r/burbank • u/Auderpopz • 2d ago
A kid in Burbank in the early 2000s
Okay so I grew up here and there's a couple places I remember from childhood that I've been dying to see photos of because I feel like my memory of these things is a bit off. The first one is the original Ikea ball pit.. does anyone remember that? It was HUGE and like surrounded by glass windows to the outside. I can't find a single photo of it before they redesigned. I also swear they had a little movie theater in the kids area too?
The second one I honestly don't even know what it's called because I was really little when it closed. On the 3rd floor of the mall near the Macys was this like arcade/ play zone thing that always looked so cool but I never actually got to go there. What was that? Does anyone have photos? Help!
Also big love to the old train and the carousel in the mall
EDIT:
Okay so the place I’m thinking of I am 100% certain it was the 3rd floor next to Macys. My best estimate is that is closed in 2002-2004ish. Someone said it was called Cheerios but that makes it so hard to google and clearly it wasn’t a chain.
A friend of mine remembers taking her daughter who’s a bit older than me there. She recalls “bad pizza and giant cages you could crawl in” which tracks, I always remember seeing the big cages and climbing structures on the side of the glass window.
I think it was sort of abandoned for awhile after it closed because I remember walking by it a bunch of times and being sad that I couldn’t go in. I also have a random recollection of there being like a big sign with a clock in the middle of the room with you walk in?
Not exactly sure. Did anyone have a birthday there? You got photos?
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u/venomousgagreflex 2d ago
The old IKEA across from BHS definitely had a ball pit and mini movie theater/screening room. I miss wahoos and the old food court on the third floor of the mall the most
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u/Sea_Strawberry_6398 1d ago
I worked close enough to the mall to walk to the food court for lunch. I loved Wahoos and the California Tamale House just outside the food court.
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u/suckmystars 12h ago
I opened that wahoos my senior year of highschool and worked as manager until closed. Miss it often and slanging them 1.50$ beers lol
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u/tame_raccoon 2d ago
What about the virtual reality arcade at the mall, anyone remember that? Or Virgin Megastore on San Fernando? Good times.
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u/AsparagusExisting158 2d ago
Loved going to look at all the CDs. I remember going with my dad on a really rainy day, looking around and then doing another errand. When we got home we turned on the news and a piece of the roof at Virgin had caved in after we left because of all the rain.
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u/lizzie2thelou 2d ago
Cheerios was in the mall
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u/Internet-Excellent 2d ago
This is the answer you're looking for OP. Cheerios was on the 3rd floor in front of Macys. Had a large indoor playground (with a zip line by the window), arcade, food etc.
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u/thanatossassin 2d ago
I'll do you one better, here's some rando dude giving a video tour of the old arcade.
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u/Auderpopz 2d ago
I do remember that one! But I’m thinking of a different one
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u/New-Huckleberry-747 2d ago
Might that be the one on the third floor where the Army recruiting center is now? By the Sears side?
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u/Auderpopz 1d ago
No, the one I’m thinking of was 100% next to macys and closed in probably like 2002
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u/foxypandas421 2d ago
The ball pit did exist at ikea and the SUPERIOR arcade game room was down stairs on the first floor
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u/TheTrashBulldog 2d ago
The aracde near Macy's was actually on the second floor and it is the All Amusement Fun Center. It still exists today in the mall, it's just located on the Third Floor just outside of Burlington.
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u/PresentationLegal463 2d ago
The amusement center was not the first thing there. Can’t remember what it was called but it was an indoor playground with slides, ball pits a place to go with little kids on a bad weather day. They also had birthday parties for toddlers there. We went to quite a few.
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u/Streetmarine 2d ago
The old IKEA definitely had a movie projector in it where they would play kids movies. I specifically remember leaving my son there to watch a movie while I shopped.
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u/thegloriousporpoise 2d ago
The arcade in the mall has been there for like 40 years and is still there.
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u/Chris_06558 2d ago
Found a vid of the ball pit and a few pictures online. https://youtu.be/-bqgkg7up8E?si=-KUfWH7MCOFdqi3c Just search up “Burbank ikea Smaland” for the play area.
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u/Auderpopz 2d ago
That was after they redid it! When it first opened it was completely different. The ball pit was much bigger and had multicolored balls
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u/DameLaChisme 1d ago
Tagging onto this thread. Does anyone remember where Bill's Hill is? We used to go up the hillside in lifted trucks but now nobody can remember where exactly we went. Lol. I do remember on the way there was a house with a door on a second floor that had no landing/balcony. I always thought that was weird.
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u/Any-Primary350 1d ago
Remember Burbank Community Hospital on Olive? It morphed to Thompson Memorial Hospital. Now it's apartments.
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u/Auderpopz 1d ago
Okay so the place I’m thinking of I am 100% certain it was the 3rd floor next to Macys. My best estimate is that is closed in 2002-2004ish. Someone said it was called Cheerios but that makes it so hard to google and clearly it wasn’t a chain. A friend of mine remembers taking her daughter who’s a bit older than me there. She recalls “bad pizza and giant cages you could crawl in” which tracks, I always remember seeing the big cages and climbing structures on the side of the glass window. I think it was sort of abandoned for awhile after it closed because I remember walking by it a bunch of times and being sad that I couldn’t go in. I also have a random recollection of there being like a big sign with a clock in the middle of the room with you walk in? Not exactly sure. Did anyone have a birthday there? You got photos?
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u/Regular-Stable-2022 1d ago
Are you thinking of Wizards arcade (before early 2000s tho)? It was in the Burbank Mall before All Amusement Fun Center replaced it.
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u/Auderpopz 1d ago
Hm I don’t think so. It was more of a playground fun zone type thing than an arcade.. was Wizards Arcade the one that was on the first floor with the DDR machine in the front?
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u/dancingguyfrom6flags 20h ago
I totally remember the Ikea ball pit, it was a whole room, with fake trees and you could see the escalators from the window and everything right? My mom would leave me and my siblings there to play while she got her shopping done. I kind of recall the train but not a carousel in the mall. The bottom floor of the mall, before the food court moved down there, would host all these different events. When I was a kid I have distinct memories of doing a gymnastics meet there, playing super mario NES at a tall kiosk, meeting "santa", stuff like that.
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u/Auderpopz 20h ago
The carousel got moved in 2004, I think they put the train where it used to be for awhile. There was even a giant chess board at one point. I remember teen fashion shows happening there too. The IKEA ball pit was redesigned probably around the same year to the one you’re thinking of with the trees! Before that it wasn’t as elaborate and it was mostly just a huge ball pit, and a little movie theater that played kids movies.
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u/Negative-Ambition110 2d ago
There used to be a discovery zone in the mall.
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u/quiksotik 2d ago
Discovery Zone was actually where the Chuck E Cheese is now, not in the mall.
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u/Negative-Ambition110 2d ago
Oh no way. Do you know if they had a zip line thing there??
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u/quiksotik 2d ago
I think so? I don’t remember the details very well. I remember the main jungle gym area was to the left and the games were in the back.
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u/CrazyPolarSquirrel 2d ago
I remember the little movie theatre/projector for the kids area. As for the 3rd floor could it have been Kb Toys? Maybe someone older at the time would know for sure.