Remember These Old School El Paso Places That Have Closed Down?

There are a lot of Facebook pages springing up all over the place that talk about old-school El Paso. In addition to the sites that celebrate the legacy of Henry Trost, there is also the El Paso County Historical Society, and You know You're from El Paso when... is another great Facebook page to check out if you are interested in El Paso's past.

One of the discussion that always gets a lot of interest on these pages is remembering old El Paso businesses that have closed down. Here's a list of some of my favorites from a recent discussion:

Meisenheimers at Bassett - This was an amazing sandwich and ice cream shop. They had the world's best ham and swiss sandwiches on rye, and an amazing sundae made with strawberry ice cream and a ton of whipped cream.

The Popular - This iconic El Paso department store was founded by Adolph Schwartz in 1903 and moved to its downtown location at 301 San Antonio in 1917. The Popular closed in 1995 and is terribly missed.

Chopsticks - This Chinese food cafeteria began in Cielo Vista mall and eventually opened another couple of locations throughout the city.

Los Bandido’s - Another Cielo Vista mall restaurant, but this one was in the upper level of Dillard's. Back when beauty queens were being turned out by the legendary duo of GuyRex, they worked as waitresses and hostesses in the restaurant. Rumor has it that undocumented immigrants were hidden in the attic of the restaurant by night and worked there during the day.

Switzer’s - This Cielo Vista mall store had beautiful clothes and was the place where everyone went to get a special occasion dress. It was pretty fancy schmancy.

Glass Apparel - This Bassett Center store was similar to Switzer's in that it had fancy clothes that made high school girls feel like they were walking a red carpet.

Tiffany’s bakery - Apparently I spent a whole lotta time at the mall because this is another Cielo Vista store. Yes, there was an actual, large bakery in the mall. They made heavenly brownies and the most amazing cakes. There was no where to sit, but you could walk in and get some delicious pastry from the glass case or order a custom made cake for any occasion.

Gasoline Alley - One of the "Barmuda Triangle" bars from back in the day. Gasoline Alley was where some pretty high profile names went to party. It was a ton of fun, but it was also the place where I dranak so much tequila one night that I've never been able to touch another drop of the stuff. Good times.