Another piece of our childhood is going away.....

[HomerS]

A roughly $200 million residential development in Oakley (N of Cincinnati) has started with the demolition of vacant industrial buildings.  Three Oaks, a 30-acre development that will transform a portion of the neighborhood, has begun with the demolition of the 800,000-square-foot former Kenner Toy factory, which will include a mix of single-family homes, apartments and senior housing.  Three Oaks will be used as an example on how to enhance an existing neighborhood and community by adding a pedestrian-friendly approach for amenities within walking distance......Three Oaks will replace an abandoned industrial site “with a thriving, urban, pedestrian area.”

 

[peteski]

Time marches on, and this is called "progress". The longer you live, the more of this you see all around you. Oh yeah, toys are now made in China.

Fortunately in my part of the country (New England) many of the old textile mills and shoe factories (in Manchester, NH) were converted to high end apartments and condo units.

[David G.]

I guess we're makin' more people than toys now.

David G.

[OldTrucker]

Had lots of toys made by Kenner back when I was a kid.

Well I think I was a kid once but can't remember that far back without help from my older sisters.LOL

[1972coronet]

That kind of 'progress' ( gentrification ) has been going on since the mid-late 80's , at least in big / bigger cities , esp. on the east and west coasts .  The former Ford Plant in Downtown L.A. (closed in c.1929 ; relocated to Terminal Island) on 7th x Santa Fe was repurposed into some hipster paradise (at least the main structure was left intact) .

Next thing you know , these developers will be turning asbestos mines into gastropubs and multi-family living quarters...

...in a non-smoking environment .

[Pete J.]

22 hours ago, peteski said:

Time marches on, and this is called "progress". The longer you live, the more of this you see all around you. Oh yeah, toys are now made in China.

Fortunately in my part of the country (New England) many of the old textile mills and shoe factories (in Manchester, NH) were converted to high end apartments and condo units.

I just happy the Starrett tool factory in Athol, Mass. is still going.  Best measuring tools in the world, bar none!

[peteski]

1 hour ago, Pete J. said:

I just happy the Starrett tool factory in Athol, Mass. is still going.  Best measuring tools in the world, bar none!

I can't disagree with you. Quality product, excellent support. One of the few old American companies still manufacturing here.  At least I think they are manufacturing statewide.

While I have driven through Athol, I haven't been to that part of Massachusetts for some time. I wonder if they offer factory tours?  When pronounced, the name of that town could be mistaken for a swear.

[TonyK]

Forgot about Kenner Toys. I believe they made Spirograph and I'll bet most of us had that at one time.

[SfanGoch]

So....what were you expecting to happen with the former Kenner factory, preserve it as a landmark? You make it sound as if using the land to construct housing is a bad thing. It's not like another obscenely huge box store or cookie cutter shopping mall is replacing it.

[Mike999]

The old Samson Tire & Rubber factory in East Los Angeles is a stunner.  Built in 1929, unfortunately just in time for the stock market crash. Nowadays it's an outlet mall.  Back in the 1990's, one of the mall stores was a K&B Toys outlet with cheap model kits.

[Tom Geiger]

Life does move on!  The old Pyro factory in Union, NJ is the site of a Home Depot.

We also had a GM plant in Linden and a Ford plant right up Route One in Edison.. both gone and replaced with shopping centers!

[Rodent]

16 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

We also had a GM plant in Linden and a Ford plant right up Route One in Edison.. both gone and replaced with shopping centers!

The old Ford "San Jose" assembly plant (actually in Milpitas) is still there, but it has a shopping mall inside of it.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mall_of_the_Bay_Area

[Dave Van]

40 minutes ago, Mike999 said:

The old Samson Tire & Rubber factory in East Los Angeles is a stunner.  Built in 1929, unfortunately just in time for the stock market crash. Nowadays it's an outlet mall.  Back in the 1990's, one of the mall stores was a K&B Toys outlet with cheap model kits.

We drove by that building often when we lived in Whittier and Dad worked of Santa Fe St in LA. 

When I went back in 1997 after being gone almost 20 years I was happy to see it still there. There was a big show hall across the street that held a lot of car shows. Dad was Valvoline racing director so we went there a lot!

Change is the only constant. 

[53_Sedandelivery]

On 9/29/2020 at 9:43 PM, HomerS said:

A roughly $200 million residential development in Oakley (N of Cincinnati) has started with the demolition of vacant industrial buildings.  Three Oaks, a 30-acre development that will transform a portion of the neighborhood, has begun with the demolition of the 800,000-square-foot former Kenner Toy factory, which will include a mix of single-family homes, apartments and senior housing.  Three Oaks will be used as an example on how to enhance an existing neighborhood and community by adding a pedestrian-friendly approach for amenities within walking distance......Three Oaks will replace an abandoned industrial site “with a thriving, urban, pedestrian area.”

