I, like many of the citizens here on the MB tend to be creatures of habit. When we return to dear old IF on one of our infreqent visits we get of the Inter-state on the usual exit and drive the all to firmiluar route to mothers/brothers, etc., house. We attend what ever function we have come to IF for, driving the all to firmilar streets…… 17th, Holmns, North Hiway and the ever popular cruise down Park Ave….

I recently had to be in IF for a Class reunion….. Due to some last minute problems that popped up I was running a couple of days lat so I missed the reunion…… Damn I am really bummed about that.

Since I was running late I just went out to my property in the Little Lost River…. I stayed out there for a week them went up to my daughters place in Montana where I stayed for almost two weeks. The weather turned to winter while I was in Montana so on my return trip south I came down I-15 in lieu of going through Island Park to a void the heavy snow that had fallen in that area. The ride from Great Falls to Spencer is very pretty anytime of the year….. The fall colors make it an especially pretty drive.

As I was coming into IF from the North I could not help but notice all of the nicely landscaped exits…. The newer hotels and the Taylor Crossing project really show off "the new Idaho Falls" to anyone traveling the Inter-State. I exited the Inter-State on the new Sunnyside exit which took me past the new Nisson dealership, past the lower portion of the Taylor Crossing project and over the River below the fore-bay.

It felt good goming into town…. The feeling kind of faded the next day when we went to lunch at the North Hiway Cafe…. Without a doubt North Yellowstone has changed very little in the last 55 plus years….Bill

Bill's Bike Shop was originally located on the corner of Park & Cliff,  before it was moved to Holmns. Cliff is the lower end of Maple, below the RR tracks. Johnson Bros Milling has been on the corner of Cliff and S. Yellowstone forever. Old Faithful Beverage was across the tracks on the corner of Maple.

As I recall, the area around Cliff, Basalt, Lava, etc., below S. Yellowstone and to the River, was the site of the original town of Eagle Rock. There use to be a elimentary school named Egale Rock on either Basalt or Lava.

The building where Bill's Bike Shop was originally located was a grocery store prior to the Bike Shop. In about 1952 three of my classmates robbed the market. One of them worked there as a bagger. I very clearly remember his name, he drove a green '37 Chevy he had purchased from Dick Sayer. He figgered out how to get into the building via the coal shoot door into the basement. All the money was in the safe, which they could not crack so they wheeled it out the front door and loaded it into the front seat of the Chevy. They then went to the basket ball game underway at IFHS, showing several of us the safe sitting in the front seat. The group took the safe out into the desert following the game and broke it open, they then took the safe over to the Johns Hole Bridge and dumped it into the river.

Oddly enough, the bags of coins is what tripped them up….. they split the coins up between themselfs, filling their pockets…. DAH!…. and heres your sign. The three of them went to jail and then St Anthony because they were minors….Bill

Most of you know I was a career Army non commissioned officer.  During my 20 years of active service I had the pleasure of returning to Idaho Falls on a regular basis to visit family and friends.  The relationships with people changed very little but the changes in and around town were huge.  The Idaho Falls I remember is strangely the same and yet has changed so much.  The neighborhood on the west side of the tracks I grew up in has fallen into a sad state of disrepair..the pride of ownership is gone.

The neighborhood I lived in on the east side through High School looks pretty much the same except the trees and shrubs are much larger now.  Areas that used to be open country on the outskirts of town are now new, thriving neighborhoods full of new cars and children playing.  The children are the new stewards off all I left and it looks as if they’re doing a pretty fair job of taking care of things for the most part.

All of the family members I used to visit have passed on and my visits to IF are pretty infrequent now.  I call Laverkin, UT (near St George) home now..it’s wayyyy different than Idaho Falls is or was but it’s nice and this is where I’ll stay…

Here's a few pictures of Idaho Falls the way none of us remember it. This photo was taken some 100 years ago. It's one of thos panoramic photos. I've included the wide version, and I also broken it into 5 sections. In the middle of the wide image you will notice an electric street light hanging over the intersection. And you'll even see a couple of horseless carriages!

Yes, Bill, it's a neat photo. I found at the Library of Congress website. And I was supposing that it was the Clark & Fanning building that became The Hub.

