Tower Plaza

Alas, Tower Plaza will soon be no more! This shopping plaza on the southeast corner of Platte and Circle has been there since probably about 1960. It was the longtime home to Bambino's, a popular local institution. Bambino's moved downtown a couple of years ago and changed its name to Bambino's Urban Pizzeria, and even though I was sad to see it move away from Knob Hill, I have to admit that the food and atmosphere are a lot better now than in the old place. Other local institutions SS Subs and Short Stop Burgers were also located in Tower Plaza for many years; Short Stop, one of Pat's favorites, relocated to the east side in November. The Flower Stop, which was directly on the corner, suddenly closed its doors a few months ago (this was a big blow to Pat because he liked to buy me roses there). The entire plaza is a ghost town now. What gives? As it turns out, CVS bought the property and is razing all of it to put in a drugstore. Sigh. I love this old mid-century modern shopping plaza and I'm sad that it's going away. What I'll miss the most, though, is the Tower Plaza sign. It think it's one of the coolest in town -- so 1960s! Actually, there are two of them; one facing north/south and one facing east/west. By night, those bright yellow oblongs to the left of the words Tower Plaza would illuminate upwardly, one after the other until they were all lit, then they'd go dark and the sequence would start again. I always thought that was so groovy. Sometimes, when I got stuck at that intersection at night, I'd get so mesmerized by the Tower Plaza sign that I wouldn't notice that the traffic light had turned green. But the last few months it hasn't been illuminated at all, sadly. I sure will miss it!