Saturday, February 23, 2008

Bullwinkles Family Fun N' Food

Rachael remembers going to the Bullwinkles Family Fun N'Food in Fountain Valley while growing up in OC...

One of my memories of growing up in Orange County is the Bullwinkles Center which I *think* was in fountain valley?

My mom would take my little sister and I there during the 1980's. It was a place like chuck-e-cheese although I don't remember if they had games there or not.

The thing I remember most was the little water show. It was probably very bad, but as a kid I was awestruck! Nothing like Fantasmic at Disneyland is now of course!!

Any memories you have of this place are appreciated, as mine are vague.
Bullwinkles was (or is) located on the corner of Magnolia and Warner. I never went in there; I just never had any desire. I haven't been in that area for so long, I don't know if Bullwinkles is still there.

Anyone want to chime in?

31 comments:

  1. I believe it's called Boomers now. I never did go there much as I grew up closer to the Golf n Stuff in Downey featured in Karate Kid and where the guy used to live in the treehouse to set a world record!

    Sorry, not OC I know! As for Boomers a distant relative had a party there for her child recently so I know it's open but I don't know whats changed over the years.

    Anyone remember there was a miniature golf place on Beach maybe in Stanton that closed a few years back? These is still one off the 91 in I belive the city of Ornage too. I went there last year. It's harder to find an arcade these days, it was fun.

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  2. There was also a Bullwinkles in Irvine off Culver near the 5 frwy. My kids loved the place, they had good beer and not so good pizza.

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  3. I only got to Bullwinkles once, and that was sometime in 1987. But it seems to me that the one we (my folks and I, while I was home on vacation from college out here in Kansas) was somewhere over in the Irvine area. I thought it was a vast improvement on the Chuck E Cheez model, and really got a kick out of the log cabin/northwoods theme. And I wanted so much to buy ne of the sweatshirts with the 'Wassamatt U' logo, to bring back out here to wear to class...I had/have a somewhat twisted sense of humour and love to tweak noses like this!

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  4. Bullwinkle's was awesome as a little kid growing up in the early '80's! I remember attending many birthday parties there. I believe they also had animated figures like Chuck E cheese. The pizza was okay for kids but the parents hated it. Yes, it is now Boomer's in F.V.. I don't believe they had the mini-golf back then that Boomer's has now. They certainly had video games and party plans, though.

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  5. I remember Bullwinkles and the water show. They did have games, but their game room was small. It's Boomers now and it looks pretty the much the same inside, except no more Rocky & Bullwinkle.

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  6. commenting on Bullwinkles: THAT PLACE IS CLASSIC FUN, KEPT IN GREAT SHAPE MANY THINGS TO DO . I GREW UP IN THAT AREA OF O.C. AND I THINK IT IS AN INSTITUION ,I REMMBER TAT PLACE AS A KID. MALIBU GRAND PRE- TRAMPALINES I NOW TAKE MY FAMILY THERE ,ITS COOL! DONT EVER CHANGE IT. THANKS THA 4 KBS

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  7. Yes. It's still there but it's called Boomers now. I just had my daughters 9th birthday party there and it was a blast. There is also a skating rink next door that we frequent. I grew up in Orange in the 70's and 80's and don"t remember going to this Bullwinkles very much but I do remember CAMELOT off the 91 freeway. Aww good times, good times. Flirting with boys, bouncing on the trampaleans, cruzin the parking lot, wondering if anybody dared to try the water slide. ( I heard rumor that a kid got cut in 1/2 one summer on that thing)

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  8. I could walk to Bullwinkles from my house in about 10 minutes. It was awesome.

    Better yet was the Tommy's Burgers that used to be there next to Malibu Grand Prix before all the new stuff arrived.

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  9. The Bullwinkles in Irvine is located in the Heritage Shopping Plaza right by the I-5 / Culver off-ramp. After it closed (early 90s?) the building was bought and turned into a Persian resturant (Caspian).

