Hampden Hon!

A little piece of Hampden on the Style channel!

cwelch1 — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:35:13 +0000

Sprout is a hair salon on The Avenue in Hampden. It’s getting its official television debut on the Style channel on the show Split Ends. The show takes two hairdressers from different cities in America and swaps them. Rachel, a hair dresser from Sprout was sent to a salon in Texas where she was far away from her usual quirky surroundings in Hampden. Her episode aired this past Saturday.

Squidfire

cwelch1 — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:29:42 +0000

Squidfire is this great T-shirt shop on The Avenue. They screen print unique designs or patterns on T-shirts, tote bags, baby clothes, and many more things. Squidfire is also known worldwide and they’re right in the heart of Hampden. The co-business owners got their start in Baltimore, selling their T-shirts right out of the trunk of their car. You can check out their website or read about them. The average T-shirt is $25. It’s a store worth checking out for the upcoming holiday season.

Cool Thrift Shop!

cwelch1 — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:43:33 +0000

I found this great little thrift shop near A Common Ground on the Avenue. I bought this great straw cowboy hat for $14. The store had an awesome variety of clothes, jewelry, sunglasses, and shoes. The best part of the store is if you purchase something, anything, you get to chose a book for free. On your way out the door there is a bookcase with newer, and used books. With the purchase of my cowboy hat, I picked The Big Bad City by Ed McBain. I haven’t got the time to read it yet, but I thought this was a good idea to recycle old books. The only thing about this store is, I forgot to see what the name of it is. But I’ll check back.

Rocket to Venus

cwelch1 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:33:51 +0000

I tried a new restaurant called Rocket to Venus this past weekend. Rocket to Venus is not only a restaurant, but a bar too, that stays open until 2am. It is located on Chestnut Avenue in Hampden. It’s a cool atmosphere with diner-like booths, a dark interior and has a lounge feel to it. I recommend Pierogies as an appetizer, which is like a potato dumpling. Fried pickles are an interesting new try as well. For my main course I tried the BBQ Bacon Wrapped Scallops. All of my food was delicious and the bar menu is plentiful with wine, domestic and imported beer, and liquor!

Shopping Therapy

cwelch1 — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:34:16 +0000

If you’ve never been to The Avenue, GO! The shopping is phenomenal. There are a lot of thrift shops, boutiques and cool little stores. I’ve always been a proponent of small independently owned businesses rather than supporting corporate businesses. At one of the stores I bought a pair of cowboy boots for Halloween for $30, much cheaper than the $160 ones I was looking at in Nordstrom. On top of that two out of the four shops I visited, I stayed and talked with the store owners for about an hour. They’re so friendly, and it’s like having the store all to yourself, because no one else was really shopping when I went in the middle of the day.

Caution! Hot coffee and conversation!

cwelch1 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:10:32 +0000

It was kind of cool, and breezy out today, so I decided to get a cup of coffee at Common Ground on The Avenue. I was sitting waiting for my vanilla late and was listening in on a couple older gentlemen’s conversation. They were all complaining about how their wives travel with a lot of luggage. One guy said “She packs a suitcase just for shoes. And another for makeup”. I couldn’t help but laugh at this. There really isn’t ever room for clothes and shoes to be together in one suitcase.

Cafe Hon!

cwelch1 — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:23:35 +0000

I have an internship in a building on “The Avenue” in Hampden. About a block down is Cafe Hon. During my lunch break today was the first day I ate there. I’ve walked past it a lot because I park on the street perpendicular to it, and it has always intrigued me. Keeping in the spirit and culture of the “Bawlmore hon” Cafe Hon’s windows are decorated with feather boas, and little odds and ends like pink flamingos you would normally find in a resident’s front yard. The food was tasty and inexpensive, however I was disappointed to find out that the “Freddie Mac n’ Cheez” was only available after 4pm.