Gone are the days when stopping at a local coffee shop often meant hours of conversation with strangers who had little in common besides a sense of humor and a cheery personality.

Right?

Wrong.

Just ask Sue Cohen and her group of friends at Sam's Bagels on Frederick Road.

Members are in the shop most weekday mornings -- at least in part -- and almost always on weekends.

A motley group of residents from around the Catonsville area met at the store, fell into the fold of the group's coffee-enhanced warmth and now consider their bagel-shop buddies like family.

"People come in, and you start talking to them, and then their friends come in, and it's amazing how many people you meet," said Don Schaub, considered "the funny one" by all around.

"None of us knew each other before the bagel shop," Cohen said. "It's been a nice evolution."

Last year, Cohen continued that evolution by bringing the group into the 21st century, giving it a presence on the Internet -- a blog (http://samsbagels.blogspot.com).

On it, she recounts anecdotes shared at the shop, features pictures of the group's regulars and their travels, and offers news updates relevant to the Catonsville community.

Last week, for example, a notice on the site alerted members of the group to the appearance of a reporter and photographer.

"We have created a very special community at Sam's Bagels, one that is quite rare in today's busy world," Cohen wrote in her first post on Sept. 22, 2007.

"I thought this would be a great way to keep in touch even when somebody is unable to drop in for a cup of coffee."

Origins of the group are a bit fuzzy.

The general consensus has the group beginning with Cohen's parents, Paul and Jean Reincke, starting a conversation with Jack and Gladys Tittsworth one morning about a decade ago.

Both couples are still involved with the group, which has grown to what seems like dozens of people, with smaller groups of friends being drawn up into the mix.

Customers come and go from the store, or sit for hours.

Little is left out of conversation.

Topics range from each other's health to politics, community news, even the size and style of coffee cups purchased by the store's owner, Dima Gorelick.

Gorelick, who has owned the store for six years, said the group plays a special role at the store.

"They've supported me for all these years," he said. "I appreciate that they come."

Alla Sargsyan, a native of Armenia who has worked at the store for more than a year, said, "Oh my gosh. They're involved in our lives, we're involved in their lives. It's a relationship."

It has not always been about laughs and good times.

A while back, one of the group's most boisterous contingents was made up of Don Schaub, Mike Powell and Carl Richardson.

Richardson's wife, Pat, said she wouldn't even go into the coffee shop with them because "they were so goofy."

The fun-loving trio even rode bikes together when not exchanging jokes and comments at the shop.

But then both Richardson and Powell were diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

Powell died in 2004 followed by Richardson in 2005.

Afterward, the group rallied together, and Pat Richardson said she found herself coming in for morning coffee.

"Once my husband passed away, I came in and Don kept me laughing for a whole year," she said.

Today, many of the group's older members, including Richardson, say they think of their friends at Sam's Bagels as a therapy group who help them cope with life's many twists.

Many now meet outside the bagel shop for dinners and other events.

When they can't get together, they check Cohen's blog for news on what's been happening at the shop.

But it's still the morning coffee, light conversations and good company that binds them all together.

"It's something to look forward to," said Bill Tucker, another regular. "It's a great bunch of people."

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