Leon Bibb reflects: The nostalgia of the holidays in downtown Cleveland

Stores like Higbee's and Halle's may be long gone, but the memories remain. Leon takes a look back at some of the moments that made his childhood so special.

[@dannysgirl1549]

I loved how downtown was lit up at Christmas. It was beautiful.

[@marcelinasouthall3398]

Thanks For The Memories 💝

[@wyattearpswoman838]

I remember the Twigbee shop as a very small child in the 80's. It's one of my earliest memories. I remember the windows too. Those were good times. So sad to see what Cleveland has become.

[@urspendy]

aww I saw Mr. Jingaling! Growing up in Cleveland/Euclid/Mentor in the 70s was magical

[@wtfisgoinonhere2329]

My grandmother was a seamstress at Halles in the ladies and children's dept. She made $1.00 an hour in the 60's and had to take a bus to Cleveland from N. Ridgeville to get to work, cuz she didn't know how to drive. Gram made or bought all of our clothes from Halles and took us there every Dec to get dresses and see Mr. Jiggaling. Then we eat in the restaurant and get the hobo lunch, PB&J sandwich wrapped in a bandana on a stick. The dressing room had a little platform to stand on, and gram would have up twirl around and show off our dress ! I miss the 60's.

[@joypopoola6115]

Higbee’s!!! I had $40 as a little girl to spend in 1980, the store workers, they treated me like I was a millionaire.

[@itsbritneybyotch7471]

Woah

[@kenlasky3904]

$40 in 1980? You WERE a millionaire! 😀😀😀

[@wyattearpswoman838]

Yes!!! What a great time that was!! I sure miss it.

[@thomasberta3160]

I remember Leon as a Columbus newsman after the war.

[@kenlasky3904]

That was the Christmas that I remember as a kid. But, my favorite was The May Company. There was Santa and his sleigh and 8 reindeer flying up the front of the building. One of the windows had something like an amusement park with a monorail type roller coaster. I could watch that for an hour. Then, “Toy Town” was the entire 7th floor. And when you took the escalators, they got narrower the higher you went. The one from the 6th to 7th floor was single file. And along one wall was nothing but electric trains.

[@marcelinasouthall3398]

I bought alot of shoes from Cole's me and my two friends Cheryl and Renee every Saturday

[@joeklimko8339]

What good days look what we have now go down town and you just might get shot I remember my mom taking me to see Santa and store front windows what happened 😢

[@hippydragon13]

Lol that tree still look messy as ever I love it 🤣

[@ultrakwon]

If you want to relive "elbow-to-elbow" traffic congestion, move to Los Angeles or New York City. Trust me, it gets old fast.

[@kenlasky3904]

😀😀😀

[@esmeraldaandcassidy3064]

Good