Remembering Route 1, May 25, 1992

This is from a short drive up Route 1 in Saugus, MA in 1992. A lot has changed since then.

[@gertibell]

I appreciate you had the forethought to record this. So many awesome restaurants are gone. I was trying to remember the name Augustine's. We went there all the time. My grandma worked at Filene's. I can't believe how much has changed in such a short time.

[@clairemcquarrie8227]

There it is!!! At 14 seconds in, Weddings! Where I got my bridesmaids' dresses, my Mom's dress and flower girls' dresses for my 1993 wedding. I loved that place!

[@eastcoastnews9529]

My heart exploded when I saw this . Where’s my Boston now. It’s all woke shhhh. 😢 Did you party at the Officer club ???

[@Kittypaws90]

This video means a lot to me. I live in New Hampshire now. I was 2 in 1992. And even though I was born in 1990 Revere Beach is the beach I grew up on. And will forever be in my heart.

[@sycksyngyrl]

Weylus and hilltop steakhouse ftw man I remember going there when I was a kid

[@rjdoucette]

Amazing! I'm drowning in nostalgia

[@HiepVo31]

8 years before I was legally able to drive but I remember all of these landmarks when my parents were driving me around!

[@Sulla2300]

I remember Buster’s. It was a nice gimmick, but it only lasted a short time. The waitresses used to say “I’ll be fetchin’ your grub.”

[@buckwelljohnson3168]

Holy shit! That was me in the Pontiac GTA leaving the batting cages. Was headed to the Palace that night.

[@ericfrechette1974]

That's crazy.!!

[@howellwriting9091]

Boy, I'd love to see a similar video of Rt 1 around 1970!

[@The_Fancave]

Great video, total flashback to my childhood. (I was 8 in May of 1992. LOL). Grossman's, Full of Bull, Service Merchandise, Godfried's Chicken...a bygone era, so many memories.

[@SpongeTheOc]

Me too! Born in 84?

[@The_Fancave]

@@SpongeTheOc Close! November 1983.

[@jboogieee337]

I was 12 years old. I grew up on the Malden Revere line so Rt1 was an everyday venture. Everything is so different now. "When we reminis over you My God"

[@Jericholic914]

The feeling of nostalgia in this video is borderline overwhelming. Wow.

[@eastcoastnews9529]

Yes I’m crying 😢 Because I remember walking through these shopping centers with my mom and my dad holding hands in my three brothers know my baby brothers go on and my dad and my grandparents and to see this again just reminds me of family

[@jackroche727]

Thanks for posting. Lived in Revere from 1976-2000 then moved to lynn to the present. I traveled Rt 1 an uncountable amount of times. Thanks for giving me back some memories .

[@HayastAnFedayi]

2:48 epic 80s/90s New England with Judas Priest blasting in the background while driving up on the Xmas Tree Shop lol amazing vid! Only way it could be more retro New England would be if you were driving and IROC Z!

[@carlomiller1984]

I remember the Hill Top Steakhouse. Me and my buddies from work liked to go there for the best steaks at the lowest prices. The Filet minion was so big you had to get a doggie bag.

[@Tainopisno1]

Dayum this video looks ancient compared to today's video technology. This was 30 yrs ago in the early 90s when we were just getting out of the 80s fashion and culture. Pop and new wave music was still popular and hip hop fashion and music wasn't as mainstream in the 90s yet in 1992 but 1992 had the Olympics and the presidential election and I was still a kid heading in middle school in the fall of 1992.

[@hirambeck8062]

Awesome! I remember these places from when I was in high school. Like a time machine!

[@stephanchaggaris9437]

This is truly amazing & shocking. In May of 1992 i was just graduating from college & I drove this road all the time. What a trip to see it again - thanks 💥

[@JM-75003]

Me too, cool to watch

[@arthurhu2290]

16:47 orange dinosaur and golf course. Thanks for posting I just drove by in 2023 and wondered what happened to the ship and Hilltop Steak house

[@auxchampsfifergaming]

hilltop is gone the sign is just their also what is the ship

[@Dan-ol1ff]

WCGY & WILD -the perfect soundtrack to this little time capsule.

[@spin979]

Thanks! :) My then girlfriend liked Soul and Funk while I was going through a Classic Rock thing. We'd just keep bouncing back and forth. I ended up liking a lot more Soul and Funk than I'd ever imagined.

[@CokeBoi]

This is so crazy to see lol I see this road all the time and here it is 30 years ago.

