K: Kickin' it Old Skool

K is for Kickin' it Old Skool.

Well... sorta. If by "kickin' it old skool" I mean many of the things I remember about growing up in the HoCo (most of which are no longer around). And so we begin, in no particular order...

1)  Bob's Big Boy - it was in the now-empty space in Dobbin's old shopping center where Rocky Run used to be, and we would go there for breakfast buffets. And strawberry pie. Yum.

2)  Breakfast with Santa at the restaurant in Woodward and Lothrup (which closed in '95). I tried cranberry muffins for the first time there, and loved the pancakes rolled up around apple filling. And the older people in my family ordered liver and onions, which I never understood. Well... still don't.  But speaking of the mall...

3a) The Friendly's in the Mall food court,


3b) The Chinese restaurant on the upper level of the mall (I used to eat the mints in the community bowl, before I knew better).

4)  The movie rental place in the Long Reach village center with the "restricted" section. Not that I ever went in there... that would have been traumatizing. I just remember it had a beaded curtain and some "keep out unless..." signs. It taught me the definition of "shady."

5)  Walking to Palace 9 movie theater. More Old Skool? Hanging out at Cinema I, II, III. After a trip to Bennigan's at the lake front. Or maybe after a long day riding amusement park rides (County fair? County fair sounds right... all I know is that the tilt-a-whirl made one of my siblings vomit cotton candy, and we went to see Jurassic Park that night when she was feeling better).

6)  United Martial Arts.

Clearly a "bring it" pose. The finishing move was impressive.

7)  Jogger's ice cream, which used to be off Rte 108. Homemade peanut butter swirl.... have yet to have one better.

8)  Playing in the corn fields off of oakland mills road (and there might have been a peacock farm we were supposed to avoid... maybe... in the same general area. But that's kind of fuzzy and when I tried to get confirmation, I couldn't)

9)  The Putt Putt on Stevens Forest Road (vaguely).

10) The Enchanted Forest. When it was operational, not just a village center (or a scary abandoned site)

I know there are more (or possibly things I remember incorrectly). Feel free to add to/adjust the list in the comments below!

K is for Kickin' it Old Skool in the HoCo.


This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. (hocoblogs@@@) Click on The Link for more info and other participating blogs!


  1. Bob's Big Boy was awesome. We used to go there for Easter Sunday breakfast...and for an occasional breakfast on other Sundays throughout the year. I remember one Sunday when I got a plate off the breakfast buffet and filled it up with bacon. As in, I put as much bacon as I could on the plate and nothing else. Then I sat down and ate it all. My mom estimated that it was about 2.5lbs of bacon, which I ate in one sitting and then did not eat anything else. Yep, that was a good day...despite how I felt afterwards.

  2. I very much love the martial arts pose. Is that you? Way cute.

  3. How about pick your own strawberries and peaches at Sewells Orchard, the petting zoo at Symphony Woods, the Howard County Library branches at Wilde Lake and Long Reach village centers, the Bagel Bin was called the Bagel Shoppe, the traffic lights were horizontal instead of vertical, Gymnastics Plus (they may still be aroud), the hardware stores in Wilde Lake and Oakland Mills Village Centers, Hechingers, the lunch buffet at Woodies, ColumBus, Bun Penny's, the Magic Pan and the Columbia Visitors Center

  4. Kicking it old school is a great entry for K. Everyone has memories of their favorite places growing up and yours are definitely no exception. I can see all of these places vividly in my mind with the way you described them. Nicely done!

  5. The 50 meter pool at Turf Valley CC where they had Junior Olympics every year...with a big diving well!!!

  6. and of course the Cheese Shop in WL with Mr. Lee making the subs...

  7. The chinese restaurant in the mall was Jade Palace. They had a kickin' PuPu platter (which came with its own fire!) and peppermint ice cream.

  8. Putt putt! That's waaaaay back old skool!