THE MYSTERY AND HISTORY OF ROTTEN POND (RAMAPO LAKE) by Ed Zindel Feb 2015 When I reflect on the impressive list of local angling opportunities that I enjoyed in my youth, the finest warm water fishery was undoubtedly in an impoundment known as Rotten Pond (Rottan? Pond); located on the Oakland – Wanaque border. Furthermore, due to the abundance of large fish in this lake, it was also the most exciting fishing resource that was accessible to me during those cherished years. From the time I overheard the first whispers about this mountaintop fishing hot spot, the origin of the name “Rotten Pond” (as it was referred to by locals) was…
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West Oakland Memories
West Oakland Memories Published: December 31, 2008 WEST OAKLAND MEMORIES By Bob Blumenthal It was a magical time, and I was lucky to be a part of it. For fifteen summers I experienced a “high” that no drug can induce. Who knew that the summer of 1948 would change my entire life? I was an eight-year old city boy who was accustomed to the fumes of buses and the clanking of garbage cans. Then, one day, my parents decided to spend the summer in a place called the West Oakland Bungalow Colony. As I sat in the back seat of a ‘48 Dodge, I took in the sights. After crossing…
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The Pulis House and Pond
The Pulis House and Pond Sometime In the early to mid 50s, my wife Elaine’s father John Oldenburg rented a house on Ramapo Valley Road and opened Bergen – Passaic Engineering and Surveying. Soon after, he accepted a position as Borough of Oakland Engineer and became close friends with Milt and Aggie Pulis. Before moving to Oakland in 1957, Elaine recalls frequent trips to the Pulis home with her brother John and mother Betty, who would later become the Valley School Nurse. Massive Concrete Piling One of Elaine’s special recollections is of the top of a massive concrete piling that came up from the basement and ended flush with Pulis’s…
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True and Tragic Story of Downtown Oakland
How Did Downtown Oakland Go From This to This? Ladies and gentlemen, lend me your ears and hearts as I will tell you a true and tragic story of downtown Oakland. It is a story that will bring tears to your eyes for what was and now lost and the decline of what is and what remains. I will tell you a very sad, tragic truth, a truth of the destruction and decline of our historic downtown. Up until the late 1950s, Oakland was truly a Mayberry, a backwoods section of Bergen County. Route 208 wouldn’t arrive to Oakland for several years although it was planned and approved during the…
