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Well I went there! Again! This weekend! For the first time in like fucking forever! The one I used to go to in Oklahoma closed down years ago.
Did you even know they were still in business? Well, kinda. The one here in Dallas is like the last one anywhere, I think.
Never heard of Crystal’s? It’s like, er, um, Chuck E Cheese’s…minus the animatronics…but all old-victorian-creepy styled on the inside. There’s a cool little theater that plays old cartoons on repeat, an arcade, and even a one-room library. Here’s the thing, though: while other places were full of screaming kids and flashing lights, Crystal’s always had a sort of old world, magical quality about it (with the lighting being really dark and atmospheric) that people loved. Parents could read a book or watch classic cartoons while their kids burned off their sugar highs on some skeeball.
But oh how things have changed.
Remember the moody ambiance? Yeah, gone. For some reason, they’ve now lit the place up like a tarmac, complete with retina burning floodlights and thousand watt fluorescents. Which, as you might imagine, doesn’t do great things for the dated and damaged interior. The place looked totally neglected, and it was kind of sad to see. So many great memories, and the management’s really let the place go to shit.
At least half the arcade games were either off or broken, or both. Most looked like the same games I played 15-20 years ago.
Did I mention the magic show? Cuz…
…fuck yeah we made it for the magic show. I’m pretty sure homeboy blew out my eardrums with his intro music, by the way. I mean, I understand you need to grab attention, Magician Christopher Lyle, but dude. Bleeding ear canals is not a trick worth paying for. Wow. OW.
Anyway, if you too remember the greatness that was Crystal’s Pizza, do yourself a favor and respect the memory of the place by ignoring its glowing zombie carcass off the side of 183. Just keep driving and enjoy the nostalgia.
November 25th, 2009 at 9:21 am
I remember havin’ a birthday there several times.
November 25th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
I had some birthdays there too. I’ve been squealing every time we drove by there for the past three years. I wish I hadn’t. Childhood memories murdered. The pizza and pasta were still really good though. Too bad Big Bertha was out of order, might have redeemed the place a bit.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1245/1049589017_30aabdb4f3.jpg?v=0
November 25th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Wow, is that the real deal or did you find it on the webs?
Hey juh: remember how we used to beg to go there on the bus ride back to school after field trips? It was also the go-to spot after little league games, if you were lucky.
Man I wish they’d just take better care of it. We need to petition it for inclusion on the national register of historical places…or just forcefully take ownership.
December 29th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I actually worked at the one in North Oklahoma City off of Rockwell? 25 years ago as a teen. It had my name on a plaque on the wall and all. I was planning to see if the store was still there while I was at my 25 year class reunion. It was not the best place to work. But I had some fun.
Good times………………………………………Good times…………..
December 29th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
That’s the one my friends and I grew up going to. It was greatness.
But yeah, unfortunately they closed it down maybe…12 years ago? Replaced it with a mexican restaurant. Posados, I think it was called. I couldn’t tell you what’s there, if anything, anymore.
Where’d you go to school? Putnam City North?
December 29th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
They tore it down and built the new Chili’s in its spot about a year ago.
January 25th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
I to have truly magical memories of the crystal’s pizza of ol’. I am 36 now and spent most of my childhood living in haltom city tx. I’m not sure of the exact location of the crystal’s we would frequent, i think it may have been near camp bowie blvd. The romance/magic of the place as it was circa 1980′s, is really hard to put into words. i have taken my wife to the one in dallas, and find myself constantly describing how each and every detail once was so very different, in an almost apologetic fashion as crystal’s is a place that i think we all feel guardians of. I know it seems dramatic being that the place i speak of is only a “pizza joint with a few arcade games” some may say, but to me it not only captured the imagination of a kid who seemed to hunger(no pun intended) for things maybe a bit different than the average kid, but its a living example of how the corporate monster forces all to streamline, improve profit margins, mass produce, and bleed any soul that may have exisisted out, making room for the “stacking it deep, and sellin it cheap!) business model. I actualy found this site while visiting the crystal’s website, to check and see if there were any stores possibly for sale, or any franchise oppurtunities. I can close my eyes and imagine the loooong walk after entering the front door, and finally, after passing tons of frost covered oval windows looking in to a small dim lit booths, arriving at the cash register/entrance to a living time machine,filled with coin operated future tellers, warm inviting 18th century styled libraries, and even a classic movie theater running non-stop vintage cartoons and even three stooge’s shows, large well kept salt water fish aquariums near the exit, even a few secluded tables on small dimlight balcony’s located at a second floor level, because also long since retired to mass produced/tacky as hell looking acoustic drop down ceiling tiles, there were once grand vaulted ceilings, sometimes with several helium balloons resting at the top also due to a lost detail free balloons givin to any kid who may want one. Yes my friends crystal’s was to me as it seems to many of you, and place i would love to experience again in all it’s glory!
April 20th, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Me too
Now 35. Great memories. Too bad its gone from okc.
June 2nd, 2011 at 2:52 pm
I loved Crystal’s as a kid. I think I even had a birthday party or two there. I was sad when it left Tulsa.
February 13th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
The wave of nostalgia coming over me is almost too much.
I remember being in elementary school and getting to come here for various things. Such memories!
I think my little league team even came here and the whole league had the game rooms per team and my team didn’t get the good game room until like 1:00 am, and I left before that, I NEVER GOT MY GAMING that night. haha oh well. So many memories!