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Wolfe's Pond Park
Wolfe's Pond Park
Wolfe's Pond Park holds special memories for me as I had spent every summer day there during my childhood while growing up.
My parents had owned the food concession business from 1966 through 1973.
The following true story is centered about my experiences during those years and some (lots of) details and rabbit trails about the way I remember it back in the day.
I hope you'll go on the adventure and enjoy the ride.
I've broken up my story in sections with headers just in case you want to skip through.
* All rights reserved. No part of this publication, Images (Excluding official Park Sign) and video’s may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods.
Sincerely,
Vinnyg.
Official Park Sign
Pre-Wolfe's pond food concession and background.
I was born and raised on Staten Island and first lived on Dongan street in Port Richmond. At that time my Father had owned Jimmy’s Superette meat market store in Saint George on Daniel Low Terrace right across the street from Curtis High School. (See Photo) I was an infant and too young to remember.
Some where around 1960 my parents sold Jimmy’s Superette store and the house on Dongan street. After a short interval on Van Riper Street in Elm Park S.I. my parents purchased a home on Cayuga Avenue in Sunnyside Staten Island in 1962 for 35 Thousand dollars. A big old house in a dominantly Italian neighborhood. Some thought our house to be haunted because in the past a man had died by hanging himself on the top floor. The streets are named after a bunch of Indian tribes: Cayuga Ave, Seneca Ave, Ontario Ave, Oswego St, Tioga St and Schoharie Street. There was said to be an Indian cave in Clove Lakes Park that was closed off (collapsed) because a couple of kids were killed in it, you can still see the remains of the rocks. Go to Royal Oak road and Victory Boulevard take the trail right past the little league baseball field. The trail goes straight in, when it makes a bend go straight into the woods another 20 yards its right before it slopes down. Its approximately 680 feet in from the beginning of the first trail head and only like 220 feet from Victory Boulevard.
Our Second Store in Stapleton.
A couple of years later my father purchased another deli and called it the “Corner Hut Deli”.
Located in Stapleton, across from the projects on the corner of Gordon and Warren street. The deli was a horror and failed to make money. The store was burglarized numerous times. The police would call and my dad would have to go down in the middle of the night to secure one of the front windows or the door from the damage. I remember my father used to leave change in the register when closing at night and told me that if the burglars got something out of the place they would most likely not trash the whole deli. Back then the Stapleton projects was a ruff place and I remember a girl telling me she clung on to the fire hydrant down on the corner of Broad street while a gang of men beat her to a pulp. As many times as the place was broken into the Police never apprehended anyone while burglaries were in progress. My dad sold the deli in the same year he purchased the Wolfe’s Pond Park food concession in 1966. Before the sale that particular summer my Dad ran the deli while my Mom ran the food concession.
How we obtained Wolfe’s Pond food Concession in 1966.
Joseph LaRocca who resided on Staten Island was a Lawyer and had owned five food concessions on the Island. His business was called “Richmond Concessionaire’s”. He was my Uncle through marriage.
The locations of the five food concessions he owned were:
La Tourette Golf course
Silver Lake Golf course
Wolfe's pond Park
Great Kills Park
known today as Gateway.
(Two wood shanty's on the beach that have been gone for quite some time now. Two of my uncles Johnny and Harry helped build them).
Joe LaRocca sold all the concessions and held the La Tourette golf course business for the longest. Joe was a very generous man and gave many people jobs. eventually he sold La Tourette and retired.
In the spring of 1966 Joe LaRocca sold the Wolfe's Pond Park food concession (business lease) to my father.
The building it self had always belonged to the New York City Parks Department, but the food concession was a yearly lease to what ever vendor held it with the option to renew it each year. We had held it for seven years from 1966 through 1973. The City of NY dictated the prices of all goods sold.