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    Replies
    1. It was an Asian buffet before it became Caspian

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  10. Wow, I used to take my kids to the Bullwinkles in Irvine all the time, we lived right across the street. We had a couple of birthday parties there. I had forgotten about the water show until I read it here. The pizza wasn't great, but my husband and I liked to go there because we could all eat dinner and then he and I could talk while the kids played the games. They had one of those colorful ball cages too.

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  11. I grew up in FV till graduating in 98 and went to Bullwinkles, mini golf, batting cages and the skating rink. I liked when (the mechanical) Rocky and Bullwinkle would come out from behind the curtain during the show and talk to each other. Don't remember the food though. Elementary school skating parties where we could win free ice cream was awesome!

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  12. Okay, I'm gonna show my age here. I remember when the Bullwinkles at Magnolia and Warner in FV was still called the Family Fun Center. I believe it was privately owned by the Huish family. Way back in the 70's, they had trampolines (where the bumper boats were later installed.) Can't tell you how many of my friends broke a wrist or ankle on those things. Ah, yes. Good times were had by all.

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    Replies
    1. I too remember it well. The owner died while building the Bullwinkle's. I worked at the Fun Center for years. The Huish's kept the place really nice and I remeber how much care they took in keeping everything nice.

      The miniature golf was built in the early 70's an later came tramps batting cages and go carts. Night were magical and I still can hear the sounds of bells of th pinball games ringing out. Or the buzzer when someone got a hole in one on the last hole and won a free pass.

      I have gone back to Boomers. The Huish family sold it years ago. The place is dirty and poor mantained. The once beautiful flower beds are gone and the ponds no longe sparkle.

      They say that old Jim Huish haunts the place. I doubt it. He was a great guy. But if he is it is probably because Boomers treats this once magical place like crap.

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  13. My fiancee's sister worked at the Fountain Valley one in the late 90's and the one in Irvine is now a Caspian restaurant with a giant flame on top. I still remember Championship Sprint in the 80's at the Irvine location, in fact I think on Sundays they had an all you can play event for a fixed dollar amount but I never did it.

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  14. Bullwinkles was awesome it had so many things to do bumper boats, batting cages, and best of all that crazy water slide. i remember going to pizza parties there and out of no where the puppet show would begin with Boris & Natasha and Bullwinkle & rocky i always liked that place better than chuck e cheese but they turned it into a Boomers and it hasnt been the same since

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  15. Memories....I remember bullwinkles. I lived right down the street, of Bushard and Heil. I used to run away from home and sleep in the bushes next to the freeway. I remember going there with five bucks and playing games, then going over to Tommy's hamburgers to have some food. Sometimes I ran away from home and went into Tommy's and ate the free chili peppers when I was hungry. Then, I remember sometime in the 80's. Guys were selling LSD at the speedway where you race those little cars. Before it was Bullwinkles, it was called Family Fun Center. I remember waiting for a guy to show up with acid with 5 guys I didn't know. We all dropped acid and walked around all night. Crazy crazy memories. There was a drainage ditch behind the skating rink there. We used to smoke weed back there and then go play games stoned. There was a Q-bert machine there and you could hit it just right and get free games. Fountain Bowl was another place we would go and play games after we smoked some weed. Good fun, good times.

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  16. Tim from San DimasMay 15, 2009 11:14 AM

    I went to a Bullwinkle's - I believe the Irvine one, not sure. This was back in the summer of 1985. Does anyone remember the water slides!!?? They had about 6 of them that all emptied into the same pool. You had to walk up to the top of a hill and get in line for the slide you wanted. Of course, there was always a long line for this one slide that had a big lip at the very end of it - since you could really get some "air" before crashing into the pool. That was the best slide. No plastic either, all concrete. They had flimsy mats - you could sit Indian-style like a Genie or roll yourself up like a burrito for added speed. Anyone remember this? Was it in Irvine?

