Pampa changes

I was born in Highland General Hospital, where National Bank of Commerce now stands, and have lived in this area all my life. From the time I was 4 years old, my parents drove me from our home in Skellytown to Pampa every Saturday so that I could take piano lessons. I took lessons until I was 17.

My piano came from one Pampa tradition that has long died. There used to be Saturday sidewalk sales downtown, weather permitting. One day after I had convinced my parents that I had a deep interest in learning to play the piano, Tarpley Music Co. had a piano out on the sidewalk.

While I admired the beautiful lines of the piano, my parents checked the price tag and bought it for me. I still have it, and it still gets a workout from me.

After the piano was acquired, lessons were arranged. My parents (or my mother if Daddy was working) would drop me off at Mrs. Fuller's house for my lesson, and they would run a few errands until time for my lesson to end. Then they would pick me up and we would usually go to a few stores, including Tarpley's Music Store if I needed new sheet music or lesson books.

I remember my favorite stores from my growing-up years: M.E. Moses, Woolworth's, Tarpley's, J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward, all downtown; and Gibson's Discount Store, Coston's Bakery, Anthony's, Caldwell's Drive-In and Las Pampas Galleries.

People and places change with the years. There came the day when Mrs. Fuller told my parents that she had taught me everything she knew, and recommended I continue my music studies with Jerry Whitten. He taught me from an upstairs studio at Tarpley's until I married and went off to college.

Downtown Pampa was a busy place every Saturday during my childhood. I don't remember any empty buildings or empty parking places. These days, downtown Cuyler Street is beginning to look like a ghost town. I was sad to see The Hobby Shop close, as well as Moses, Woolworth's and, of course, Tarpley's.

Not only did I get sheet music and exercise books at Tarpley's, but when I grew to be interested in such things, I always checked out the latest 45 rpm records in their stock. And, of course, it was nice to look at the baby grand they usually had on the display floor and imagine it being mine one day.

When the Pampa Mall was built, J.C. Penney moved there. Montgomery Ward moved to Coronado Center and was located where Hastings Books, Music and Videos now does business. Woolworth's closed, followed in later years by Moses. And of course, there are no shops left in the mall.

Las Pampas Galleries and Coston's Bakery were also in Coronado Center, along with Alco Discount Store, all of which are gone. Caldwell's Drive-In was on the corner where the now-vacant Dairy Queen stands on Hobart Street. The Gibson's building on Perryton Parkway is occupied by a Dollar General, as is the old Moses building downtown.

There are a number of fine stores and eating establishments in Pampa these days, but I would like to go back in time for just one Saturday and join the throng of shoppers at the downtown sidewalk sale, stop by Coston's Bakery and get delirious over the aromas while I pick out freshly baked cookies, eat a homestyle cheeseburger basket at Caldwell's, spend an hour in Gibson's checking out everything from fishing supplies to fabrics to fashions, and search for doodads in Moses or Woolworth's. Maybe I would take a seat at the fountain in Moses and get an ice-cold Coke. I would make sure to stop by and carry on a conversation with the mynah bird at Las Pampas Galleries before heading home.