My old arcade hang out is nothing but a memory now...

nesjess

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My old arcade hang out is nothing but a memory now...

My wife and I visited my hometown of Moraga this past weekend and it finally happened. My old arcade hang out was officially cleaned out to make room for a new business. The place was called Fudge Alley and it had been in business for decades. It was pretty much the last place in town where kids could go to hang out after the historic bowling alley was demolished in the mid-90s. It offered candy, food, ice cream, shakes, etc and had a decent sized arcade in the back (3-4 games and 1 pin/driver at a time). The arcade doesn't seem like much, but in a small town that also had a big arcade at the bowling alley, it was enough. The owner and operator was a man by the name of Frank Chow. He pretty much knew everyone in town (he'd say, "Have a good one, ah!" every time you'd walk out the door).

I had a "usual" order of a bag of watermelon sours and a dreyer's cookies n' cream milk shake (he even gave you the leftovers in the mixing cup in addition to your glass). It was the place I played many arcade games and pins for the first time as he switched them out periodically. The walls were literally covered in graffiti/writing from all of the people over the years who wrote "...was here," hearts with initials, and other things you can imagine. He even sold these fake birth stone rings for girls (bottom left of 2nd photo) and I remember buying one in 3rd grade and giving it to the girl I liked at the time. I remember buying huge baseball-sized jaw breakers and taking 1-2 weeks to finish them. I remember he would often read his newspaper while sitting in a back booth where customers never sat and we'd small talk. I'd visit every couple of years and he'd always ask how my older brothers were doing and such. I could go on and on. I have so many fond memories of going there with my brothers and my friends.

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It had been sitting dormant for over two years since Frank decided to retire at the age of 80 and move back home to Taiwan back in 2008. He had hoped that someone could take over and continue what he had done for so many years, but in this economy, it would have been a poor decision for any prospective businessman. Instead, a new party recently decided to take over the space. They will be opening a Mediterranean restaurant and bar called Shish Kabob Show. I'll refrain from posting pictures of their renovation progress as it's too depressing.

I was hoping that I could contact the owners in time to salvage whatever keepsakes I could possibly acquire, but by the time I contacted them, they had already gutted the place and "donated and thrown everything out" including the booth seats, lamps and any decor that was left on the walls. If only I had contacted them sooner, they would have easily and willingly given me one of the booths, a chandelier, frames, art, etc. I just thought about how awesome it would have been to use all those things for my future game room decor. The owners were very nice in communicating with me, but I was devastated to know that the place had been erased and is now nothing but a memory.

Sorry if this post is a downer, but I just thought I'd take the time to share and that it would be a reminder for those of you who know that your old hang out still exists. If it does, take the time to go there, take pictures, order your last meal, play a few games, do what you can to preserve those memories. Make it a family trip. I missed that chance and didn't even get to say thanks and goodbye to Frank. I definitely feel a deep sense of regret and sadness, but I'm glad I found a few pictures that I can maybe frame and hang up in the game room. I know some of the games in my collection don't mean much to many of you, but they are the games I remember playing and it's almost a way for me to physically hold onto that part of my past. Now it's all I have left of Fudge Alley in some sense.

Thanks for all of the good times Frank. I hope you're enjoying retirement. You deserve it.

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I know some of the games in my collection don't mean much to many of you, but they are the games I remember playing and it's almost a way for me to physically hold onto that part of my past.

Thats exactly what this whole hobby is about. Who cares what anyone else thinks of your collection? Its YOUR arcade :)
 
Thanks for sharing. It's cool that you still have some pictures of the place. When my local arcade closed down most of the games and items from there were moved to another location for a new arcade. It never opened, but I was lucky enough to know the realtor and was able to save signs and other items that had been at the old arcade.

I think you got a great collection and games like X-Men or the Neo Geo system mean a lot to me. I agree with what thedrewster0 said, but there is actually a fair number of us that are into the JAMMA era as well. We're not alone for sure. I still want to add a Neo back into my collection someday.
 
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don't sell yourself short! they're your games! they mean the most to you and we all respect that! example:nobody gives a shit about my karate champ cocktail. but i love it!
 
Thanks guys.

I just mentioned that because I know the majority of collectors in here see a mention of JAMMA games and turn away immediately. You're all right though. I have my games for my own personal reasons and ultimately they are for me.

The real point of my post was to share how important those childhood memories are to me and hopefully those of you who still have the opportunity to experience your childhood hang out again will take it without hesitation if there's a possibility it will close.

I want to go home and play games now.
 
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Not a downer, but at least it lasted this long. Heck, all my haunts in my home town were wiped out in the mid-80s to early 90s.

ArcadeMaze!
 
Not a downer, but at least it lasted this long. Heck, all my haunts in my home town were wiped out in the mid-80s to early 90s.

ArcadeMaze!

True. I think most of my places closed by the mid-90s. This was the last one. I guess you can't expect places to stay open forever. Some places find a way to do it, but it doesn't always work out for others.
 
I recently went by the old skating rink I grew-up in and was very pleased to see it is still open! It was closed at the time (morning time), otherwise I would have gone in just to see what it looks like today and what games are there. I saw my first Space Invaders, Asteroids, etc. there!

Scott C.
 
i lost all of my local arcades back in the day. One closed in 88, the other in 91. I was born in 1980 so i only got a few good years of arcade fun in before everybody went belly up. Im so happy ive gotten to reconnect with them via this hobby.
 
