started including cards in their boxes of cereal. i'd love to see lenticular cards of modern players
shlabotnik report - there are a few japanese markets within 30 minutes of my place, but i've never seen calbee products with cards. i have seen some of the other snacks with cards, but they aren't sports related.
adam e - i love utz cheese ballz, but i never found any utz products with cards when they were released.
dennis - don't think i ever saw that movie. if i did, i don't remember anything about it. i do remember hearing people talk about it though. yeah, i'm truly lucky to have ryan as a friend. the thought and generosity he puts into these advent calendars are next level. not sure what i did to deserve this
Nice post! You’d be surprised that photo does do something for me :-) I didn’t grow up around there but that has meaning because it’s similar to a few places I grew up around. The signage is reminiscent and Sonia the strip mall vibe. . They razed it all to the ground and last time I visited it’s some mega shopping mall. It’s weird how this stuff happens and the nostalgia.
Post a Comment