 

Sigh! Nothing ever stays the same! I toured the Kenner toy factory in the summer of 1980, watching them build Millenium Falcon and Strawberry Shortcake toys. Tried taking photos inside, but none of the film turned out (protecting trade secrets). At the end of the tour, I got to choose between 3 brand new Star Wars action figures or the 18" Alien figure. I chose the Alien...still have it but the box hasn't survived.

[Mark]

Hasbro bought out Kenner awhile back, mainly to get the Star Wars product licensing they held.  With Disney's ongoing mishandling of that franchise, and Monopoly soon to enter public domain, Hasbro is now circling the drain...

[Ace-Garageguy]

Pretty much everywhere I had any memories of has been bulldozed and made into something waymonewerbettercoolerhotterhipperflashiertackier.

There's a phrase "you can never go home again".

That's what it means.

[ranma]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

"you can never go home again".

Well I sure can't! My childhood home in the country is now  a Field for crop's, And just after the Pandemic My late Grandmothers house also became a field. My mother who is on her 4th House now, and it's a total dump inside with trash and junk. Pretty sure when she passes it  will be made into a vacant lot!

[Goose1957]

The caretaker/guide of our local historical society museum used to say, " not all change, is progress." I miss her, she passed away a number of years ago. 

Jeff

[Dave Ambrose]

The Kenner Hydrodynamic Building set was one of my favorite toys. My dad was a chemical engineer so there might have been some undue influence. I never could build a decent oil refinery with it. 🙂 

[Ace-Garageguy]

21 hours ago, Goose1957 said:

The caretaker/guide of our local historical society museum used to say, " not all change is progress." 

100% agreed.

Some is.

And some is just stupid change-for-the-sake-of-change.

Not everything new is better.

[Ace-Garageguy]

12 hours ago, Dave Ambrose said:

The Kenner Hydrodynamic Building set was one of my favorite toys. My dad was a chemical engineer so there might have been some undue influence. I never could build a decent oil refinery with it. 🙂 

COOL!!! I had one of those too. Great for making muddy colored water automatically. 

Edited March 25 by Ace-Garageguy

[Bugatti Fan]

Great Britain.   Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the days of Queen Victoria and high noon of the British Empire when 'Made in Gt.Britain' meant something.

Today.  Not so Great Britain. Hardly makes anything any more in volume.  Get it cheaper from China attitude leaving our industrial base completely hollowed out and less self reliant.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 minutes ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Today.  Not so Great Britain. Hardly makes anything any more in volume.  Get it cheaper from China attitude leaving our industrial base completely hollowed out and less self reliant.

 

USA too.

We've become a "service industry" economy, with very few natives who can build or repair anything whatsoever that requires physical skill...and making a meal and driving a stickshift vehicle are largely lost arts.

The saddest thing is that most of the inhabitants are just fine with that.

[Rodent]

8 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

and making a meal and driving a stickshift vehicle are largely lost arts.

I drive my stickshift Mazda3 every day and we enjoy making meals for each other all week. Breakfast, brunch, and dinner. Just remodeled the kitchen with an induction cooktop and convection oven. Roast chicken is amazingly easy and it turns out crispy and juicy. I bought some beautiful ahi tuna at WalMart a while back for not much $$. Seared and combined with a chopped salad mix from Grocery Outlet with some doctoring, it was fantastic. We play the "What would you have to pay for this in a restaurant" game, and the tuna was valued at $30/plate.

Sadly or not sadly, my model building creativity has been repurposed in the kitchen. I am planning on making a blackberry honey cheesecake tomorrow. 

[Bugatti Fan]

Manually driven cars with a clutch to operate (or stick shift cars  as you Americans call them) are still more the norm over here in the UK and Europe generally compared to Automatics. I quite like the measure of control a clutch operated vehicle gives the driver over an automatic especially when driving a performance car. But that is a personal preference.

My son in law has just bought an automatic Audi and loves it compared to his old manual car. But then he does a lot of driving in heavy traffic regularly so I can see where he is coming from not having to bother with constantly using a clutch. I owned a Wolselely 6/110 back in the seventies that was an automatic for about 3 years and it was quite relaxing to drive. Nice car with walnut burr dashboard and Connolly leather seats (often referred to as a poor man's Rolls over here!).