Great story and thanks for sharing the pictures! I wish myself I took pictures of my childhood hangouts but back then we didn't have camera phones and digital cameras and myself didn't own or could afford a camera even if I saved my $5 for washing my parents car every week! Back here in Fremont my arcade hangout was at the Galaxy arcade next to the Giants burger spot which is still in buisness today. I really miss Galaxy it was a pretty big arcade and everyone whould meet every weekend and play games till it closed, later a skateboard shop opened next door and that was even cool because my freinds and I were skating our Powell Peralta and sims skateboards and riding halfpipes so burger spot,skate shop and arcade all in one spot was pretty cool! Today the skateshop and arcade turned into a restaurant and every time I take my wife and the family to Giants burger I turn over to where Galaxy arcade was and remember the great times I had when I was a kid. The only thing I found about the arcade online was this http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=114063875271858 By the way too bad you couldn't keep something from your old hangout in moraga hopefully it's in good hands and not the dump!
 
You're post brought back many memories for me and made me wanna tear up and cry (will explain down in my post). I grew up in a small town in Montana called Columbia Falls. It's located in the flathead valley in the northwestern corner of the state. There are two other towns really close by which are Kalispell and Whitefish.

So Columbia falls had many hangouts as a kid for me but most were not that great. Our local grocery store Fred Meyer B&B had a Super Sprint game that was played the crap out of. Soon it was removed because too many hoodlum kids were loitering.

Anyhow circa 1984ish in Columbia Falls one of my mothers friends had an arcade Terri was her name. It was down a street called Nucleus Ave. (the main drag downtown) and it had several games. I know there was probably some pretty cool stuff in there but the game I remember the most was her Pole Position Cockpit. My mother would sit and visit for a couple hours while I got free games from her friend. I often remember being taken in the back storage area and she would ask me if there were any games in there (that were broken) that I would like to play next week and when I came back it would be fixed up and running.

Later she moved on and so did the closed minded small town and the place was later turned into Falls Boot Service (shoe repair) and it still is there to this day all run down and full of trash. It makes me cry because for me it was the death of an age I loved the most and also because it reminds me of my mother who died of cancer on fathers day in 08.

Anyhow stay tuned for part 2 of my post when i return from my trip to the store.

Thanks again for the memories.
 
Thanks for sharing that. Great pictures. Looked like a fun place.
All my old haunts are long gone. One was across the street from my HS. It was a Dairy Queen and then just when I started HS it became 'The Hornets Nest' (Our mascot was a Hornet) arcade. Went there some. Mostly older kids hung out there. The used to offer 4 tokens for each 'A' and 2 for each 'B' when report cards came out. They didn't last - arcades were dying already. The had a Venture that I recall playing a bit. Now the place is a Domino's pizza - what it became after the arcade closed.
 
Good write-up, and great nostalgia.

But...

...really?

I'm gonna have to be the guy?

Ok...

..."Fudge Alley"?
 
Good write-up, and great nostalgia.

But...

...really?

I'm gonna have to be the guy?

Ok...

..."Fudge Alley"?

Yes, there was a previous thread where I had mentioned it the first time I found out it would be closing. Half the responses were just jokes about that. I don't find it that funny, but maybe because I never saw the name as something humorous. It was just the name of the place. Given the nature of the business, the name makes sense.

It had an alley theme to it since the space was basically a narrow walkway with the register/candy (including fudge ;))/food on the left, seating on the right and arcade in the back. You can't tell from the pictures, but in the arcade, there was custom wall painted art that someone had done of alley cats, garbage cans, a moonlit cityscape, etc. It was actually pretty sweet. Still sad I wasn't able to salvage any of it.
 
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Yes, there was a previous thread where I had mentioned it the first time I found out it would be closing. Half the responses were just jokes about that. I don't find it that funny, but maybe because I never saw the name as something humorous. It was just the name of the place.

If you'd grown up with the term "Hershey highway", it'd make sense.

You can't tell from the pictures, but in the arcade, there was custom wall painted art that someone had done of alley cats, garbage cans, a moonlit cityscape, etc. It was actually pretty sweet. Still sad I wasn't able to salvage any of it.

I love when businesses - any business - goes that extra step to custom paint their walls with a theme.
 
I love when businesses - any business - goes that extra step to custom paint their walls with a theme.

I think my brother took this photo that's on the Yelp page. You can sort of see the wall art: city horizon on the right, city lights on the back and a cat sitting next to garbage cans on the left.

l


This is when he was just about to close so that's why the games are off. Since it was a fairly recent photo, the arcade was pretty run down and depressing. I think he was using it mainly for storage space as you can see. BITD, there was more space with a couple of more games in there.

His last lineup was: Crazy Taxi, Neo Geo MVS and SFIII:NG.
 
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I would have tried to get a hunk of that wall for a memento... Black Sabbath Rules!
 
I would have tried to get a hunk of that wall for a memento... Black Sabbath Rules!

That was the plan, but like I said in my story, I was too little too late. :(

Natey_boy & Back2the80s, thanks for sharing your stories. These are things that you just never forget. :)
 
*Wave of nostalgia...*

Man alive, I wish I could revist some of my old haunts, :(

Well, I can still go to Golf N Stuff (Now Castles N Coasters) but it's very, very different than BITD. At least in terms of games there, obviously. They are all newer games.
 
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