Intro
I spent every summer day during my childhood growing up at Wolfe’s Pond Park.
I can recall so many special memories.
There was an active food concession business that my parents owned from 1966 through 1973.
Although the building is still there, we were the last people to hold the permit from the city of New York to operate it.
I thought I would share a few stories and other experiences as I remember them from the times my family and I spent there.
I would like to thank some friends and family for reminding me of many more people and happenstances that I didn’t recall.
I hope you read on and visit the past with me, as it brought back so many memories.
I created sections with headers to explain how things led up to and beyond Wolfe's Pond Park.
** All rights reserved. No part of this publication, Images (Excluding the official Park Sign) and video’s may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods.
Vinnyg
Official Park Sign
My family’s business before obtaining the Wolfe's Pond food concession
I was born and raised on Staten Island and first resided on Dongan Street in the West Brighton section of Staten Island. At that time my father owned Jimmy’s Superette Meat Market store in Saint George, on Daniel Low Terrace right across the street from Curtis High School. (See Photo)
I was an infant at that time and obviously too young to remember.
Some where around 1960 my parents sold Jimmy’s Superette and the house on Dongan Street. After a short interval on Van Riper Street in Elm Park, Staten Island, my parents purchased a home in Sunnyside, Staten Island for 35 Thousand dollars in 1962.
A big old house in a predominantly Italian neighborhood. Some people thought our house was haunted because a previous owner had committed suicide by hanging himself in our creepy, third floor attic.
Sunnyside neighborhood streets are named after the following Indian Tribes: Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, Oswego, Tioga and Schoharie. Living very close to Clove Lakes Park we spent a lot of time there too. Many people knew of the caves in the park that were used by the Indians that settled on Staten Island. The caves were filled in, because in later years a couple of kids were killed during a partial collapse. You can still see the tops of the rocks that were the original caves. If you go to Royal Oak Road and Victory Boulevard there is a trail right past the little league baseball field. The trail goes straight in, when it begins to make a bend stay straight and go into the woods another 20 yards, and then you’ll be standing on the top of the caves, its right before the hill slopes down. There may be remains of a campfire, because a lot of teens hung out there because it was so secluded. It’s approximately 680 feet in from the beginning of the first trail head and only like 220 feet from Victory Boulevard above where the War Memorial skating rink is. (See Photo)
Mom
Our Second Store in Stapleton called the Corner Hut Deli
A couple of years later my father purchased another deli and named it Corner Hut Deli. The deli was on the corner of Gordon and Warren Street located in Stapleton across from the apartment projects.
I was young and used to play with a cute little red headed girl across the street. And later it became known to me that her father was the head of the motorcycle gang called the Breed.
The deli was a horror and failed to make money because of the location and the store was burglarized numerous times. The police would call my dad in the middle of the night, and he would have to go down to secure one of the front windows or the door from the damage of the break-ins.
I remember my father used to leave change in the register when closing at night and told me that if the burglars got something out of the place they hopefully would not trash the whole deli.
Back then the Stapleton Project Apartments was a rough place and I remember a girl telling me how she clung on to the fire hydrant that was down on the corner of Broad Street while a gang beat her to a pulp.
As many times as the place was broken into the Police never apprehended anyone while burglaries were in progress.
My dad sold the deli in the same year he purchased the Wolfe’s Pond Park food concession in 1966.
Until the final close of the sale, that summer, my father operated the deli while my mother operated the food concession at Wolfe’s pond in the first year.
Caves at Clove Lakes
Dad
How we obtained Wolfe’s Pond Park food Concession in 1966
My Uncle Joseph LaRocca, a Lawyer and entrepreneur had owned five food concessions on the Island. His business was called “Richmond Concessionaire’s”.
He was my uncle through marriage to my mother’s sister Elle (Seidel).
The locations of the five food concessions he owned and operated were:
La Tourette Golf course
Silver Lake Golf course
Wolfe's Pond Park
Great Kills Park (2) is also known today as Gateway Park.
The two, one was a building, the other was a wood shack on the beach that was constructed by two of my uncles John and Harry Seidel. The shack has been gone for decades now.
Eventually Joe La Rocca gave up all the remaining concessions except for the one at La Tourette golf course. He held onto that one and ran it for the longest amount of time that I remember. Joe was a very generous man; he was very charitable in the community and employed many people in Staten Island.
