Game over for Funland Arcade

[theowne]

The coffee served there can be considered a crime.

Ha...

Many adults wear such clothing. It's mainstream. It doesn't have to mean you're wearing pants at your ankles either.

Well, I guess people don't usually differentiate between hip-hop clothing and gangster clothing, which is what I usually associate with the pants around ankles phenomenon. Actually I don't really know the difference either.

 

[adma]

Pants around the ankles? Sounds like a typical Bill Clinton editorial cartoon. Complete with boxers w/hearts all over them

 

[junctionist]

So, to weld the two analogies above, are the New York Towers architectural crimes? If they are, then crime is rampant, especially in the suburbs.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I used to spend time in these arcades in the early 80's. I'm sure that there used to be 4 or 5 of these places between Bloor & Dundas. There was one around Charles Street (it had Pengo!) and another that I hung out in occasionally, just south of the Cinema 2000 & the Biltmore Theatre, where TLS now stands and another underneath where Salad King is today.
Ah, Yonge Street in it's good old days. So many great places along there in the 70's & 80's that are all gone now.

 

[TKTKTK]

Well, I guess people don't usually differentiate between hip-hop clothing and gangster clothing, which is what I usually associate with the pants around ankles phenomenon.

Pants around ankles? What parks and bathhouses are you guys hanging out at?

The style's been to tuck your pants into your socks to show off your new kicks for YEARS now.

 

[theowne]

Actually, now that you mention it I have seen people with the flap part of the shoe (tongue? vamp? I don't know the term) sticking out forwards, neatly. Looks kind of weird but whatever....maybe that's this new style.

 

[syn]

Damn, it's already closed and I didn't get to squeeze in one last visit. Too bad.

I wonder what they're doing with all the cabinets?

 

[Ahab]

They are auctioning them off. The cabinets are fairly expensive when new or refurbished. It'll be interesting to see how much these ones will go for though.

 

[whatever]

I went in on the last nite for old times' sake. Watching the crowd, and which games were attracting the most attention, I could very easily see a small arcade doing well in TLS. Two or three of those dancing machines, half a dozen pinball machines, air hockey/gintona tables, a couple old classics just for nostalgia, and I could see the place getting packed, especially with people wandering through the complex trying to kill time while waiting for movies and dinner reservations.

 

[Just_Chris]

Funland Arcade on Yonge St. has closed

I hadn't been in there in years (I'm much too old to be hanging out in some dirty video arcade filled with teenagers), but I was walking down Yonge St. and noticed that the old "Funland" arcade has closed shop. It's kind of a little sad for me, because when I was a kid I used to take the GO Train downtown largely to go there and Sam The Record Man. Speaking of which, what's the story on Sam and the old Future Shop site. There are still signs saying that a Ryerson Student Centre is opening there, but Sam closed last summer if I recall. I can't believe this much time would pass with no obvious progress on the project.

 

[Long Island Mike]

Funland Arcade closes...

Everyone: I remember the arcades on the Yonge Street strip well from my 80s trips-I liked to play Galaga and Galaxian especially. It is hard to find 80s relic video games today-few arcades still have them. Did Funland have many 80s game machines in recent years?

Since home video games have improved substantially since the 80s people are less inclined to go out and play games at arcades today it seems to me.

One problem with arcades of Funland's type in big cities is that they would be trouble spots and attract the local street people who would sometimes harass customers.

How many arcades now remain on the Yonge Street strip especially in the Dundas area today? Could these remaining arcades days be numbered also?

LI MIKE

 

[Jonny5]

Everyone: I remember the arcades on the Yonge Street strip well from my 80s trips-I liked to play Galaga and Galaxian especially. It is hard to find 80s relic video games today-few arcades still have them. Did Funland have many 80s game machines in recent years?

Since home video games have improved substantially since the 80s people are less inclined to go out and play games at arcades today it seems to me.

One problem with arcades of Funland's type in big cities is that they would be trouble spots and attract the local street people who would sometimes harass customers.

How many arcades now remain on the Yonge Street strip especially in the Dundas area today? Could these remaining arcades days be numbered also?

LI MIKE

I'm pretty sure Funland was the last one. These days Yonge street around Dundas is all stores for suburban tweens with their parent's money to spend.

 

[tkip]

Very true.....

The neighboring stores are all geared towards youth with money to burn these days. Of course that is, till the next economic downturn rears it's ugly head and blows the kid's and their parent's disposable income out of the sky.

And I spent many a afternoon, popping more quarters than I care to think about into those machines while killing time and feeding my obsession. Ah, yes. Those were the days. Can't believe how far video games have come. Insane.