About six years ago, I was a bright-eyed, innocent teenager growing up in the suburbs of… About six years ago, I was a bright-eyed, innocent teenager growing up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. Trips into the city were sporadic, but they almost always included a stop in Oakland for one reason or another.

The Oakland we know today is far different than the one I visited just over a half a decade ago. I’m not talking about just the loss of Pitt Stadium, changing the name of Forbes Quadrangle to Wesley W. Posvar Hall, the arrival of Bouquet Gardens or the construction of Sennott Square.

I’m talking about the culture of Oakland, about the loss of independent stores that were a staple of the neighborhood – the places that made Oakland Oakland.

We recently lost Bovvers, the shoe store that was, for a long time, Pittsburgh’s place to get Dr. Martens. Before buying things online was as easy as point, click and go, Bovvers was the only place around I could go to search out a pair of hot-pink Docs.

I can remember walking down Forbes Avenue one November night all those years ago and seeing that “The Big Lebowski” was playing at the Beehive in the King’s Court building – which closed its doors in May 2001. Since then, it has been empty and, despite opening up for one night last spring to host Oakland’s Flux event, it still remains for sale.

I’m not encouraging underage drinking, but C.J. Barney’s was the best place to be if you didn’t possess a fake ID. Where is it now? As a result of one too many raids by the LCB, C.J.’s was forced to close their doors for the last time in February, 2001. After standing vacant for two years, it is only now that another business is moving in – an 18-and-over establishment.

There is talk of closing Club Laga and turning the space into apartments. With the loss of Metropol already, and the impending loss of Project 1877, this is just ridiculous. Of course, Oakland needs more apartments, but it shouldn’t come at the sacrifice of a great live music venue. Why don’t they knock down some of the nearly condemned apartments that students are forced to live in now and replace them with multi-story apartment buildings.

And now, probably the hardest-hitting blow to Oakland’s uniqueness is the closing of Tela Ropa. The store that embodies the peace-love-and-harmony theme has fallen victim to Bush’s damn Operation Pipe Dreams. Due to the hefty fines the store had to pay as a result of last winter’s paraphernalia bust, the store is going out of business.

Tela Ropa carried items that you had a hard time finding elsewhere – some of my favorite posters and T-shirts were purchased at Tela Ropa, and high school friends begged to know where I found them. Tela Ropa was where my roommate from freshman year and I went to get tie-dyed tapestries to replace the dull, lifeless white curtains that were our “closets.” It had one of the best candle and incense selections around, and the staff was always extremely nice and helpful.

And then there was the obvious perk of having a place like Tela Ropa around – what would become its demise, however – their selection of pipes, bongs and bowls. For smoking tobacco, of course.

While we still have at least the remainder of November to take advantage of their going-out-of-business sale, things just won’t be the same when it’s gone.

Sure, we can hop online and purchase the exact same things that Tela Ropa carried, but we’re going to have to do it with a wait, and shipping and handling fees. We’re going to have to walk by that stupid Cricket store knowing that the space above it is vacant; that one of the most eclectic shops Oakland ever had has been closed down for stupid fines.

While nothing can be done to bring back Tela Ropa, C.J. Barney’s and Bovvers, we can only hope that the buck will stop here.

In the meantime, take advantage of Club Laga and places like The Original Hot Dog Shop, Dave and Andy’s, Dave’s Music Mine, Kiva Han and Peter’s Pub. You never know when something ridiculous is going to cause them to disappear.