Eventually he sold the La Tourette concession business and fully retired. But back in the spring of 1966 Joe LaRocca sold the Wolfe's Pond Park food concession (business lease) to my parents. The building itself had always belonged to the New York City Parks Department, but the food concession was a yearly lease to whichever vendor held it with the option to renew it every year.
We owned the lease for eight years from 1966 through 1973.
The City of New York dictated the prices of all goods \ food sold and that’s why concession prices are always high.
The warded Lock and mechanism on the food concession door was from the Richmond County Jail
When the Richmond County jail in Richmond town behind the court house was about to be torn down in 1959, Joe LaRocca uninstalled the lock and re-installed it on the main rear entrance door of the Wolfe’s Pond Park food concession building. Although the sliding bolt itself was removed the bracket is still on the door to this day, well at least it was a few years ago when I visited the park on a trip to Staten Island.
I still have the key (See Photo) The footprint size of the lock mechanism was large and very heavy wrought iron and would stop anyone from kicking in the door. We had two Skeleton (warded) keys but I’m not sure what happened to the other one, I don’t believe he ever gave it over to the park department at the final exit day. There was a secondary regular lock on the door that complimented the Jail Lock. He handed over the keys to that one.
Note:
The first Richmond County Jail in the 1700’s was a wooden structure then the second one was a fortress style jail built behind the court house in Richmond town in around 1860.
Poor conditions were reported in 1901 and led to building a third Richmond County Jail that was erected in place by 1905.
The third jail was shut down in 1953 and my uncle Joe grabbed the warded lock and key mechanism right before the city of New York demolished the jail in 1959.
Size Comparison of the Old Richmond County (Warded) Jail Key
My dad had a little help in the purchase
The corner hut deli was such a loosing business that it financially strapped my dad enough that he did not have the money to purchase the Wolfe’s Pond food concession right out. But, my grandfather and his brother both married two sisters who were of a xxxxxxxx family. Two brother’s married two sisters get it? Now my father was well liked and was able to make the deal before selling the deli.
And I remember when I was at the food concession and a man would come in to see my dad around every couple of weeks who was one of two brothers. This went on for the first couple of years. My dad said to me when this guy comes in, go to the back room and don’t come out until I tell you. Well, I asked my dad one time who was that man, and his reply to me was don’t ever do business with the xxxxx (sorry can’t say) not that he didn’t like them but that it’s best not to go there in business just in-case things don’t work out.
We also had to have their cigarette machines on the counters for a couple of years. Now back then it was revealed that copper slugs would work in vending machines so my dad took them down off the counter and we kept one in the entrance room and got the cigarettes for the customers our selves.
Wolfe’s pond was very profitable in the earlier years and when we would go home on a Sunday night my parents wouldn’t allow us kids to come into the dining room until they were finished counting the cash. But of course I did once and got yelled at. Lol,
I saw the whole table was full of stacks of money from end to end and we had a big family with two leafs for all us pasta loving people. It didn’t take long to pay the brothers off and that man to stop coming around.
My daily car ride from Sunnyside (North shore) to Wolfe's Pond Park (South shore)
So, every day my Dad and I would leave Sunnyside and get on the Staten Island expressway at Clove road and get off on North Gannon (Victory Blvd exit) to go left on Victory Boulevard. That was 3 exits total. After making the left on Victory Blvd, there were only three things on the left (south) side of the road before we would turn onto Richmond Avenue. **Willowbrook State School/Hospital entrance.
Currently it’s now the College of Staten Island campus that used to be in Sunnyside which is now the Michael J Petrides school campus. Willowbrook Park entrance and the old now “unicorn/Mikes” diner.
We turned left on to Richmond Avenue, passed a few farms, and before my time and when I was very young there was a drive-in movie theater on the left and an airport. The Mall had not yet been built.
Back then Richmond Avenue was not expanded and wouldn't be for several years. So, we would either take a right on Drumgoole Boulevard to Huguenot Avenue or continue and take Amboy Road from Richmond Avenue depending on how my dad felt that day.
The Richmond Parkway known today as the Korean War Veterans Parkway did not exist yet either and Drumgoole Boulevard was a regular road.
The Parkway construction would be active during the later years of our traveling and officially opened in 1972 but was not yet completed.
