Show Biz Pizza

Recently I decided that I needed to make myself a blog to keep track of all these memories that have been coming to me. I had a really bad anxiety attack a few weeks ago and have been struggling with the aftermath of it since.. Ive found that remembering the past, and things that make me happy have taken the edge off of my anxiety. So this is my blog...
I remember at a very young age, my Grandma would take us to a place called Show Biz Pizza...it was located in Lincoln Park, and she lived about 3 miles away from it. My Grandma never owned a car nor did she ever have a license, so when we did go there, she pushed my baby sister at the time in a stroller, and I walked alongside her, all the way to Show Biz.My Grandma was not a rich person, and lived very simply. I still remember as Im sitting here typing this, all the businesses, and things we used to look at and stop at on our walking route to Show Biz.. There was this floral shop, which to this day still exists there, that had different seasonal window displays, which they still...also do. We loved to stop and walk up to the big display window and look at the display...

By the time we got the Show Biz, and crossed the big street, or so it seemed to us at the time, Eureka Rd we were ready! Walking into that place was so magical..The smell of pizza's cooking, the sounds and lights of arcade games, and of course all the rides, over took me every single time we went..We didnt go often, so everytime we did go, it was like the first time. I remember this special room they had for arcade games, that was shaped to look like you were walking into a space ship, and had a ramp that you walked up to go in.. Grandma never allowed us to go in there because of the older kids, and we always would stand on the bottom of the ramp, wondering if we would ever be old enough. Flourescent lights and the sounds of the games would always make us want to venture up further.. but Grandma always kept a close eye on us. Grandma would get us a table, and order a pizza..cheese and pepperoni every single time. I remember there was a heated counter where you could see the workers making pizzas, and the waitresses would walk up and grab pizzas to be taken to tables..They used those folded red plastic numbers to remember whos pizza was whos..

While we waited for pizza, which was about a 30 minute wait on a busy summer day...we spent our time watching the stage show... The characters were so awesome back then, and we loved every single second of it. They had a big gorilla named Fats Geronimo, who played a keyboard...There were various dogs, and bears none of which really stuck out to me..My favorite character was Mitzi Mozzarella..a mouse wearing a green and white cheerleader uniform, with a big green M on the chest.. She had blonde pigtails below her mouse ears, which resembled the ones I always wore myself...Maybe thats why I had an attachment to her... And she wore black and white saddle shoes...I remember always walking up to her side of the stage with a huge smile across my face...The other character I remember most and loved most was Billy Bob.. He was an overweight brown bear with a big buck tooth haha. He wore these maroon and yellow pants with suspenders and thats it! lol He played a banjo made of fake wood that had his name carved into it.. I adored him and would switch during the show between Mitzi and Billy Bob...occasionally Id stand in the middle and watch the rest of the band which was called "Rock A Fire". After a show ended the curtains would close, and kids would climb up the stage and try to go behind the curtains..one time I remember that we got a glimpse of the animatronic characters shut off and it really scared us! After all it was dark behind those curtains! The other cool thing to do was to reach up and touch the characters, which was pretty much restricted..but when you are a kid you just have to try! I remember touching the fur on Mitzi's hairy mouse legs when a worker wasnt looking...and thinking I was just so cool for doing it lol.
Show Biz Characters:

By the time a couple of stage shows had ended our pizza would be waiting for us and Grandma always let us have pop so there would be a pop for each of us waiting in the old plastic red cups.We usually got Sprite or Coca Cola.. That pizza seemed to be the best food in the entire world..And I would think about it often when my mom made something I disliked for dinner. The cheese and pepperoni pizza seemed to have an endless amount of slices..after eating a couple each... the excitement for the rides and games seemed to be uncontainable. So many times I devoured that pizza so fast and downed that pop at lightening speed that I dont know how we didnt get sick riding rides with full bellies! After we were done Grandma would give us money to go to the token machine... She would always stay at the table and let us just go play on our own. We were good kids so we never ever got into trouble at a place like that. Grandma did have one stipulation, that we were not allowed to jump into the ball pit or use the slide or rope ladder, she was concerned that kids played too rough and that the colored balls were never clean. She was probably right...So we would convert our cash to tokens featuring the Show Biz logo and Billy Bob, and go our separate ways usually...One of my favorite rides...featured below...

...was the first token spent...I loved this ride..and even when I was probably too big too big to be riding it, i still did. At one point when it became Chuck E Cheese this ride was repainted to feature him, and even then I still squeezed into that tiny seat..There were many other rides and games that I still remember to this day..Another cool ride was this red airplane that you pulled a lever in, and the plane rose up off the ground, they also had a helicopter that did the same thing but I only rode that every so often. The reason being because it made this loud buzzing noise when it went as high as the machine would allow. We would play games and win tickets for what seemed like hours...I remember the ball pit they had with colored balls to match Billy Bobs outfit..maroon and yellow..The price counter was awesome! I always picked out this pencil toppers that were plastic and were shaped like vegetables.. I remember the corn one very vividly.. Also anything we could get with tickets that had Billy Bob or Mitzi on, I would immediately want! One time my Grandma bought me a Mitzi doll... I wanted her so bad! She was in a plastic bag with a ShowBiz Pizza cardboard tag on top, I remember the dolls being hung up with clothes pins on line..I eventually also got Billy Bob and at home would reinact the stage shows with those two dolls...Recently while discovering it on ebay, I bought the same Mitzi doll I once had..When I find a good shape Billy Bob I will purchase him also... I remember ALWAYS getting a bag of cotton candy... we never left that place without it...and a bright purple balloon, on a stick..not a string.. I always chose purple..and I remember the ShowBiz Pizza logo being on it in white..
ShowBiz Pizza is one of my greatest memories, and in my current anxiety has helped me through. Just thinking about that place has changed me. I discovered this fan community for the Rock AFire Explosion and am an avid member now.. Apparently Im not the only one that this place meant alot to...I watched the dvd documentary about ShowBiz, and ended up crying in the end...just knowing how much I miss that place makes me emotional. With kids and the world today, everything is instant and interactive...maybe there is no place for an animatronic band in anyones hearts, but there will always be in mine...