09/30/2026
This one is a little longer than I normally post, but I think it’s worth it. If you grew up around Paulding, Cobb or anywhere close by, I’ve got a feeling some of this may shake loose a memory or two. We touched on some of these memories last Christmas too.
I was sitting here a couple of days ago when one of those little bells went off in my head.
Do I really remember sitting in the Davis House at Cobb Center as a little boy and seeing women walking through the dining room in fancy clothes while we were eating?
Back then I didn’t know anything about modeling. I just remember looking up from the table and wondering why all these nicely dressed ladies kept walking by us.
So I called Mom.
“Do you remember those women walking around while we were eating at the Davis House?”
“Yep. I remember that.”
And just like that, one little memory opened the door to probably a hundred more.
I later learned those young women were part of what was called the Rich’s Teen Board. I had no idea what I was looking at back then. I was just a little boy sitting there eating and watching all of it go by.
And then I started thinking about Cobb Center itself.
Back when I was little, Cobb Center was still open-air. You’d walk between places like Rich’s and Woolworth’s, and right there in the middle was that pavilion with the little creek running through it.
I always loved that pavilion.
At Christmas it became something else entirely.
I can still picture sitting at the Davis House knowing that when we finished eating, we were going over there. Rich’s was all lit up and Christmassy with the trees and decorations, and then you’d look toward that pavilion and see Santa up there.
To a little boy, that was something.
I can still remember looking up at him and thinking, There’s Santa.
I even seem to remember little deer around that pavilion and wondering as a child if they were real or not.
And somewhere in all of that was Woolworth’s too. I can still almost remember the smells of that place.
That may be one of the things I enjoy most when everybody starts sharing memories back with me. Somebody will mention one little thing and suddenly another piece comes back.
And the funny thing is, thousands of other kids my age were having a lot of these same experiences. We may have gone to different schools, lived in different towns and grown up in different neighborhoods, but so many of us remember the same stores, the same restaurants, the same Christmas traditions and a lot of the same little moments.
And on plenty of those trips, if we didn’t eat at the Davis House, we might stop at Rio Vista off 41.
Of all the things I could remember about Rio Vista, one of the strongest is that salad.
They would bring it out with that tangy red dressing on it, and I can still remember eating that salad and looking up at that big swordfish hanging there.
Funny the things a kid remembers.
Because Daddy worked at Lockheed, I remember the Christmas open houses there too.
I can still picture walking across that big parking lot with Daddy and then going through the gate.
And one thing really impressed me,
My dad had a badge.
I remember being proud of that. Daddy would show his badge and we’d go through the gate, and to me that meant we belonged there.
Then somewhere inside they had this long row of wooden bins filled with toys. The children would move along the line and reach into those bins, picking out toys to put in their bags.
One toy in particular has never left my memory.
A little army man with a parachute.
I couldn’t wait to get home, throw that little fellow as high as I could and watch his parachute open and float him back down.
Then my mind starts wandering back toward Paulding.
I remember when Ben Franklin opened in Paulding Plaza. I had seen Big Jim on television, and there he was sitting in that new store.
I can still picture that toy and that arm with the bicep that popped up.
I told Mom how badly I wanted him.
And sure enough, Big Jim showed up at our house that Christmas.
Then there was Western Auto in downtown Dallas, where I got my first fishing rod.
A friend of mine from church and his daddy went with Daddy and me that day. We started out early that morning, got the fishing rods, headed to Pumpkinvine Creek, and then later made our way over to Raccoon Creek.
We spent the day fishing with our dads.
That’s one of those memories that means a little more to me now than it probably did then.
I remember riding past the old Judean Drive-In at night and twisting my head around trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was playing on that giant screen.
Across the road was the California Ball Field, and I know a whole lot of kids who grew up around Paulding will remember playing ball there.
And how many of you remember Tasty Freeze after Sunday night church?
I certainly do.
One particular Sunday night, when I was probably five or six years old, I finally got the banana split I had been wanting.
Then Mom cut it in half to share with me.
As far as I was concerned, that was my banana split.
I can actually remember crying because she had taken half of it.
I didn’t want half a banana split.
I wanted my banana split.
Then there was Powder Springs.
A lot of people remember Dairy Queen, but how many remember going across the street to Harmon’s for ice cream?
Those things seemed about twice the size of the ones from Dairy Queen. Just enormous.
And later, when I got older, there was Paulding Plaza and McDonald’s.
Through the ’80s especially, cruising between the plaza and McDonald’s became entertainment all by itself. Some nights there were teenagers everywhere, just riding back and forth, seeing who was out.
The funny thing is, none of these memories seemed connected when I started.
It all began with one little question about those ladies walking through the Davis House.
But that’s how memory works.
One little door opens and suddenly you can see the stores again.
You can taste that Rio Vista dressing.
You can look up and see Santa at Cobb Center.
You can see that little parachute soldier floating back down from the sky.
You can see that first fishing rod and a day spent fishing Pumpkinvine and Raccoon Creek with Daddy.
And somewhere in there is still a little boy terribly upset because his mom cut his banana split in half.
I know I’m not the only one carrying around memories like these.
So please add yours.
What place around Paulding, Cobb, Powder Springs or anywhere nearby immediately takes you back?
What little detail do you remember that the rest of us may have forgotten?
And does anybody else remember the Rich’s Teen Board, or did you know someone who was part of it?
I have a feeling if everybody starts sharing their own little pieces, we may shake loose a whole lot of history we didn’t even realize we were still carrying around with us. ❤️
