Did You Hang Out on Central Too?

These days a Friday evening like tonight consists of giving the kids a bath, ordering pizza, and playing some Wii with the whole family. Kids in bed by 8, Mama asleep by 9. Wild, right? I know, don't be jealous.

Then I think back about 20 years at what a Friday night consisted of. Wow, I can't believe it's been 20 years! Anyway, the suburb of NY where I grew up was a large, spread out city, but each neighborhood of kids would come together every Friday night at the only place anyone wanted to be. Central Avenue.

Central Ave spans a few miles through a few different towns, but the hot spot hub at that time was the 'Alexander's parking lot'. There were at least 30 different stores, a few places to eat, and 2 movie theater complexes. Since we were good kids in my clique, our routine was almost always the same. Go see a movie, then walk down to Burger King and eat, followed by the most important part of the evening....standing outside of Burger King. Yup, all you had to do was stand there. Tickets not for sale to watch the shit show that always followed for the next few hours.

Guidos galore in their Mustangs and Irocs. Bumper to bumper traffic for the half mile span across the front of some of the stores. Who had stereos blasting freestyle, puddle lights in blue or pink under the cars, people hanging out of the sunroof screaming. The best times were summer when the convertibles came out too. It was almost like a scene at spring break, but this was just a normal Friday night on Central Avenue. One of the best parts was catching the eyes of a car of cuties, only to wait for them to do their lap and come by again!

Some would go to cruise, some to pick up chicks/guys, some to pick fights that had been brewing all week at school. Everyone dressed their best in their Cavariccis, scrunched socks, and matching scrunchi in big, teased hair. Don't forget your beeper and change to use the payphone in case you were paged! I remember going even before having a driver's license and someone's mom always had to pick us up. Funny thing was it was such an accepted hanging spot at the time, parents usually didn't complain we were there. Sure there were cops around, but our group wasn't usually the trouble making group. Yes, I can remember a few instances of yelling/fighting and even one where I was throwing bottles at a car for upsetting a chickie of mine. But overall it was just a fun night out.

After a few years the cops finally started cracking down and it just wasn't as fun anymore. Some started to go over to the Caldor/Nathan's parking lot but it just wasn't the same. We all got older and went to college, but even to this day talk and laugh about how great those Friday nights were. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.

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