Hello friends,

As the Our Springs site develops, one of the regular features will be the sharing of stories about life in Colorado Springs back in the day!

Those that know me know how I will often recall in stories the way things once were. (Just ask my former students!

There are a lot of good memories.

Begin sharing yours HERE!

Do you remember KYSN, the Crazy Cat, the lights on the mountain from the Manitou Incline, high school football rivalries, the burlap slide on Galley and Academy, putt putt golf (Galley and Academy), the airplane rides for a penny a pound, the Mesa Road house with the awesome Christmas lights, woodsys (sp?), the cabins in Palmer Park for camping, when (Constitution was the north side of town!...your fill in the blank), 2 lane ACADEMY Blvd., Aircadia Drive-In, Falcon, 21st Stree Drive-ins, Chief Theater, the ORIGINAL Antlers ,...??

Now I know you can add to this list.

If you have a story, share it here! If you'd like, contact us to do a feature for the website.

Phil

be cruisin' on through there...so it's really cool to have a little knowledge of the area. I ama really looking forward to moving. I'll miss California, but it's simply not feasible for me to live here & ever have any sort of life (owning a home, etc.)

I'm certainly getting well-educated on your part of the state, which is a good thing, since soon it'll be close to where I call home too. Yay! I still, however, have no memories of Colorado Springs in it's "day", so I guess I'll zip it here! LOL!

Love, SierraGirl

THE disc jockey at KYSN. (pronounced "kissin")

KYSN was at 1460 on the radio dial and was AM! It was the only station in town.

I am working on a feature on this..anyone in the Springs will/would remember KYSN.

Now this won't help you get a feel for the city now, but maybe you remember those days when AM was it!

Phil

Betty Harding, the ex-wife of the guy who owned KYSN, is living at the same nursing home in Littleton that my late father-in-law once occupied. I met her through my wife, who was a schoolmate of Harding's daughter at the Colorado Springs School. I believe she said her ex-husband (I don't remember his first name) is living in Arizona somewhere.

P.S. -- I seem to recall that Turcotte was found murdered in the trunk of his car sometime during the late '70s or early '80s, isn't that right?

Hi, My Dad was transferred to Fort Carson in June of 1964, he was a helicopter pilot. Being a military brat, moving all the time, music was a big part of my life. I had a transistor radio that I used to listen to KYSN on. I used to listen to it every night when I went to sleep, but I was using so many batteries that for Christmas my parents bought me a Silvertone radio with a timer. I went to Chamberlain Elementary for the sixth grade, Pikes Peak Junior High for the seventh grade and Harrison Junior/ Senior for part of the Eighth grade. In November of 1966 we moved to Weatherford, Texas where my Dad was an instructor pilot at Fort Wolters. I have so many fond memories of KYSN, especially the summers. My Dad was sent to Vietnam in April of 1965. The summer of 1965 I remember listeming to The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan went Electric, The Supremes, Dave Clark 5, The Byrds, Hermans Hermits there are so many. Where the "Action" is came on every afternoon, then I would go back to listening to KYSN. I escaped the fear that my Dad could be killed by constantly listening to KYSN and escaping thru the great music they played and the fun they had. I listened while I was doing homework, in the bathroom, in my bedroom while I built my model cars. I still love music, I currently have almost 1400 cds. I bought a cd burner and I made myself cds of the three summers, 64, 65, & 66 that I spent in Colorado Springs. The summer of 1966 was cool too, we had The Monkees, The Association, Johnny Rivers, Percy Sledge, The Troggs, The Stones & The Beatles. We lived on a horse ranch out on Drennan Road. Thanks and Sincerely, Stewart Carlton Weatherford, Texas

.

Wow! You covered a lot of them and I had forgot about some of them. The burlap slide! What fun!

Ski Broadmoor and then the Alpine Slide. That was a trip!

Kelker Junction.


The trampolines in Manitou. They were recessed, so the bouncy stuff was flush with the ground. Its a wonder we didn't kill ourselfs if we landed on the concrete.

And the water slide in Manitou.

I remember KYSN! The only radio station.

