Collection: Directories and Documents > Tanis Thorne Glenbrook Park & Lake Olympia Collection

About This Item:

Title: Glenbrook Basin Newspaper Notes Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Tanis Thorne Glenbrook Park & Lake Olympia Collection # of Pages: 10 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-09-28 17:38:13 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 03:17:32 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 03:17:32

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

Page: of 10  

11-27-22 includes ad from GV Union, Jun 4, 1907 6-2/3 “In line skating, boating, bathing, OP “The Best Resort in Northern California” Band Tues and Fri. eves, “Get the Habit. Nostalgia, n.d. mid or late 1960s,(when VS a police officer). nice photo of trap and something else in decay; pool had crack in the center,or publisher, author is Pat Jones, first page 9;second page 22 also in Oct. 13-19, 1978p. 8 publ p. first: Classic aerial photo taken in 1930s shows the dance hall on left, the 200 foot catwalk linking it to the restaurant and bar on right. Platform used by swimmed in lower left corner and rental boats on right. [lovers lane also a Lover’s Lane in the lake itself] 1876 Gala celebration at Ismert’s Gove east of Lake Olympia when last spike driven for the NCNGR. Brewer was owner in 1918 when Farm Bureau Picnic held at OP. Attendees ate picnic food, played games, swam, boated and listened to the GV Band, a ladies quartet from Peardale and a male glee club from Chicago Park (home grown). Also baseball game between the Fertilizer Giants and the Buttermilk Cubs. Attendees took the streetcar and they had a long walk on boardwalk across “swamps” to grounds from dropoff at corner of Brunswick Road and Sutton (where traffic light is now or GV Printers?). Later called LO. Annual Miner’s Union and Sunday School picnics there; also private family gatherings, Sat night dances or skating. “It was the place to go” said lifelong resident Bob Paine. “There were great picnic tables under pine trees, a lake where you could row in rented boats or swim. It was public resort operated by private capital. You swam in rented suits. There was no such thing as topless for men then and those suits weighed about 20 pounds when wet.” [Vince Seck recalls finding a large store of wollen bathing suits in storage at LO when the family bought the property in 1950.) Originally an open air dance platform was covered by a canvas cover: Spring constructed “It swayed delightfully, especially when the crowd did the Charleston,” said Paine savoring the memory. 1926 Brewer’s widow sold to Thurston and Beaulieu. Malcolm Hammill was part owner from 1931-36. Thurston did improvements: “The old pine floor got splintery from being out in the weather. I’ve seen people get big splinters between the sole and upper of their shoes.” said Hammill. Thurston rebuilt the pavillion, put in a new platform, hardwwod floor and a roof and added a bar. 1944 Harry Browning and Vernon Harris bought LO from Thurston in 1946 Lake froze over and patrons ice-skated. People came from Marsville, Colfax, soldiers from Camp Beal, sailors fro Treasure Island, Many summers the Columbia Park Boys came by So Pac and NCNg from SF to camp for about six weeks. Shirley Dilts said her high school class had its senior picnic at LO: “I learned to swim in that pool and took lifesaving lessons.. . almost drowned there.” there was a 4 level diving tower, with rings to swing out over the water, etc. Harriet Jakobs of FV recalled a large [bed]rock mortar across the lake . Two wooden platforms, called toadstools, broke up the distance from the small pool across the lake to the rock. 2 slides. The Secks added another hardwood floor and “went into heavy skating (as had former owners); Big bands cost too much. Seck remembers: “The big deal was to throw a guy over the rail [in a fight]. I'd get in a boat when they started scuffling and wait to pick the loser out of the water.” The Secks had bad luck: the bath houses caved in by snow, the dame washed out and was rebuilt, but the rink burned was t’he coup de grace.”