Fav Place as a Kid That Isn’t Here Anymore

Man I remember there being so many more kid friendly places in the Basin when I was a kid. Maybe it's just my imagination? Maybe I just don't notice as many of them now because I'm an adult? It really seems like there were more places to go for kids back in the day. Hell we even had teen nights at Grahams. That's where I went on the night of my 16th birthday. Where'd they all go?

I used to hang out at this teen music venue when I was a teenager called The Underground. Granted, there's no way in hell I'd let my kid hang out there lol, but I thought it was the coolest place in the world back in the day. I probably hung out there almost every weekend until I was about 19 years old. It's where I played my first gig as a musician, it's where I met some of my longest known friends. Hell, it's where I met my son's mother. She was one of the top 3 most desirable girls in that group of folks and I....well, lets just say a lot of people were scratching their heads when I ended up with her...including me.

So many bands played there, including a few acts that made it pretty far. One of which even ripped off a friend of mine after playing a show there with his band. If I hadn't heard them practicing the song myself several times before, I would have never believed it, but this band released an album less than a year after playing at The Underground, and my jaw dropped when I bought it and heard my friend's song playing through the speakers. It ended up being one of their more famous songs too. I think my friend was more flattered than he was mad though.

We had things for kids of all ages though. Arcades, Putt-Putt, Fun City, Peter Piper Pizza, Discovery Zone, and several others. What happened to all of them?I know we have cool places here like Cinergy, and honestly, Cinergy would have blown my mind as a kid. It just seems like there were a lot more different places back when I was a kid.