I enjoy looking at that whole photo often as "something else" always seems to pop out at me. Like in picture 6, the one looking east – the old library is conspicuous by its absence. It's difficult to tell just how far away those trees to the east are. It kind makes it look like 'the town' ended at about where the RR tracks are now.

A little farther north of the Clark & Fanning building is a building with a sign painted near its top. The sign says Flor De something-that-starts-with-a-B. This is purely a guess, but I think it might be signage for a popular cigar of the day – Flor De Baltimore.

And besides the electric light, there is a fire plug on the corner of the future Hub Bar, and the sidewalks appear to be constructed of concrete, and include curb and gutter. IF seems to be quite the modern community of 1909!

BASMENT HOUSES—UNPAVED STREETS:

Standing in the shower this morning, enjoying the hot water beating on my back…… which is about as close as we older people can get to sexual gradification, my mind driftred back to some of my IF friends of long ago, and where they lived.

In the mid 1940's, early '5o's following WWII, housing was at a primium in Idaho Falls. The area experienced a population explosion which was unpresidented. Basement houses became a very common thing all around town. Several of my friends lived in a basement house.

Just what is a basement house? Simple,… a basement was dug and the concrete for the foundation was pored. In lieu of erecting a building above the basement, a roof was built and weather proofed. The occupants then moved into the basement with the plan that in a couple of years they would complete the project by erecting a building above the basment. The basement could then be rented out because of the seperate entrance.

Good intentions are like arm pits….. everyone has them. A vast majority of the basement houses never did have a building erected above them. They can still be found all over town on the East, West and North Side. My brothers mother-inlaw had a basement house on North Boulivard, she lived in it for over forty years. In the mid 1980's her children asked her what she would like for her birthday…. She responded that she would like to live above ground before she died and was buried. Her kids pooled their resourses and built her a home over the basement.

Unpaved streets were also a common thing around IF in the 1940's/50's. The majority of the streets on the North side of town, between North Yellowstone and Holmes were unpaved gravel, as were the majority of the streets in the Avenue and Eaglerock areas of town.

On the East side of town the paved streets ended at June (700 Block). Nothing between 9th and 1st was paved until the New High School was built in 1952. The paved streets ended at 13th, however the Ammon Highway was paved.

I wonder? Why my mind drifted back to basement houses and unpaved streets. Was it because I was so warm and comphy in the shower? Maybe it was because I had many friends that lived in those basement houses and/or on unpaved streets, the majority of which have passed on.

It just could be that since it is New Years Eve, the memories of years gone by started the whole thought process..

Happy New Years to all of the Citizens of The Memory Board…..Bill

Good news for those of you who still have a spark of life left in you and would enjoy a trip down memory lane at the local passion pit.

According to an article in the online version of IF's local paper…. the Sky-Vu drive inn theater on South Yellowstone is reopening today after being closed for a couple of years. The article went on to say that the North Yellowstone drive inn theater would also be re-opening in a few weeks.

Hmmmm…. I think the last time we went to a drive inn movie the back of the station wagon was filled with restless kids that were more interested in throwing pop corn at each other from the large sack we brought with us from home. When you add in the trips to the rest room, one kid at a time, because that is how they (kids) worked the system, you have an evening filled with frustration and near bedlam.

When we were kids we never watched the movies, we were to busy practiceing  on the creation of those bundles of joy which would govern our lives for years to come…..Bill  

@ Mr. Steed, My grandparents lived in a basement house across the street from Earl's on First Street, the house was right next door to Milt's Barber Shop and where Jim's Trophy Room is now.

Whenever Earl's would turn their lights on, the lights at my grandparents home would go off. 

@ Miss Dixie, Yes, Reeds still has the Licorice Ice Cream, however, it is not available all of the time. I have never seen the Cinnamon, offered. The Chocolate Moose is to die for. Reeds does not give their cows any artificial hormones or antibiotics, so you don't need to worry about that when you use their products. Did you know that they use potato flakes in their ice cream and in their chocolate milk?

I think this Standard Station was near the southwest corner of the Broadway Bridge, but I'm not sure. The water tower is seen on the right of the picture and there is a building that appears to be on the east side of the river that has "ANDERS" written on it. But what is the tall structure that is even farther in the background? Anybody remember? I don't!