Great pics, purplesofa! The Kroger at Pershing & Pike? LOL! That was a Safeway store that must have been included in the buyout back when. It's a relatively new bldg. Safeway pulled a very foolish cost-saving move just before they sold the AR stores. They terminated the manager at the Pike store along with four other over-50 store managers. They ended up settling a large age-discrimination suit.
Two dingy, older stores survived into the 70's. The building in front of the Kroger warehouse on Pike was a store. It received no truck deliveries just goods two-wheeled in from the warehouse in back. There was also an old Kroger store in Levy(not Camp Robinson) across from the cemetary. The building is very small and you would never guess its history. I think a Seventh Day Adventist Church is nearby.
knock knock,
There are actually two very old communities along Pike Ave. and it's extension MacArthur. To the west of Pike from the Arkansas River to the base of Scenic Hill is the old town of Argenta. Many of the sidewalks still have the inscription "Argenta Paving Co." although huge tree roots have broken the walks up in many places. The lower part of Argenta was subject to periodic flooding from the river. In the 70's and 80's old Argenta was a mix of very elderly living among needy, rent-subsidized families as the area decayed. North of I-40 is the community of Levy, a patriotic blue collar community which is probably now in decline with the loss of Wal-Mart. Was your aunt talking about the covered bridge on the south side of Burns Park?
tms
