Okay. Prange's was a department store in Green Bay, Wisconsin - sort of like Macy's. In the 70s they had wonderful Christmas windows that I loved going to see every year. Prange's was for many years the main identifying mark of downtown Green Bay. Until Port Plaza Mall came along. But that's another story.
So, the other day... I discover Google Maps new feature "Street View". And I checked it out. It's really neat. I checked out the the house I grew up in on Kurtz Avenue in Green Bay. My late mother would have loved that blue trim. I also checked out my high school. It's huge. My grandparents' house is now orange or peach. My aunt's house is missing a tree in the front yard. The sight of the first comic book store in Green Bay is a parking lot (and I just realized my barber is also a parking lot because it was next door).
And then... I went downtown. There is lots of new things that I don't remember. Parking ramps, new modern buildings. And then I realized. It's gone. The five story Prange's building is gone. Like it never existed. Yet I remember it. I remember the bookstore on the top floor. The toys on the 4th floor. The elevators, the small escalators, the doors on Washington Street, the windows that would be decked out with animated bears decorating Christmas trees in December. It's gone.
It's not the first time a building from my childhood isn't around. My elementary school is a parking lot. Several of the places I bought comic books at are no longer standing. A couple of restaurants that my family went to are gone. But I was barely in junior high when most of those were paved over or demolished.
Now I'm 42. And I'm wishing really bad i had photos of Prange's Christmas windows. It's kind of a sign of getting old. Which mostly I'm okay with - I celebrate the gray hairs and the other signs of aging. I'm not liking this one.
At least I'm not liking it today.
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