[@howardkoor2796]

Several times a year my whole family,​ grandparents ​and all, climbed into two cars and made the drive up Route 1 to the​ ​​​​Hilltop ​Steakhouse.​ The world whizzed by us​ ​​​from the back seat of my grandfather’s big, black Chrysler Imperial​. ​Large garish road signs of all colors and shapes sprung up from the ground reaching toward the sky. Someday, anthropologist​s​ will ​have a field day discussing this​ terrain, but for a 12​-​year​-​old ​in the late '60s,​ it all blended into one colorful mosaic of place. I don’t remember ​my family ​eating anyplace ​else but​ Hilltop​, ​except ​perhaps ​​​Valle’s Steak House if Hilltop ​looked too crowded. Hilltop was famous for what was planted on its lengthy strip of green grass; dozens of life-sized plastic cows and a 68 foot neon cactus sign that was straight out of Las Vegas…. No matter how fast one’s car barreled down the highway, you couldn’t miss that sign, and I bet that many a child had pet names for the plastic cows. Arriving at the event called Hilltop, we all piled out of our cars, received our hand written number from the hostess, and waited with hundreds of other suburbanite families in a long covered porch a stone’s throw from the highway. To relieve our boredom, my brother and I chased each other amongst the crowd and the adults talked adult stuff. It seemed like forever before our number came up, but it eventually did. We then were lead to and seated in a cavernous western​-​motif​-​of​-​a​-​room named “Kansas City.” As we ​settled into our high back​, vinyl-upholstered​ booth, a ​spunky middle-aged waitress would quickly approach our table ​to take our orders. Dad, the alpha​-​male​,​ made small​-​talk with the waitress​-​of​-​the​-​day​.​ I always felt so proud that he (and vicariously, ​we) made that connection, however momentary it was. ​ ​ All around us, loud chatter echoed through the ​​vast wood​-​paneled room. We witnessed​ dozens of waitresses scurry​ing​ about, gracefully balancing large silver trays covered with a dozen steak​-​plated meals. ​Hilltop was suburban theater at its best.​ ​We weren't ​just chewing on a good steak.​ We were feeding​​ together in this cavern-of-a-room with 500 other ​grazers.

[@Jericholic914]

Was hoping to see Full of Bull here but it’s a little farther down! Awesome video

[@eltoncostello7357]

1:19. Hilltop Steakhouse.... that's a cool shot... iconic....

[@leonardswhite]

Truly AWESOME time capsule... I've been combing the internet for simply still pictures of the old New England Shopping Center....to see a whole video is staggering.....thanks for posting and for having the foresight for posterity back in 1992...!!!

[@spin979]

Leonard White... Thanks so much for your kind words. I’m happy the video means as much to you as it does to me.

[@bretcantwell4921]

This is an amazing time capsule. My mom is from Ipswich, we lived there in the early 70s and returned often until the early 90s. That entailed a drive up 1 from Logan and a trip to the Hilltop at some point. I often joked after our 2000 visit, that I flew in from Texas to get a good steak.

[@spin979]

Thanks, Bret!

[@gertibell]

Seeing Hilltop makes me cry & angry at the same time. The new owners took one of the busiest restaurants IN THE WORLD & screwed it up. I would kill for another salad & those awesome rolls at Hilltop. As a kid, I loved that we had to wait an hour or more for a table. My parents would get us Shirley Temples at the bar & we'd look out at the cows & the traffic. Of course as a kid I wished we had gone to the McDonald's across the street but I smartened up as I got older.

[@ymatktpk11]

I grew up in Somerville but we hung out on Route 1 with some Saugus girls we were friends with. We'd go over their house and watch 90210, go to RollerWorld, and go through the Taco Bell drive through. Good memories!

[@mbp2112]

Visone Corvette! What a wild story.

[@ericfrechette1974]

Oh I know the close of it very well as I removed all the Corvettes ova 20 years ago..

[@mk202]

I never realized how ‘new’ the Square One Mall is. I left in 89, and lived in Boston until 97.

[@alexandrac591]

Deep memories here. I was only 9 at the time, so I'm probably the youngest person alive who remembers Woolworth's. You got a split-second of Full of Bull, which i remember very fondly.

[@The_Fancave]

I loved Full of Bull when I was a kid; all of those license plates on the wall!

[@petterc188]

@@The_Fancave And those onion rings!!

[@van8000]

Oh wow, thank you for sharing. It brings back so much memory.

