Oakland Beaches -The Glory Days
In 1930 the full effects of the Depression were setting upon the nation. Employment was scarce and money was more than tight. Compounding the effects of the Depression in Oakland was that our farms no longer in existence. While Oaklanders had little money, we were nonetheless rich in many resources. Specifically, we had free-flowing, pristine river teaming with fish, mountains filled with game, fresh air and hotels and inns built to accommodate the many visitors and guests generated mostly by the businesses here. And, most importantly, we had access via the railroad. That superb combination created a huge opportunity for local residents to capitalize upon. And they did so with gusto as, at the height of Oakland being a tourist town, our beaches extended along the Ramapo River roughly from the railroad tracks over a mile to the current Boy Scout headquarters building. Our town was filled on weekends with tourists as the population during the summer months surged four-fold from a resident total of about 1,000 to over 4,000 happy souls. There were gas stations, restaurants and bars all over the place.
As the tourists came, they needed places to stay, restaurants in which to eat, gas for their cars, post cards to send home, items to buy and beer to drink. With current hotels booked to capacity, more inns and facilities were built including Otto’s Floral Manor, the Hansen House Restaurant (Portobello) and the Cozy Cove Restaurant (Valley Pub). Tourist demands were still not met and there was money to be still to be made, as many homes particularly along Ramapo Valley Road in Oakland effectively became mini-hotels by taking in tourists by the day, week and weekend. The A.D.Bogert House, currently owned by Pete of Pete and John’s Paint Store in town still has room numbers on the up stair doors for the paying guests. Additionally, new, smaller hotels were built to accommodate the tourists.
The tourist boom also gave rise to a mini building boom on and near the Ramapo River as small summer cottages were built and rented. Many are still in existence in the Plasureland section of the borough although they have been winterized and transformed into permanent homes.
Along with the pleasures created by the Ramapo River come potential problems. Here, the problem was / is flooding. Historically, the Ramapo, as a shallow river with gently sloping banks, has been prone to flooding for centuries. For example there was a flood of near biblical proportions in 1903 that effectively washed out every bridge south of Suffern, NY. Even the railroad trestle bridge was washed down the river causing Oakland to become the last stop for a few months while it was repaired, rebuilt and raised. Evidence of the repair and rebuilding work to the trestle caused by that calamity can still be seen. Severe flooding of the resort beaches along the Ramapo is captured and well documented in old photos. Hopefully the flooding problem along the Ramapo has been eliminated by the recent completion of a $22.7 million effort by the Army Corps of Engineers that added flood control gates to the Pompton Dam.
Exactly when and by whom the first beach in Oakland was opened is not recorded, or at least found by this writer. However, circumstantial evidence suggests that it was Mullers Park located on the southern part of Oakland. It was sandwiched between Pleasureland to the south and Sandy Beach to the north. Mullers Park, developed by William Muller, was originally a farm to feed and raise trotter horses. Many long time residents will remember the 9-bedroom c1900 house that burned to the ground in 1965 while the property was owned by William Nuckel. Mr. Muller clearly caught the tourist resort fever when he built the first public swimming pool in 1935 and converted his large barn into the Carriage Barn Restaurant. It ultimately morphed into a teen facility and, in the 1980s, it also burned to the ground in a spectacular blaze.
In addition to Mullers Park, there were no fewer than 8 other beaches along the Ramapo River although a few would stretch the definition of the word ‘beach’. Included in this list would be Pleasureland, Sandy Beach, Ramapo Lodge, Maple Beach, White Birch Beach, Oakland Beach, Riverside Rest and Kleins Beach. Today, the detritus of these beaches can still be found during a walk along the eastern bank of the Ramapo. There is even a living piece of Sandy Beach still in use today as the concrete picnic bench used by the grammar school. Also remaining is the refreshment stand of Ramapo Lodge, which today is Hansils Restaurant on Rt. 202.
Glory Days No More – “Gone in the Wink of A Young Girl’s Eye”
Where have all the Oakland beaches gone? Gone to graveyards every one!
The official tourist era of Oakland lasted about a total of 50 years although it effectively ended after only 30 years with the closing of Sandy beach in the early 1960s. What happened? The short answer is that things that created Oakland as a tourist town effectively sowed the seeds of doom for this part of our history. The popularity of Oakland as a tourist town brought ever-increasing people that in turn brought all of the tourist problems. First there were problems of crowd control that regularly overwhelmed the Oakland police who in turn were forced to maintain a small army of Special Police particularly for the weekends. Our court was packed with tourist vandals, thieves, speeders, drunk drivers, fighters, disturbers of the peace and the alike. Break and entry to private homes also dramatically rose as well. Additionally, vice followed the tourists as there were several houses of ill repute in Oakland serving both local tourists and local residents. One was located in the home of a neighbor on Grove Street while another held court at the Cozy Cove Restaurant (Valley Pub) located next to Jeff’s Mobil Gas Station. The many small summer cottages built along the Ramapo River had small and very poor septic systems that began to pollute the river in addition to contaminating their own drinking water. Our river was dying as it became over-used and abused thereby killing the primary reason for Oakland being a resort town in the first place.
But the final nail in the tourist coffin was the railroad that provided easy access to Oakland by so many tourists. After WW II, it brought people who saw Oakland as a fine place to live and raise a family. As they settled here, the chaos, noise, traffic and allied problems caused by the tourists during the summers began to wear quite thin to the point of true and major annoyance. Additionally, the influx of tourists over-taxed the limited resources of Oakland and the deal with the devil was turning bad. Simply stated and like the river itself, new residents simply didn’t want either the beaches or the tourists. As the news of the pollution of the river spread, the summer tourists became fewer and the beaches eventually closed one by one as failed economic entities.
Sandy Beach, mentioned earlier, closed in the early 1960s. However, officially the last beach to close was Pleasureland in 1985 and it went out with a bang. Then it was called the FRG (F.R.Gallo) Sports Complex which, because it no longer attracted either local or nearby residents, catered to residents of New York City, particularly in Queens and Brooklyn. On Sunday, August 4, 1986 there was a celebration picnic of Jamaican Independence Day at the Complex. At 4:30 PM a gun battle between two rival gangs began which left two people dead and between 15 and 20 were wounded. A call was made to nearby towns for assistance. In spite of the fact that the Oakland Police were out-gunned, they responded with speed, courage and valor as they engaged several in running gun battles with the assailants. Police seized two Uzi machine guns, twelve handguns and more than a dozen knives and machetes. Six men were charged in the melee. The event made news even in New York City where the New York Post carried the headline, “Machinegun Rumble” while the Daily News headline was, ”Picnic Shootout Kills 2, Hurts 15”.
Unreported and lesser known is the fact that one of the gangs had a sniper hidden in the woods immediately above the FRG Sports Complex which had a complicating and deadly potential. This was determined only after the interrogation of the arraigned suspects. After the gun battle Mr. Frank Gallo, who owned the facility and who wanted to build a housing development on the property, was reported to have remarked to a town official, “Maybe now I’ll get my 300 units.”
The gun battle at the FRG Sports Complex was the final death knell for it as a recreational resort and for the beaches in Oakland. Following the battle, it antidotal information suggests that Oakland unofficially closed the facility by issuance of massive zoning building violations that the facility could not overcome. Today, twenty-two years later, it remains empty and fallow as nature is reclaiming it. As this is written, plans are afoot for Oakland to purchase the property for passive recreation.