rofl

3/5/2008 9:19:40 AM

you should hit that.

3/5/2008 9:20:00 AM

cary used to be mostly farms and light suburbs as recent as about 25 years ago

3/5/2008 9:33:00 AM

My PE teacher a few years ago said he had to move out of Cary where he'd lived all his life because it was getting too big and he didn't like what it was becoming.

3/5/2008 9:37:58 AM

now it's full of douchebags who are full of themselves

3/5/2008 9:38:21 AM

when i first moved to cary, cary parkway was a 2 lane road that went from like, high house to tryon i think

[Edited on March 5, 2008 at 9:41 AM. Reason : maybe not even as far as high house]

3/5/2008 9:39:45 AM

Quote :

"cary used to be mostly farms and light suburbs as recent as about 25 years ago"

The intersection of Cary Parkway and Kildare Farm still had the barn where the oil change place now stands. I remember when McGregor was the subdivision and like ^ said, Cary Parkway ran from High House to US 1 / 64 which was, itself, was what . . . one or two lanes each way? Its been 25 years so I hardly remember.


Mr. Dreher wasn't anywhere near the city limits and was free to blast away across the "road" that was high-house without having the cops called on him

3/5/2008 9:42:28 AM

ahahaha, I just realized that National Geographic mentioned him when they did their 2001 article about the 27513 zip code:

Quote :

"You just can't shoot your cannon off like you used to in Cary, bemoans Charles Dreher, Sr., a Civil War buff who owns a cherished artillery piece." I fired it straight across the road up until ten or twelve years ago when they built the houses over there. I still fire it down High House Road now and then. But if I see headlights, I hold off." The problem for Dreher is that the number of headlights has exploded in recent years."

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0106/feature7/index.html

3/5/2008 10:00:10 AM

wow

is he the guy who has the house with the crazy shit in the yard and signs and the compound like fences off high house?

man the stories that people used to make up about that house to explain his eccentric behavior/lawn furnishings

3/5/2008 10:09:22 AM

i think its hysterical

3/5/2008 10:15:55 AM

i want to go and take pictures of his house
its a freaking awesome eye sore

3/5/2008 10:19:06 AM

That is Charlie's house. Nicest guy. He lost some fingers in the Korean War, My dad and I have been buyin firewood from him since we moved here in 95. Just likes to "share" his views.

3/5/2008 10:25:09 AM

^,^^
he used to fire his cannon at Apex football games, whenever Apex scored a touchdown

[Edited on March 5, 2008 at 10:36 AM. Reason : /]

3/5/2008 10:34:43 AM

^^ yeah, I literally knocked on his door one day in high school and asked him to show me around, he was more than happy to. People complain, but the thing is, it isn't like you could miss that place when you were moving in.

I used to live within earshot of Apex High School and could tell how well the football games were going by how many times he shot off his cannon. Those days are long gone.

I used to date a girl who lived across the street from him. Her daddy's acerage and Mr. Dreher's one acre were both zoned Wake Co even though everything around it was Cary. After my ex's dad sold her land it was annexed by the city but as far as I know, Mr. Dreher is still holding out. I'm pretty sure the town is happy to just wait him out. He's got to be in his 80s by now.



I try not to judge people too early after I meet them, but I can't help but dislike people who "love" Cary. I know from that point forward our socio-political views will be at odds.

3/5/2008 10:35:39 AM

well growing up there, you didnt have a choice to be from there or not

but agreed, now that i got the chance to leave...its nice to come back and remember familiar things, but i would never go back by choice permanently

3/5/2008 11:10:44 AM

I like the "older" neighborhoods in Cary from the 70's and earlier. There's some neat houses in there with decent sized lots and interesting architecture, and a lot of them can be had at a decent price if you wait for them to pop up on the market.

