The noise was full of deafening pleasure. But today, the walls of Hollywood Connection are filled with calm, country music. What was once the Mecca of children is now a Tractor Supply store. Just as the first group of young adults that made it famous was beginning to grow out of Hollywood Connection, it closed its doors, claiming a loss of funds from those who would sneak in. Seven years later, I had the chance to enter the building that had sat abandoned for all those years -- a local company had obtained it for three nights in order to create a haunted house, thereby raising funds. When I entered, the first thing I saw was the carpet -- not faded, still as brilliant and purple as ever. Although I tried to enjoy the haunted house for what it was, I was too consumed with thinking about how this building had transformed. The ticket booth was still there, covered in cobwebs...

The laser tag room, bumper boat pool, and go-kart track were gone, replaced with slabs of concrete surrounded by the purple carpet. The rooms for the movie theaters were just big, open caves, and arcade, which had been surrounded by a clear, plastic wall, was an empty shell. What was once a roller skating rink was a concrete hole surrounded by the same walls we would lean over and try to grab our friends' hands as they skated by. But the cafe -- that was still there. A red checkered floor, old-fashioned countertop, and big booths. When I saw it, I smiled.
Just a few months later, they tore most of the structure down to put in the Tractor Supply Store. Of course, the Wal-Mart is still there, not nearly as glossy as it once was, but still going strong. I suppose it is a testimony to the things that endure.