Hollywood Weekend with Kids
When I was growing up, our family vacationed in Hollywood, Florida, every summer. It's a true monument to my mother's sense of creativity that we looked forward to these weeks on the beach, as the city had a decidedly retiree bent. It was so tough on kids, we had one motel owner who charged extra for my brother and I, because "they're sure to disrupt our other guests." I took a 17-year hiatus before returning as an adult, and the city has done a 180. Sure, Hollywood still attracts the snowbird set. But today children are as welcome here as Disney World, and city officials are bending over backward to make sure they know it.
The Dania Beach address a technicality, as the parking lot is across the street from Hollywood's city limits. It's a favorite hang-out for birthday parties -- they serve a monster of a dish called the kitchen sink, filled with 20-some scoops of ice cream -- but visitors can't call it a vacation without staging their own eating contests... More >
The Dania Beach address a technicality, as the parking lot is across the street from Hollywood's city limits. It's a favorite hang-out for birthday parties -- they serve a monster of a dish called the kitchen sink, filled with 20-some scoops of ice cream -- but visitors can't call it a vacation without staging their own eating contests here. My mother is the only one I know who ever finished her dairy treat - a pitcher full of root beer float. They have "smaller" cone treats for the very young at heart, and plenty of funny cutouts to stick your head in for photos.
There's no question this place is cheesiness at its best and kids from 5 to 25 love the cheap laughs. Located right on Johnson Street, it's easily the best lit business on the block, and you can't buy a towel, hat, sweatshirt or Star Wars joke underwear anywhere else without first checking Wings' inventory. A small warning: some of the... More >
There's no question this place is cheesiness at its best and kids from 5 to 25 love the cheap laughs. Located right on Johnson Street, it's easily the best lit business on the block, and you can't buy a towel, hat, sweatshirt or Star Wars joke underwear anywhere else without first checking Wings' inventory. A small warning: some of the jokes are sexual in nature, so supervise young children and steer them toward the fake crawling worms.
My mother is the only one I know who ever finished her dairy treat - a pitcher full of root beer float.
A great way to balance silliness with the wonder of Mother Nature, Anne Kolb features tours of a mangrove section, either by boardwalk or from the observation tower that requires a 68-step climb to view. Canoes, trails, kayaks an afternoon may not be enough time to devote to this sanctuary. More
A great way to balance silliness with the wonder of Mother Nature, Anne Kolb features tours of a mangrove section, either by boardwalk or from the observation tower that requires a 68-step climb to view. Canoes, trails, kayaks an afternoon may not be enough time to devote to this sanctuary.
My Hollywood childhood afternoons featured shuffleboard contests with my brother -- a quaint South Florida game of shoving disks down a pavement to score points. We lived for nothing more than to knock the other one off the scoring grid. Now Dave and Busters has come to town with its 58,000 square feet of video game entertainment ... b... More >
My Hollywood childhood afternoons featured shuffleboard contests with my brother -- a quaint South Florida game of shoving disks down a pavement to score points. We lived for nothing more than to knock the other one off the scoring grid. Now Dave and Busters has come to town with its 58,000 square feet of video game entertainment ... but the restaurant knew the value of adding shuffleboard to its Hollywood mix. Unfortunately, your child has to be older than 18 to be admitted. The younger set should check out Fred Lippman Shuffleboard Center over on Polk, or ask one of the independent motels along the beach if you can try their equipment.
| Located right on Johnson Street, it's easily the best lit business on the block, and you can't buy a towel, hat, sweatshirt or Star Wars joke underwear anywhere else without first checking Wings' inventory. |
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