[@reneesharp2497]

Graduated from Saugus High and my first job was at the CVS in the New England Shopping Center 😊

[@TheNoisePolluter]

Thanks for posting!!! I can remember as early as 1992 driving up and down Route 1.

[@MrTReinold]

Such memories of the New England Shopping Center! Got my Easter suits there at Anderson Little's (where Santa's Marketplace is located in the video in the back area) in the 1970's then we'd go to Thom McAnn's next door for some new shoes! Also remember that Service Merchandise, Woolworth's and Sears. Also, there was a movie theatre behind the shopping center. It was so much better than the bland mall that replaced it.

[@Jeeppeeps]

In may 92 I was 4.5 I’m from Lynnfield and my family was from Everett so I spent my life on route 1....I still do lol

[@Truesdale22]

Been to the Hilltop Steakhouse a dozen of times and worked in Kowloon restaurant in the early 80s

[@jayfallon]

What a gem. I worked at Ira Olds Toyota on Rt. 114 when this was recorded. I don't remember Rt. 1 looking so grimy and desolate at the time but I guess it takes thirty years to make a decent comparison.

[@nhbob]

Excellent! Thanks for posting this video, and having the foresight to focus in on the businesses that are all essentially gone.

[@paulchristie4904]

Thank you for sharing this video! 😊

[@MattTrakker350]

I was in elementary school when you filmed this and grew up nearby in Malden near Revere, very cool to see... the cars, everything. We all thought Square One was a big deal when it opened but a lot of character along that strip has been lost sadly

[@they.luvleaa]

Thank you for this, great video I’m very interested in old route 1!

[@petersalem2433]

Thanks for the cool upload.Brings back a LOT of memories........

[@ronaldlundbohm815]

This is great FROZEN IN TIME!!!

[@butterboiii9810]

Wow they completely remodeled the Sears when they built Square One Mall.

[@howardkoor2796]

Nice share.. lots of memories................

[@PaulByzan]

Did I miss the shot of the legendary Golden Banana? Surely that sacred Route 1 landmark could not have been left out. :-)

[@Bob-xj8jl]

Very Cool, brings back memories, Kellys not there yet, just the townline house... but I did catch a glmpse of Full of Bull further north, very nice that you have this footage from 25 yearsago. Looks like when they were getting ready to build the Square One Mall, I drove by that mall a couple of months ago, looks like they're getting ready to close

[@spin979]

Bob White ... Glad you like the footage! It’s amazing how much has changed. You’re right about Square 1 Mall. Their big anchor store Sears is all but dead. Best Buy does not have a very impressive presence. It’s sad.

[@maryriley8077]

This was really fun! Im an old timer who graduated SHS 1978. I applied for a job at Service Merchandise when they were opening but didn't get it.:'( Oh well.. I guess I outlasted them ;)

[@eastcoastnews9529]

Mr Spin thank you for the great video and the memories. I’m from the area , now in the south in the sun. But my ❤ exploded when these memories rushed in . The palace, rascals. Officer club ❤. Please post more of this in the area 🙏🏻 bless you brother 🙏🏻

[@joeymaterese8095]

Thank you so much for the memories

[@spin979]

My pleasure!

[@julioanderson5680]

So good. Is this VHS?! Great quality and shooting. Papa Gino’s gone recently so abruptly.

[@paulcorreggio4925]

Papa Gino's (Northbound) became Angela's Coal Fired pizza then the Pizzahut on the southbound side became Papa Gino's. Then the other Papa Gino's near Stop n Shop was shut down.

[@Realistic316]

wow...NOSTALGIA

[@markg6605]

All the stores that have closed

[@Bassman968]

Awesome to see the way Route 1 was when I was in my early 20's! Anything else from around this time?

[@spin979]

Bassman968 ... I believe I have some of Squire Road, Revere. Have to dig around to see. Glad you’re liking it!

[@Bassman968]

@@spin979 That would be awesome! My neighborhood, been looking for exactly that!

[@nikeboy8870]

What makes people film videos like this? It’s almost like people know this type of video will be necessary in the future. I can’t watch the video now because then I’ll be up for hours thinking. I miss the old route one. I miss the hilltop. I miss the big ship at the Christmas tree shop. I feel like the Kowloon is the last standing landmark besides the orange dinosaur. i cant believe they knocked down that beautiful weylu building. Everything is changing so much from the 90s.