So then, after passing Huguenot Avenue on Amboy Road and before we made that left on to Luten Avenue I would always look to see what the little music store we always passed displayed in the double windows. And in the summer of 1972 in the left window was a Red-Blue-Green wavy psychedelic 60’s color drum set.
I saved the money I made working at the counter that whole summer and bought it in September. It was a beginner kit made by Mercury Pro that I would soon out grow.
At the end of Luten Ave at Hylan Boulevard sometimes we would catch a glimpse of a pair of blue Heron's that lived in that swamp water on the left.
In the late 60’s Tottenville High School had not yet been built on Luten Avenue and it was all woods, swamp and a real crappy road.
We did watch the school construction and road being widened as it was finally finished in 1972 a year before the closure of our business.
“Rabbit Trail”
I remember one time we were heading home from Wolfe’s Pond on the Richmond Parkway after its completion, toward Richmond Avenue in my grandfather’s Ford Falcon and I was curious to how fast it could go?
My Dad opened it up and the wind made it skip on and off the surface before he let off. The car was too light for high speeds and took a lot of roadway to get it up there.
Years later when Richmond Avenue was expanded it was possible to put the pedal to the metal and catch every green light from Victory Boulevard out to Arthur kill Road passing where the mall would eventually be built. Because there still wasn't much traffic back then, no cameras and virtually no police.
If you had to stop at a light there was a good chance you were the only car at the red.
** If you want to know more about the Willowbrook State School/Hospital on Staten Island, look up the documentary of “Cropsey” and “Willowbrook exposed` by Geraldo Rivera”
Drive in Movie Theater and Airport / north shore>
Copy of my Receipt from Village Music. The address was 5484 Amboy Road S.I.N.Y. 10312 in Prince's Bay.
I purchased drums from my hard earned summer pay of $15 dollars a week but 1973 would be the last year for the Wolfe's Pond concession.
US Mercury Pro Drum Set from the 1960's / 1970's. featuring my niece Rebecca and a poster to match that I purchased years later at Spencer's from the mall
Entering Wolfe's Pond Park from Cornelia Avenue
When turning into the park from Cornelia Avenue there would be at least one park worker if not two manning the entrance booth that resembled an old outhouse or shanty, we would sometimes stop and talk a couple of minutes depending on who the “Parky” was.
This was the entrance only and there was a cost for vehicles to enter the park, the concession employees and my parents were exempt from paying.
The park road and parking lot was not paved and was dirt and gravel. Cornelia Avenue currently stops at this point and they have named the inner park road after the old existing Chester Avenue as a continuation but years ago it continued further straight down to within the beach berm.
The park exit was actually Harriet Avenue another 350 feet down Cornelia Avenue from the entrance.
Right after the park exit at the end of Cornelia Avenue there stood a bar that sat right up to the beach on Belle Drive,
(See map) we called it the orange house and they served alcohol, food and had pool tables. My sister would buy her cigarettes there because she didn't yet have my parent’s permission to smoke.
Since then they removed that portion of Cornelia and enlarged the park area adding the rink, playgrounds and courts.
Because the main lot was not paved, the “parky ‘s“ would lay down lines of crushed white lime on the weekends to make parking rows. Only authorized vehicles could drive the road past the exit road and turn in toward the beach houses.
We would drive all the way in and park on the pavement behind the food concession.
Cornelia Avenue went all the way down to the beach
A typical start of a weekday with my Dad
On the weekdays in my early years with just me and my father, I would wait for my dad to get the coffee running, get money out of the safe for the registers, fill the ice buckets at the soda machines, start the grill and fryer, and roll up the counter bays on the flag pole side of the building.
On my last visit, I see that the Park’s department sealed up two windows in the brick on the entrance side. The first window was in the main room over the slop sink and the bathroom window is gone. (See Photo’s)
After entering the main room the storage room door is to the right beyond that.
Entering the storage room the first door to the right was our private bathroom with a shower also.
Then there was and maybe still is a fully caged-in room where the safe was on the parking lot side corner of the building.
In that same stock room are two external double doors that we rarely used or opened and they are on the right side of the building and still there.
At the end we took the safe with us to our home but the combination was forgotten and the thing was so heavy that we left it there for the new house owners. Lol, It weighed as much as a ship anchor and useless without the combination?
Here’s you’re new Safe. Welcome to your new home!
