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Volume 077-4 - October 2023 (6 pages)
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Page: of 6
NCHS Bulletin October 2023
of association unknown in the Victorian era. Largely
unsupervised, they could meet, mix, and court on the
park grounds and at the dances. In local memory, Lake
Olympia was place for both fun and romance; couples
fell in love on strolls across the bridge on moonlit
nights. The late Al Pratti swooned when he told local
historian Hank Meals about Lake Olympia, confiding
that most of his married
friends first met there.'®
Correlating the “evils” of
ragtime music and alcohol
with white-slaving, Mayor
Chapman expressed his
fears of big city predators
patrolling local streets
to abduct innocent girls.
Under pressure, Brewer
graciously agreed to renounce his liquor license.
The church people in turn
agreed to give the park
their patronage.'”
Undeterred Brewer pursued his course of making
Olympia Park a resort
comparable to those of
his native San Francisco.
His actions underscore his
character as well as the
important contributions
he was making. From
Photo taken looking southeast from boat, probably 1915. A crowd on
the beach watches a diving exhibition. One diver is mid-air and another
diver readies himself at the top of 40-foot tower. The trapeze is in front
of tower. Courtesy Searls Historical Library.
In June 1914, Brewer announced that hereafter “an
admission fee will be charged to the park”: 10-cents for
adults and 5-cents for children under 12. To his dismay,
he again faced a barrage of community opposition.
Citing the constant outlays for routine maintenance and
improvements—tesurfacing of the dance floor, advertising, and replacing a boardwalk destroyed by fire—he
said, it was time for the
county citizens to pay for
. the amusements, pleasures
and comforts the park
afforded. Facing an outcry
and fearing boycott, he
immediately reversed his
decision."
Brewer was a reasonable
man, expecting reasonableness in return. A
month later he appealed to
the community to accept
a minimal admission fee
of five cents, with little
children admitted free.
After working incessantly for the past
seven years I find
myself several thousand dollars in debt
..All of the parks and
amusement places in
San Francisco, Oak1912 to 1915, he brought
champion swimmers and divers to Lake Olympia to
do demonstrations. He awarded medals and prizes for
young people in swimming competitions; upgraded the
clean water flowing to campsites; joined the Elks; entered a float in the local parade; and saved people from
drowning. In 1914, Brewer added a shooting gallery
and merry-go-round to the park as well as a slide and
sandbox to the children’s playground; he repositioned
the island bridge, replaced the road, and installed lights
over the picnic tables. He personally gave an exhibition
of underwater feats which included eating, smoking,
and drinking. The Morning Union claimed: “There is
no more popular and more frequented place at the foot
of the Sierras than the Olympia resort.””°
land and other cities
charge at the gate and many of them have no
more attractions as many as Olympia Park. ..
The park cannot be conducted successfully as
a free resort by a private individual, and if the
people insist on a free park I maintain that the
only solution is municipal ownership. ..[A]
radical change is necessary in order to make
both ends meet, hence the admission charge.
Among the improvements which I am planning
to make are new walks and bridges, a skating
rink, tennis and hand ball courts and last but
not least a tourist's hotel which I firmly believe
can be made to pay in Nevada county.”