Found a video of a old arcade / hot spot

tec9

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Tonight the wife and I went to Franklin Mills Mall, in Philadelphia. As we entered in the "Burlington Coat Factory" store, I began to remember the old arcade/ entertainment center, "The 49th Street Galleria". Sadly it has been gone for MANY years now, and Burlington Coat Factory has resided there since. I was walking around Burlington coat factory and telling her how the place used to be laid out. It was sad, you could tell where the roller skating area was, as the wooden floor is still in place. Anyways I really liked this place when I was younger, and when we came home, I found a video of it on Youtube....check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrRuWdd_7Ok

-Mark
 
I remember it. Probably the greatest arcade/entertainment center Ive ever been in, except for the ones in Akihabara, Tokyo(and thats not really a fair comparison anyway). I was in my senior year of high school when it opened. If I remember correctly they had two floors worth of games, and the place was the size of an anchor store in a mall. Back then I thought things like that would last forever. I wish I could have appreciated it then for what it was. Thanks for the memories.
 
That is truly awesome. I wish I had the chance to experience a cool place like that.
 
That was great! Thanks for posting. I remember it well. Captain Noah too! (He's the narrarator. Watched his show all the time was I was a little kid. IIRC, didn't he show clips of Gumby?)

One of the last things I remember playing there was on the air hockey tables. I remember thinking that bowling was way overpriced, but can't remember how much it was.

Sorry to see it go. Haven't been to Franklin Mills in awhile, but I believe the closest thing to an arcade near there now is the D&B.
 
wow. now i remember why it was good that grunge came along and killed the f-ed up preppy mall look.

i would've been a junior/senior in HS in 1989... i was probably wearing acid-washed jeans and izod shirts.
 
49th Street didn't pay for the equipment shortly after the place opened. Chris Vecchionne (now president of Apple Vending) was General Sales Manager of now-defuct Active Amusements (later, Mondial Distributing) and used to let me listen in on his sales calls and give me carte blanch access to the company warehouse. Good fucking times.
49th St started stacking broken games in a corner of the upstairs "air hockey" area and watched their humungous ape go down the flusher as the place turned ghetto real quick.
I DID enjoy the huge variety and the high-tech bolwing game variations.

I remember this video, thanks for posting.
 
It's a shame it went under....It was THE coolest place I knew of back in the day. They also had the carnival ride "The Gravitron" inside the building, and I also think there was batting cages. The arcade house/ mansion is still somewhat intact. They modified it, but it still has the cool staircase that went to 2nd level of the arcade.
-Mark
 
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Oh man, this video brought me back! I remember how jealous I was when my older sisters were allowed to stay there late. So sad that it was so fleeting! Thanks for sharing- Meg
 
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