Food Concession main entrance door. (Left to right)
me Vinnyg, next a good friend of the family, He worked for my parents also and is just holding a BB rifle -
so chill,
my brother Gary, two of my sisters: Sherry & Michelle. My other three sisters are not in the photo.
Fishing Wolfe’s pond
I would fish multiple times a day and spent most of my time at the pond in my earlier years before I started to actually work the concession. Once my Dad got settled in during the week days either in the morning or when things would slow up I’d Grab my fishing pole and head down to the pond.
The weekends were busy and my Dad had a bunch of guy’s that worked the line, so I wasn’t needed until a few years later. Wolfe's pond was really good for fishing, but many park visitors didn't know it or how to fish it successfully. We sold Zebco fishing kits, and sometimes bamboo pole kits at the concession. I had my favorite spots mostly down in the corner of the pond where the spring flowed in.
For me the side toward the sea was not as productive as the inlet side.
I would catch white perch, Calico bass, large mouth bass, bull head catfish and sunny’s aka bluegills.
I loved fishing while it rained in the hot summer. Not many people would show up and the park would be real quiet if it was a rainy day.
You never knew what type of wild life you would catch a glimpse of. Snapping turtles and frogs would pop up out of the water right in front of me; a blue Heron would land near the edge in the water across the lake. Sometimes Turkeys would appear behind me off the small hill and occasionally a water moccasin would try to come ashore near me.
There wasn’t any deer on S.I. back then. When the berm was washed away years later from hurricane Sandy the salt sea water mixed with fresh water and I heard the fish did not survive in the pond, not sure what it’s like presently but there is a new dam and walking paths.
Working the line part 1
On weekdays young people would come in bus loads, sometimes from the city and/or the other Borough’s to spend the day.
They came from summer schools and upstate camps too; the smaller lot on the north side after entering the park was for buses only and to use first.
Sometimes the front of the concession would be full of young customers looking to mostly buy ice cream, soda and candy.
On the weekends people would fill the park to overflowing. After the main lot filled up the parky's would direct the cars to park on the grassy field which was called the third parking lot. Once all three lots became full, they would put up barriers on both the entrance and exit to close off access.
Cars were stacked up all the way out, up Cornelia to Hylan Boulevard on both sides of the street. Some picnickers would park on Cornelia Ave and walk in to avoid paying at the shanty anyway.
Yup- they would carry their coolers, grills, charcoal and bambino’s, lol. There was always a mixed ethnicity of people enjoying Wolfe’s Pond Park. Sometimes large groups of Latino people would gather and roast whole pigs.
One, two or more guys would play the conga and bongo drums for hours. Adults and kids yelling, all running around, or lounging, people getting drunk and all the barbecue and smoke that filled the air would smell so good.
There was no intoxication or DUI laws back then so many a folk left the park under the influence.
We sold Miller and Bud beer on tap and Rheingold in cans. My father didn’t mind hitting the Miller tap either on a long busy weekend and you can see him in the photo winding down at the end of a long day.
Food Concession counter, front bays.
My Dad wiping the counter, I was sneaking into the photo. Notice the tap beer handles in front of me, the walk-in box cooler was right behind them.
liqueur license above that.
Grill and deep fryer was to the left.
Big sister, little sister, cousin. This was right in front of the foreman's shack, the only stairs to the beach on left and you can get a glimpse of the men's shower house
A Busy Day winding down, Dad hit the Miller Tap a little and my Mom stashing a few big bills in her pocket from the register.
The Guys that worked for dad
It wouldn’t be fair not to include mentioning the guys that worked with my father at the food concession. I was young but I recall it being a fun place to work. Most of them in their early twenties, some were college students and a few of them had close relationships with my parents. I never knew any of them to be anything but upright and honest guys.
I will refrain from mentioning any names without permission but here are just a few memories to share.
One summer day a man was struck by lightening out in the open field during a thunder storm and one of our guys helped with the police to resuscitate the man.
One time a larger kid who came from the city gave me a crooked look with a don't mess with me threat pulled out his knife and rubbed his thumb on the blade showing how sharp it was, I told one of our guys and he jumped over the counter went out grabbed him, took his knife off him and brought it back to the concession.
There was another guy my dad hired who was so slow that dad labeled a hat for him to wear and it said “Fast Eddie”. If I can recall correctly, he only lasted that one season, Oh, I didn’t mention his name did I?
