We grew up here.

We grew up walking into Old Town for haircuts. Winchell's was a staple. We bought music at Miller Music — it's Iron & Grace Boutique now — and dug through Traylor Hardware and the Used Book Emporium, a building that's since been remodeled and sits empty.

When we were kids, we rode along with Dad in his trash truck. Out where Clover Basin is now, much of the land was still open.

None of this was here when we were growing up. Pike Road was our shortcut — the fast way around Longmont traffic on Ken Pratt.

We used to ride BMX bikes through the open fields out near Sugar Mill Road and behind Longmont Ford, before the homes went in.

In the early cruising days, the loop on Main ran from 3rd Avenue up to TG&Y and back. TG&Y and Showtime Video shared a shopping center on the north side — today that's Ace Hardware and Natural Grocers. Kmart was up on the north side too.

Summers meant Centennial Pool and the park. The YMCA and the bowling alley were right nearby.

Sunset Golf Course began in August 1922 as the Longmont Golf Club, a private group that leased 40 acres of farmland from the City near Sunset Park. In November 1922 the City Council approved the club's name and a $1 daily green fee.

When Twin Peaks Mall opened, it was the cat's meow. Movies, shopping, the food court — it was where everybody went.

Union Reservoir was where you went for fishing and swimming. In high school, ditch days meant one thing: everybody out at the Res.

We used to pick up dumpsters in Hygiene with Dad, for businesses like the Clark Food Store — it's the Mountain Fountain now.

Summers, we'd head up to Lyons, out into Apple Valley, with a tire tube — and float the St. Vrain all the way back down toward Longmont.