I will say I don't like how Cary turned into a cancerous vinyl box establishment while I grew up there, but I do like the older neighborhoods there since that generally isn't where all the new move-in's are located (and we moved there early on in the growth explosion in about June of 1986 before the growth got nuts). I DO remember when MacGregor opened and when there was some sort of random kite festival out there we went to. They had this little dinky kites and all the kids drew random shit on them and flew them around in the Waverly Place shopping center in some grassy area that I'm not sure exists any more. I remember Waverly being a really nice place to go and shop, but all the stores were overpriced (and now it's definitely not a place worth mentioning except for a couple restaurants that are there). I think Cary's growth was kind of classy and sustainable until the 90's and 00's rolled around and all the builders went nuts (it was always a pain in the ass getting to and negotiating the streets in the newer, denser neighborhoods). Proper prior planning could have presented piss poor performance.

I remember when we didn't have Crossroads and when Cary Towne Center (once Cary Village Mall) was THE place to go looking for something if you didn't want to drive all the way out to Crabtree. Walnut St was more like two lanes instead of four, and there was a church down where there is now the Barnes and Noble, Macaroni Grill, etc. Numerous road widenings later, I can only say I'm disappointed that all the traffic now has to filter through all these side streets to get to Raleigh instead of a planned highway system being constructed before all this growth that would've allowed for me to get to my parents house faster at rush hour. Oh yeah, I remember when Cary's downtown was relatively sleepy (not just a traffic thoroughfare) and when South Hills mall used to be a fairly regular place to shop for us (now it's just an empty shell with one or two good stores in it, the whole place waiting to be sold to the owner of Crossroads mall). The place definitely started looking a lot more generic when the cancer-fashioned growth took off and all those mega-stores moved in. Seems like the residential growth followed the commercial growth at Crossroads and some of the other malls in the area rather strongly.

3/5/2008 11:13:45 AM

Hellloooooo this is what's happening to the entire country. It's called growth and it's done as cheap and quick as possible. Sad, really.

3/5/2008 11:17:11 AM

Yup, I remember when Crossroads Ford was in the old 50's Googie style building and South Hills was something of a mall. I rember Cary Village Mall before it was even expanded and, anyone who was a Boy Scout in Cary, will remember filling up bags of sand for the luminaria drive at the church between CHS and the mall.


For that matter, luminaria used to be a big thing and everyone did it. It was pretty damn awesome, now these fuckers are too stingy to shell out $4.

Quote :

"Seems like the residential growth followed the commercial growth at Crossroads and some of the other malls in the area rather strongly."

Yup. Crossroads is a planning DISASTER. I hate going in or near that place.


Ashworth's soda fountain FTW though Anyone else remember when there was a dogwood flower in the center of that intersection?

3/5/2008 11:21:57 AM

Yeah, it just didn't used to be a unified beige vinyl box experience with a touch of big box stores in gigantic, poorly planned strip malls.

It's like you can progressively see the decline of housing construction quality as you move from looking at older houses to looking at newer houses (and the prices they charge for some of those damned new houses!).

^ Oh man I remember when DILLIARD'S opened and it was like walking around in some kind of rich man's wonderland, haha. Some of that stuff used to be exciting.

Oh and we still do Luminaries and pass the tradition on to all the new residents in our neighborhood, and most of the neighborhood does it along our strip.

And on crossroads: Unfortunately I have no real choice but to travel through the Crossroads shopping center area to get to my parents house every week. I suppose it's good practice. This whole damn area is going to be just like that if there aren't code and zoning changes.

[Edited on March 5, 2008 at 11:25 AM. Reason : ]

3/5/2008 11:22:26 AM

fuckin luminaria

why couldnt you go and sell that shit when it was warm out

jesus

going door to door in november

i hated that shit

but yeah i remember cary village mall and pre crossroads...i went to farmington woods for part of elementary before i started going to a "magnet" school in raleigh somehow for 3rd-5th

3/5/2008 11:24:59 AM

When were you at Farmington Woods?