I also remember Wabc / Wnbc with Wolfman Jack and Cousin Brucie on the radio and we had a worker who had a great voice and would sing songs from, The Rascals, The Temptations, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap and many cool radio hits back then.
I worked with one worker from our neighborhood on weekdays for one summer who was over weight and I used to tease the heck out of him, but he was totally forgiving and patient with me. Definitely a good man.
And while I’m at it I will mention that some where in the middle years my dad did try out the food truck at the Great Kills Swim club for one season but the place was a loosing proposition and unproductive. I did spend a small part of that summer there with one of the guys who worked it and if I’m recalling it correctly my dad gave the owner back the keys and he came back to Wolfe’s pond to work.
Working the Concession Part 2
I started helping out behind the counter working full time in the last few years during summer break. Always on the weekends from Memorial Day and up to Labor Day while school was out for summer. Everybody in my family came out to the park on the weekends, but my siblings did not work the line. So, I would either be working with my Mother or my Dad for that season. Depending on the summer season and whatever else my Dad had going on because he was in the home improvement business too. On weekends we had all three bays open but my Dad had a full staff of older guys working the line so I mostly just got in the way.
My Dad decided to send me down to the beach with a food and soda cart. One of the guys had built a food cart on a metal frame with wheels and a pull handle. It had a big freezer tub for soda and a dry side with a counter. We would stock it with cracker jacks, potato chips, sunglasses and model airplanes. I had a beach umbrella for shade and a milk crate to sit on; I would roll it down to the beach and set up right in front of the foreman's shack where the police would keep an eye on me. I wore a change maker, and I’d stash the bills in a cigar box underneath. But the cart was not too productive, and I found myself doing the same thing the cops did, looking at all the hot woman, only they had binoculars.
While I was burning in the heat, I’d watch my siblings enjoying their day at the beach. The water was clean back then and the swimming was good. Some mornings there would be lots of horseshoe crabs on the beach from when high tide went out, and I would throw them back in the sea. Jellyfish came in with the tide and rarely sharks would show up but the life guards would call everybody out of the water if and when they did.
In my last year I worked the third bay renting beach umbrella's, selling candy, ice cream, soda, chips and when someone wanted beer and / or grilled food, I would send them down the line to the older guys. I could be a punk kid and would get a kick out of chasing my siblings away from the front of the counter when they wanted stuff.
Lots of Park workers
Come Monday morning the garbage cans were full and the whole place usually was trashed with litter all over the park grounds. Dozens of parky's would walk around stabbing litter and filling their sacks. I talked to most of them and one park worker I knew would cross over the inlet side of the pond and disappear to take a nap for a couple hours.
Someone pointed out to me another parky that would often sleep standing up (nod off). He was a hippy dude from the 60’s and was always stoned. Then again lots of people back then were. We often had good conversations, and he was always friendly and polite. Many years later in the 80’s after the long hair fad went away I saw him clean cut on the ferryboat going to work in Manhattan and I almost didn't recognize him. We talked, laughed about the Wolfe's pond years, the boat docked, and we parted ways. It did my heart good to see he turned his life around.
I survived the 70's unscathed thanks to Jesus. On the corner of the concession building under the tree near the men's bathroom sat a park bench. There were always one or two female workers who oversaw keeping the bathrooms clean. I would sometimes sit and play cards with them.
The Police who patrolled the park as their regular post
So things were different back then and people were not all uptight like they are these days. There were a handful of officers who liked my dad and would often come down to the concession and look in on us several times a day. I had the privilege of knowing most of them. They had patrol cars but many times used the police scooters within the park. A couple of the officers would give me rides on their scooters around the building and let me wear their police caps.
(Photo) I was a little rascal and one time one of the cops hand cuffed me to the flagpole, everyone got a kick out of it especially my parents.
On a real quite rainy overcast day the park was quiet and nobody around, one officer took my Dad and me down to the inlet side of the pond. He threw a few bottles in the water and we took turns shooting at them with his 22 revolver. Then he let my father take a few shots with his 38 service revolver and I begged him to let me shoot it too. He allowed me to have one shot out of it to shut me up and yes that worked. He taught me how to hold my left hand flat up against the tree, rest my right hand in the open thumb pointing the revolver, cock the hammer and squeeze the trigger. I shot a bottle and sunk it.
They both sighed; he laughed and said to my father “The kids a better shot than both of us”. That was some funny stuff and I walked away all proud.
