About Bay Park
EARLY BAY PARK
Back in the 1930’s and 1940’s, Bay Park was a wonderful place in which to live. There were few cars on the roads and the speed limit on West and East Boulevards was 15 MPH.
The memorial at the head of the canal consisted of a telephone booth on the west side and a police booth on the east. There were always two officers in that booth who took turns walking the entire length of both Boulevards, day and night. There was a small pot-bellied stove in there for heat in winter and, of course, a police radio. Many a winter evening we kids would stop in there to warm up as we walked home from a movie at the Criterion Theater, a basketball game or a party.
We had mail delivery twice a day, and had door-to-door bus service from Walter’s “Toonerville Trolleys”. These buses were very small, one having a row of single seats on one side. They met every train at the station, but took such a circuitous route that one could have walked the distance in about the same amount of time. There were no particular bus stops-Walter and Chris simply stopped where people were waiting and dropped us off in front of our houses on the return trip. In those days, the drivers knew where most everyone lived.
There was no need for our mothers to drive a car, as we had home delivery of nearly everything that we needed. There was milk, cream, eggs and butter from Borden’s, Sealtest or Sheffield’s, bread and cakes from Dugan’s, Krug’s and Larsen’s bakery trucks. In season, fruit and vegetable trucks appeared every day, as did ice cream wagons and scissors grinders. A man from Renown Market came around every morning on his bicycle to take the day’s meal order. Late in the afternoon, he delivered the orders in a car. Augie Alti delivered whatever other groceries that were needed
There were three bridges in those days that also served our needs so beautifully. The big one over the canal at Cooke Street and two smaller ones over Higbie Creek- one on Cooke and one on Sperry. The canal bridge was convenient for visiting between folks on the East and West sides, and for access to Herman Bruns’ Brauhause on East Cooke and the bay. The one on West Cooke was the way both sides got to Hewlett Point Beach. The one on West Sperry was again very convenient for visiting friends in the Hewlett Point area. Unfortunately, with progress came government. The town would not carry insurance on our bridges, so each one had to come down. Now, if there were to be some kind of catastrophe north of most of our homes, we would have to swim to safety.
Hewlett Point Beach was known for it’s great float–one side had graduated diving platforms and the other side had the high-diving board and the huge slide. There were two other stationary diving platforms about twenty yards to either side of the float. But the beach might have better known for its concession stand food. “Ma” Ike and her sons served the best, fresh-ground, hand-shaped hamburgers in the world. Their freshly made French-fries were also the greatest. They offered hot dogs, chips, cold drinks, ice cream, candy, cigarettes, suntan lotion and etc.
Most of the bungalows on West Boulevard were just summer homes at first. Almost everyone who owned one moved here permanently right after World War II (1945-48). We did it in 1946. Although we have lost our buses, bridges, home deliveries and many friends over the years, Bay Park is still a great place to live.
Editors’ Note: This was submitted by a long-time resident of Bay Park who wished to remain anonymous.