3/5/2008 11:25:53 AM

its nice to hear stories about cary, i moved here in '90 to williams burg manor apartments, and its completely different,

cookout on walnut street used to be krispy kreme, and before that i dont remeber,
south hills mall was cool with an old video game store, collectible stores etc,

my blood boils everyday seening how this town is being screwed up so badly that i will not wanna live here for much longer if it continues

3/5/2008 11:32:04 AM

I remember when you could drive down Cary Parkway and there were about 1/2 the stoplights there are now

they had to be added, one by one, as drivers were killed at the various intersections

3/5/2008 11:35:09 AM

And now the Cary planning board made changes to the building code so that ALL NEW COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION will look just like Brier Creek. Every 30' or so has to be a new facade, making everything look like a "fakey village". Except what they're trying to achieve is not what they actually will achieve.

3/5/2008 11:36:09 AM

Farmington Woods FTW!

Anybody else have Mrs. G?

3/5/2008 11:36:49 AM

I had Ms. Hunter, Ms. Brewer, Ms. Brook, and Ms. Barbour for K-3, then I got switched to Penny Road. (where I had Mr. Beardsley and Ms. Burke . . . that is a lot of Bs)


Principal Schwartz took he in his office one day and paddled my ass after I tried to burn the school down (I stuck two brass fasteners into an electric socket . . . all I did was shock myself) becaue I didn't want Ms. Hitchkad as my substitute.

3/5/2008 11:39:47 AM

Quote :

"When were you at Farmington Woods?"

honestly im awful at figuring this kind of stuff out

it was only 1st and 2nd grade, and im a 99 hs grad if that helps

3/5/2008 11:44:25 AM

my co-workers and I were just talking about how bad cary sucks now. I seriously can't drive down Cary Parkway without wanting to fucking kill someone. All the fucking soccer moms in their empty SUVs talking on the phone doing 25 mph. Not to mention it's strip mall central, although I suppose that's all of raleigh/cary. My girlfriend lives in Pittsburgh and she couldn't wrap her head around the whole "tear down" craze. As much as I love Raleigh and NC, there are a ton of rich douche bags in this area.

3/5/2008 11:45:18 AM

^^ I graduated in 98, so you were only a year behind of me.

So fall 87 - spring 89


^ Yeah, I don't care for cities, but I'd take the city any day over the suburbs.

City = crowded, but most everything is fairly convenient on foot or public transportation
Country = space , everything is a bit of a drive, but ususally without any real traffic.
Suburbs = nothing is convenient, nobody has any real space. FTGDMFL

3/5/2008 11:47:10 AM

Spring of 89, my parents hadn't even moved to Tx yet

3/5/2008 11:49:39 AM

Reading this thread has really brought back some memories. I was born and raised in Cary. We lived in Scottish Hills behind Annie Jones Park until I was about 5 and then moved over off of North Harrison where my parents still live.

It really is crazy to think about how much has changed in Cary over the years. When I was back home in September I was amazed at how much new construction was going on since my previous visit 10 months earlier. It is getting ridiculous.

It seems like a lot of the posters in this thread are around the same age, I graduated from CHS in 99.

3/5/2008 12:18:47 PM

^graduated from apex in 98 but I used to play ball at annie jones park all the time. My buddy nick troutman, paul nealis, justin carmona, and steve floyd lived right there by you. I was in a band (retro downfall) and we practiced there in Scottish Hills. Oh, the memories

3/5/2008 12:28:49 PM

haha i was on a baseball team with nick troutman at some point, and we played at annie jones park

the SIP team

we won a league championship one year

i dont remember anyone on that team though except a buddy of mine that i went to high school with

3/5/2008 1:08:23 PM

^^
shit dude I know all them guys

hung out w/ Brian Rooney last night

3/5/2008 1:37:41 PM

oh, haha, I know Rooney. I saw him around christmas. Kid hasn't changed one bit.

3/5/2008 1:39:44 PM

I lived in cary from 91-last may and thought city-living would be fantastic opposed to it. chicago is great, but those complaining about soccer moms on the roads don't know how easy they have it...