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  17. Tim from San DimasMay 27, 2009 7:37 AM

    OK - I was mistaken. The place with the water slides was the "Showboat" - anyone remember this place? Somewhere near the Hacienda Heights/Diamond Bar area I want to say.

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  18. One of my memories of growing up in Orange County is the Bullwinkles Center which I *think* was in fountain valley?

    My mom would take my little sister and I there during the 1980's. It was a place like chuck-e-cheese although I don't remember if they had games there or not.

    The think I remember most was the little water show. It was probably very bad, but as a kid I was awestruck! Nothing like Fantasmic at Disneyland is now of course!!

    Any memories you have of this place are appreciated, as mine are vague.

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  19. Man I loved that place :(

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  20. Clifford A. ShieldsJune 28, 2010 6:18 PM

    I remember my cousin had her sixth birthday party at the Bullwinkle's in Upland on Seventh Street just east of Benson back in 1984. (Yeah, there was one there in the Inland Empire as well) I remember the water show and the mechanical figures of those Jay Ward characters. the place functioned until the 1990's. I also remember the Rocky and Bullwinkle characters on totem poles near the 10 freeway (the San Bernardino freeway for all you old timers out there. I also remember batting cages and a miniature golf course at the park.

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  21. It's not called the Family Fun Center anymore?? I remember when they built the thing and the only thing on the corner was the mini golf course; 1970

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  22. Bullwinkle's is now called "Boomers Cafe."
    The corner is now a mini strip of businesses.
    Malibu Grand Prix is now a Sports Authority.
    The skateboard park is now a hotel.
    The roller rink is still the roller rink.
    The batting cages are still the batting cages.
    The miniature golf course is still the miniature golf course.
    The Bumper Boats are still the Bumper Boats.
    Tommy Burgers is still Tommy Burgers.
    And the Fun-n-Food is now the "Fun Zone."
    http://www.google.com/maps > then copy & paste this into the SEARCH MAPS line> 9065 Warner Avenue, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 (keep double-clicking fast, till it zooms till it turns upward and you can look directly at each location as though you are on the streets themselves. You can manipulate the maps depending on what you want to view.
    Have fun to all you Fountain Valley Neighbors then and now.

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  23. I was searching for where Bullwinkles used to be in Irvine and I cannot believe someone else actually remembers this place :) I remember walking in and there was this giant (to a 6 year old it was a GIANT) ball pit.... oh the memories

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  24. I remember Bullwinkles and the family fun center, they had some neat indoor mini golf courses. I was never allowed to go near the water slides since some kids snuck in and got injured on them in the "off Season". My dad was a cop in Santa Ana so I was stuck with some crappy rules! lol I loved going to bullwinkles they had this desert there that I loved that had big mouse ears on the sides....I miss it!

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  25. iremember!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  26. Steve C from Danville CaJune 14, 2012 6:31 AM

    I lived right down the street from there. Off of Bushard by the old Nieblas school. When I was 11, in 1981, we used to go there all the time! They bought the stuffed moose off the wall from Dunk's barber shop to put in that place. I dont think it was a Bullwinlkes until 84 or 85. Malibu was always are favorite. At that time the skate park was abandoned and the office of the skate had been burned out. There were some weeds growing on the park but we rode our bikes in there all the time.
    Does anyone remember the Road Runner Race Off at Malibu? I won all sorts I stuff from there. A tv, an Atari 2600, a camera, and best of all a motorcycle! I went to the finals in Anahiem. First place was a Trans-Am. Who gives a car to little kids? Anyways, I finished last at that one. Good times through.

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  27. I grew up in El Toro and my family used to go to the Bullwinkle's in Irvine. I remember they had a large arcade room with more emphasis on Skeeball type games than arcade games. I also remember they had a 6 ft tall rocket ship ride. The robotic puppet show was more entertaining than the show at Chuck E. Cheese. This was about 25 years ago, I haven't been back to O.C. in 20 years, and I was really young so my memories are probably hella skewed. I enjoyed reading the story about word-me-dude scoring acid at the raceway.

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