The Christmas decorations downtown were real pine boughs twined together and draped across from corner to corner of the intersections, with lights also entwined in them. Also, the light poles were decorated with the real pine boughs as well. Large lighted candy canes and stars. And the real Christmas Tree they would decorate in the middle of Tejon and Colorado. (I think or real close)

Downtown Tejon Street -
Woolworths, Kresses, were great places for penny candy. Fashion Bar and JC Penny were were we bought our school clothes.

Before the Citadel was built, it was a mud hole. It is a low lying area and always stayed wet. We would go down there and catch pollywogs and bring them home and watch them grow into frogs.

And the Rocket Launchers along Academy Blvd!
When they first installed the high powered electrical lines, I thought for sure we were going to be able to watch rockets launch from our back yard. They were amazing structures! What a disappointment when we discovered what they really were.
They recently dismatled many of them.

The old White Farm House that sat on the Corner of Constitution and N Circle that became the Fish and Game Deparment. Sad to see that tore down as well.

The skating rink by the Colorado Bridge Overpass with the wooden floor!

I can think of more later, but its getting late and off to bed I must go.

....One on Academy the other, Skate City I think, off Colorado blvd., once agin I'm guessing. I lived in CS during the disco era and both those places were busy on Friday & Saturday nights.
I remember when Mall of the Bluffs had a theater, apparently it's been leveled.
Ski Broadmoor, almost every Friday night if there was snow, with my buddy Scott. I had my 'rock' skis and trashed the bottoms there and Ski Pikes Peak for a quick & cheap skiing fix.
Anyone remember Pikes Peak's ski area? I worked there a couple summers as a kid doing gopher work for the owners.

Ah yes, Skateland was the skating rink on Colorado Ave with a wooden floor and the other wooden floor was Bosanova on N Prospect. Skate City, one on the corner of Academy & Constitution and the other on Barnes and Austin Bluffs, both vinyl floors. The Skate City rinks do hop on the weekends, but the 2 wooden floor rinks are now closed.

I forgot about the theater at the Mall of the Bluffs!
It hasn't been leveled just yet, but the plans on in the works. Won't be totaly leveled. What is the inside mall area, will all be torn out and you will have outside entrances to all the shops. A couple of new shops added and King Soopers expanded.

I never got into the ski scene, but we did go watch them ski at the Broadmoor. I had a couple of hard falls as a young child and I think that implanted an internal fear in me. I'm not afraid of heights and can go up any hill, but am very, very cautious coming down.
Ski Broadmoor was always so rough on skis. Even installed the atificial snow maker, but even that couldn't keep up a base deep enough to keep it a profitable business.
I never was at the Pike Peak Ski Slope, but had heard of and always wanted to go see the area. Heck, as a native to Colorado Springs, I didn't make it to the top of the Peak until I was 30, other than as an infant.

I think the burlap slide closed for insurance reasons as well as financial ..... KYSN -- I will get a pic of the station -- look for it on the front page soon.

I watched the Citadel being built as I walked to Emerson Jr High from Chelton and Santa Rosa streets.

The Old Farm area still has the silo there. And remember the Falcon Drive-In Theater located between what is now Barnes and Austin Bluffs .. across from Doherty HS...

phil

Putt Putt & the burlap slide where you teased me because I was too young to go on it. Never did by the way but had to watch you several times. KYSN was the best. Remember how we loved it when "Ramblin Man" by the Allman Bro's would come on? KYSN turned me onto "Signs" by Five Man Electrical band (who I recently learned are Canadian--I though everybody except the Stones & Beatles was American back then), "Popcorn" by Hot Butter, "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks & even "Arizona" by Paul Revere & The Raiders. Must have been prophetic since the majority of the Ladden's live in AZ. now! Remember that cool blue van w/the heart shaped tinted window KYSN had? KYSN was worth listening to all night long, even while you slept. Steve & I won tickets to be extras in the movie "Ice Castles" w/Robby Benson from KYSN. I am proud to say we overslept (listening to KYSN all night by the way!!) and didn't make it to the Broadmor Arena to be in that "Blockbuster" of a movie! Those call letters are the best. Isn't some radio station still using them?

a news radio station. i am going to try to go up there and interview them. the station sits off i-25 i think just past fillmore on the west side.