[@garyhogan9597]

Moved from area in 1976 several trips back only to see obvious changes . Ghee drove tens of thousands of miles on Route 1 from Boston to Maine although this is mostly Saugus to Lynfield . I lived in Lynn

[@monaxia2062]

hi there! thanks so much for posting this video. can I please get in touch with you about using some of this footage for a documentary? please let me know the best way to contact you.

[@golfmanmatt]

Thank you. I was 12 at the time and Hilltop Marketplace and Butchershop was my first job (not the restaurant). It was cool to see the NESS before they made Square 1. Wasn’t there a movie theater behind the NESS?

[@spin979]

golfmanmatt ... Yes there was a movie theater behind NESS. I remember they ran a Three Stooges Marathon on a weekend night at midnight. Glad you enjoyed the video! The constant thing about Route 1 is change.

[@katastrafika5253]

I used to go to The Palace With my fake id back in 86

[@spin979]

🤣🤣🤣

[@Sky1]

Waiting to see my car drive by

[@DivineDart]

This is awesome

[@eastcoastnews9529]

If you go there now you were totally feel lost the steakhouse they removed the cows 🐄 and the cactus. Most landmarks that gave you that nostalgic feeling it’s gone and it just looks like some modern metropolis and now everything cost 20 times more and we’ve been pushed out of the area I’m gonna New Englander and thanks to gentrification I’ve been pushed south this is not the America I once knew .

[@spin979]

The cactus is still there, but that's all that remains of The Hilltop.

[@TravelingWithSpecialAbilities]

All the places I worked!❤❤❤❤

[@brentdavis4867]

Buckeys went out with GIRL that worked there when I was running the restaurant off the fells

[@dramatyst5661]

Wow

[@marilynwright7212]

I like the radio station soundtrack...how about all the neon...was that the cow at hilltop steakhouse?

[@spin979]

Yes. That was one of the Hilltop cows.

[@FiftiesDad]

RIP the ship.

[@Benicio_Fols]

I live near there

[@mk202]

‘A’ is fer Apple ‘B’ is fer BHICKFIDDS...,

[@bretztheman]

FILENES BASEMENT had the weirdest strongest old-lady perfume smell to it!! (You know it’s true l)

[@Pringles147]

what did they sell there was it just like a Macys and where was it like what store is it near now

[@strongjaymusicgroup]

wow

[@howardkoor2796]

Nice

[@davidleebls1874]

I know who stole the Stear... From the HillTop Vincent Macky,,, From Salem State!!!

[@christophere9200]

great video …..but why where you taking it at the time ?

[@spin979]

No. I was driving, but I had a great co-pilot who was doing the shooting.

[@Jeeppeeps]

For the most part not too different lol I remember Ames what was at Kelly’s before Kelly’s

[@petterc188]

Red coach grill then El Tortio as I remember

[@chrisbcritter]

would anyone know what was Cummings? (next to Filene's Basement)

[@petersalem2433]

Does anybody remeber exactly where the now defunct Augustine´s used to be?Lynnfield or Saugus? Or Natick?

[@frankrivera3242]

Augustine's was located in Saugus where Jimmy's Steer House is today.

[@guinnevere100]

Augustine's was a great place to eat. I used to love the buffet they had there. I miss that place so much.

[@spin979]

They still call the location "Augustine's Plaza."

[@bretztheman]

Days Inn Saugus😂 wow! did College Pro painting! Did the most awful work ever on 2 beat-down ragged homes. 75 hrs total & my paycheck $970 after tax. I def thought it was worth it @ the time but the bosses made way more obv! Oh well. Live and learn right?

[@kennethoblenesjr8493]

👍🎅🏻

[@j-dawg6832]

Was there really no Bradlees on Route 1 in the Saugus area? That’s kinda shocking

[@atm97ify]

Nope, there was already Ames, Caldor, & KMart so Bradlees knew they wouldnt be able to compete in the area. Closest Bradlees to Saugus was on Revere Beach Pkwy in Chelsea

[@Sky1]

Hilltop!

[@interstellarphred]

Saugus had their school hard by and down wind of the mother stroad when lead was in the gasoline. which kinda explains the public policy initiatives of the "Branch Manoogian" cult

[@mk202]

Today’s Neighborhood Drag Store...C V S ! 💄💋

[@spideyman6116]

This Is kinda funny cause my girlfriend at the time was pregnant with my daughter she was born in January and we use to eat at the leaning tower of pizza & hang at the Square One Mall 😏😎😂

[@Shines8]

Anybody remember what the white boarded up house used to be right next to the U-Haul and Oyes?

[@ericfrechette1974]

Still there.!!