I kind of miss cary, I guess. I grew up on the far south side, lochmere etc

3/5/2008 1:48:32 PM

Saw a bumper sticker that read: "find a cure for Cary"

3/5/2008 2:17:04 PM

yea, I grew up in Cary. I remember when the Harris Teeter at Cary Towne Center was a Big Star. There really wasn't anything on High House after you passed Bond Park. There was no Preston. Crossroads Ford used to be next to the ice house. The Kerr drug at South Hills used to be part of the mall behind where it now. The only move theater was the Imperial Cinema which is now Galaxy. There used to be a huge tree in the middle of Cary Towne Center too. I went to Farmington Woods too, but I never had Mrs. G. Everytime I tell someone I'm from Cary they ask me where I moved from and they don't believe me when I tell them I have lived in Cary my entire life.

3/5/2008 4:11:31 PM

^before crossroads ford was at the ice house, that place was a grocery store with a couple of video games out front, i could be found there everyday playing world heroes and street fighter
them were the days

3/5/2008 4:15:01 PM

i remember the tree on the hill at cary village mall

god this brings back memories

and, so wait, there ISNT a shamrock in the middle of the intersection on downtown cary now???

i thought that marked the "center" of cary at some point or whatever

3/5/2008 4:19:06 PM

I'm pretty sure it was a dogwood, not a shamrock.

Quote :

"Harris Teeter at Cary Towne Center was a Big Star"

Yup, and there was a Harris Teeter on Kildare in the shopping center next to Saltbox Village (it has been so long since I've been there, I don't know what is there now).

I remember the Exxon on the corner of Maynard and Cary Parkway.

Quote :

"graduated from apex Enloe in 98"

But I used to eat lunch at the Apex Bojangles all the time once I got out on work release. I knew a Brad Troutman, but not Nick and a few other guys mostly through Scott Griffis or guys who worked at the Ace in Apex off 55 across from the middle school.

3/5/2008 4:28:21 PM

^haha, Brad Troutman lived in my neighborhood (shepards vineyard). No relation to nick. Brad was AWESOME at basketball (sarcasm)

3/5/2008 4:38:37 PM

Brad is getting married.


I want to say Meredith Killen lived up that way too. I had a crush on her in middle school (thats right, I said crush) but I'm pretty sure she got married shortly after HS.

3/5/2008 4:45:55 PM

Quote :

"that place was a grocery store with a couple of video games out front"

I think..

3/5/2008 4:45:58 PM

Lived here since 4th Grade...

Still not a bad place. Suits a homebody who doesn't mind wandering for his fun just fine.

3/5/2008 4:51:55 PM

Quote :

"I rember Cary Village Mall before it was even expanded"

What year did they expand? I remember the food court being a recessed section in the floor in the interior triangle portion of the mall.

EDIT:

Expanded in '91.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cary_Towne_Center

[Edited on March 5, 2008 at 5:45 PM. Reason : -]

3/5/2008 5:41:38 PM

Quote :

"I'm pretty sure it was a dogwood, not a shamrock."

true

def not a shamrock just the first thing i could think of haha

its the town of cary symbol thats on all the parks and rec trucks and the town logo

whatever that is

thats what it was

maybe it was a dogwood at one point too

3/5/2008 7:49:25 PM

Quote :

"before crossroads ford was at the ice house, that place was a grocery store with a couple of video games out front"

Farm Fresh I think. They had movie rentals in the back

3/5/2008 7:50:39 PM

Quote :

"Mr. Dreher wasn't anywhere near the city limits and was free to blast away across the "road" that was high-house without having the cops called on him"

I lived not 5 minutes walk from that guy; when we first moved down here (1990?) he would still fire that cannon, it was neat. High House was JUST being widened to 4 lanes then too.

Quote :

"Anyone else remember when there was a dogwood flower in the center of that intersection?"

I always thought it was a clover

3/5/2008 8:15:50 PM

------->

3/5/2008 8:25:27 PM