I'm wearing one of the police officers hat and I'm sure my cap gun is loaded.
Handing it over to my sister, got to take the cart out.
No she wasn't the boss of me. lol.
One of the Police officers patrolling by the Concession in his cruiser. But often times they would utilize scooters.
Note:
The Officer in this Photo is NOT the police officer who took Dad and I shooting.
Our
Gambardella family reunion Picnic gatherings
During the time we owned the food concession we would have Gambardella family gatherings twice a year. In the summer it would be held one day at Wolfe's pond park and in the winter a rented hall for a Christmas time gathering.
My uncle Vinny who was a New York City fire fighter and his wife my Aunt Mary would organize the gathering and communicate with all the cousins. They would also organize all the activities.
Back then, there were 150 Gambardella cousins. We would claim a large area in front of the food concession and set up our picnic area. We ate, played games and turned up the fun. See the news article below. Not everyone is in the photo because some dispersed to go hiking, play horseshoes and spend time at the beach and pond.
Note:
There is another Gambardella family that resided on Staten Island, whom we were not (allegedly) related too, at least not in America but perhaps maybe back in Italy. My father said we came from Calabria Italy.
My grandfather & uncles all came over through Ellis Island back in the day and took residence mostly in Mariner’s Harbor Staten Island.
A couple of them resided on Van Pelt Avenue. Some of them worked the old ship yards off of Richmond Terrace, my grandfather was a tool and die maker. When I was growing up in our Sunnyside home we had a large room in the basement that we called the tool room because that’s all that was in there. There were many, many tools and lots that I couldn’t identify especially even these day's and who knows where they are and many are outdated then.
One of the years we had the Gambardella Picnic. Photo was taken at the flag pole in front of the food concession. At one time there was 150 cousins.
The Concerts
I believe it was in 1973 that they started having the rock concerts out in the field and that was the last season we would own the food concession.
I did not attend them but was at the food concession during the concerts that year. My first real concert was Grand Funk Railroad and that was in 1975, just saying.
Summing it all up
There are so many more stories I could share but to sum it up, Wolfe's pond was a great time in my life from the late 1960’s into the mid 1970’s.
I was fortunate to spend my summers there and wish I could share all the special times.
The things that entertained us during those years were:
Playing wiffle ball, flying kites, throwing Frisbee’s, wooden airplanes, fishing, skipping rocks, playing horseshoes, badminton, swimming, hop scotch, jump rope, Spalding rubber balls, slinky, marbles, hula hoops, fly back paddle and balls, roller skating, bike riding, spinning tops:
We played with Yo-Yo’s, Click Clacks, BB guns, cap guns, snuck cigars and an occasional sip of beer, ate lots of hot dogs, junk candy and soda. Who could ask for anything more? Not me.
Vinnyg
FYI BELOW
Where is the old food concession?
Many changes have taken place at Wolfe’s Pond Park Through the years but the building is still there and here’s how to view it. When you drive in from Cornelia Avenue to the internal road [now named Chester Ave], the brick building straight ahead in the main parking lot on the “pond side” of the park is it. The side of the building that faces the pond you’ll see the old serving bays that the parks department installed an enclosed fenced in area in front of the concession bays.
See my Google photo.
Where was the location of the old boat house?
Go to the flag pole at the pond side of the food concession. The lake is 125 feet straight down from it.
Another 120 feet along the shore line going toward the beach is where the old boat house was. The building was made of wood but there still might be the ruins of an old foundation, I’m not sure?
To be more precise: There is a 3 to 5 foot wide crevice that had a large sewer pipe where the old bathrooms drained into the pond. Standing at the crevice, it’s about thirty feet from that spot toward the beach where the boat house stood on the higher ground of the shore. A small open area right beyond it is where they would push the boats off into the pond. See my Google map
Where were the old out-house bathrooms and shower houses?
There were only three buildings at the beach where the new buildings are currently. And only one set of stairs that led to the beach from the small cement pad area. There was a small 8 x12 Park department shack with a landline phone and where the park foreman and the police would congregate. The men's shower building on the west side of the shack and first Aid had a small 6 x10 room cut into it on the north corner of it. The woman’s shower was behind the back side of the foreman's shack. The old bathrooms were in the middle of the grass between the parking lot and the beach. Less than 100 feet from the lot and the liquid waste drained all the way down and into the lake.
See my Google map
