Most video game fans from the "golden age " (roughly 1978-1983) frequented an arcade that they felt was "their own". For many kids in the South Bay cities of Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan Beach in Southern California, that arcade was Castle Park in Redondo Beach. Castle Park was built in the mid-1970's. It consisted of two 18-hole miniature golf courses separated by an Arthurian castle that housed the ticket booth, birthday party rooms, a snack bar, bathrooms, and a huge arcade. It was situated (unfortunately in some cases) a golf balls' throw from the 405 freeway in an industrial area right near a set of railroad tracks.

ow that I have moved out of my single-family house, and I have been back visiting my parents often at their house where I grew-up, I realize that I will probably never be able to provide my kids with the same type of house that I grew-up in. Yes, I can get them a bigger house with more stuff, but I don't think I can ever provide them the comforting nuances of in a 70's/80's suburban neighborhood. Given that, here is a list of "Things I took For Granted As a Kid Growing Up In A Single Family House In Middle-Class Neighborhood In The 70's and 80's"

’ve written a few articles here on 8bitrocket.com filled with histrionics about the “best” and “greatest” Christmas mornings from my childhood, but until now I have avoided the talking about the some of the worst. The Coleco Shooting Gallery, Atari Jaguar, Action Max stand out as some of the worst Christmas presents I've ever given or received.

lectronic Games Magazine

Cover of first Electronic Games Magazine

Most Friday nights in  the very early 80’s, my twin brother and I would accompany my mom on the weekly shopping trip to Lucky’s supermarket.   In the late afternoon my dad would arrive home from work with his weekly paycheck cashed and ready for the weekend.  He would lay the crisp $20 bills on his bed, one by one, dividing up what my mom would get for the “house” , what he would “sock away” for whatever it was that he was socking-money-away for that month (Motocross bikes, Civil War memorabilia, whatever).   However, the most momentous portion of this ritual was the final act.  Dad kept four $5.00 bills separated from the rest.  If we had “earned” it that week (or rather, “not lost it” by being idiots), he would dole-out these bills as weekly allowance for each of his four kids.

hen we were growing up there was one place filled with the treasures a '70's kid desired. That place was the corner liquor store. It wasn't booze, cigarettes, or girly magazines we desired as pre-teens, it was everything else this wonderland had to offer.

Liquor stores were the 5 and 10 of our times,  the JJ Newbury in our suburbs, the General Store in our one-beach town. Back in the '70s, the liquor store was "the place" for the kids to hang out. It might sound really strange to a generation that sees liquor stores as glorified wine racks and Lotto outlets, but back then we trekked miles to experience the wonders of a liquor store.

y 1980, the Fulton household was wearing at the seams.  Almost over-night, our little happy family imploded.   First our aunt and cousin were killed by a drunk driver in car accident.  Then our grandfather contracted lung cancer from smoking a pipe for 50 years.   At the same time, our oldest sister was getting into the burgeoning local punk scene.  She was staying out later and later on week nights, and our parents were not happy about it.  All of this stuff combined to make our house a very uncomfortable place to be most of the time. Of course, being 10 years old, none of this really affected us the way one would expect.  We knew weird stuff was going on, but instead of thinking about it too much, Jeff I and dove further into our growing passion for video games.   We did not have access to anything at home, and the closest arcades were miles away.  However, we did have one outlet for our video game madness: the grocery store shopping center located roughly 1-mile from our house.