Richmond County Jail Lock and Key
When the Richmond County jail was about to be torn down Joe LaRocca went over and uninstalled the lock and key and had installed it on the main entrance door of the Wolfe’s Pond Park food concession. The bracket is still on the door to this day, well at-least it was a couple of years ago when I visited the park again. Although the bolt itself was removed I still have the key. The jail lock footprint was large and real heavy duty and would stop anyone from kicking the door in. (See Photo). We had two Skeleton keys but my father never gave them over at the final exit day. The Jail Lock complimented a second regular lock on the door also. He handed over the keys to that one. So, the last year we had the business, the Park department decided to take over the building and use it for maintenance and storage. Someone in the Parks department made a decision that Wolfe's Pond Park no longer needed a food concession so the lease was permanently terminated. My Dad told me it was because the boat house at the lake had burnt down and they needed to store mowers and equipment inside. FYI, there had been a number of Richmond County Jail houses according to Staten Island history but I'm not sure which one the lock came from. I’m assuming that the lock was probably from the fifty’s or early sixty's jail house or perhaps earlier.
Maybe a Staten Island historian can shed some light on the Richmond County Jail Houses.
The car ride to Wolfe’s Pond from Sunnyside.
So daily my Dad and I would leave Cayuga avenue and jump on the Staten Island expressway get off at north Gannon and hang a left on Victory boulevard. After we went under the over pass there was only three things on the left (south) side of the road to Richmond avenue. Willow Brook Mental Hospital entrance, Willow Brook Park entrance and the old diner, that's it. Turned left on to Richmond Avenue, passed a few farms and the drive-in movie theater on the left cause there was no mall yet. Richmond avenue was not expanded and wouldn't be for a number of years. We then would either take a right on Drumgoole Boulevard to Huguenot avenue or continue and take Amboy road from Richmond Avenue depending on how my dad felt that day. The Richmond Parkway known today as the Korean War Veterans Parkway did not exist yet and Drumgoole boulevard was a regular road. The Parkway construction would be active during the later years of our traveling and officially opened in 1972. I remember one time we were heading home on the Richmond Parkway toward Richmond Avenue after it’s completion in my grandfathers Ford Falcon and I was curious to how fast it could go? My Dad opened it up and the wind made it skip on and off the surface before he let off. The car was too light for high speeds and took a lot of roadway to get it up there. Years later when Richmond Avenue was expanded it was possible to put the pedal to the metal and catch every green light from Victory out to Arthur kill Road. Wasn't much traffic back then like it is today. if you had to stop at a light there was a good chance you were the only car at the red.
Cont....
So then, we would make a left on Huguenot Avenue from Drumgoole boulevard and right on Amboy.
Before we made that left on Luten Ave from Amboy road I would always look to see what the little music store displayed in the window. I would eventually buy my first drum set from that store which I remember was displayed in the left window. A set of Mercury Pro, Red/Green/Blue wavy 60’s color beginner kit that I would way out grow. At the end of Luten Ave at Hylan Boulevard sometimes we would catch a glimpse of a pair of blue Heron's that lived in that swamp pond on the left. In the earlier years Tottenville High School had not yet been built on Luten Avenue and it was all woods, swamp and a crappy road. We did watch the school construction and road being widened as it was finally finished in 1972 close to the end of our closure of the business.
Start of the day and Wolfe's Pond Park.
When turning into the park there would be at least one park worker if not two manning the shanty, we would sometimes stop and talk a couple of minutes depending on who the Parky was. There was a separate entrance and exit to Wolfe's pond park and both were on Cornelia avenue.
The road / Path above the beach below the grassy field was the exit and came out on the end of Cornelia Ave. Obviously they removed that portion of Cornelia and enlarged the park area adding the rink, playgrounds and courts. At the exit and end of Cornelia Ave there was a bar that sat right at the beach, we called it the orange house, it had alcohol, pool tables and a restaurant. My sister would buy her cigarettes there cause she didn't have my parents permission to smoke. Hahaha. We had cigarette vending machines on the ends of the counters but ended up inside because back then copper slugs worked as quarters. A pack was 55 cents.
The main lot was not paved and the parkee's (park workers) would lay down lime to make lines for parking. Only authorized vehicles could drive the road passed the exit road and turn in toward the beach houses. We would drive all the way in and park on the pavement behind the food concession.
Fishing
On the weekdays (early years) I would wait for my dad to get the coffee running, get money out of the safe for the registers, fill the ice buckets at the soda machines, start the grill and fryer, and open the bays. The safe was in the back storage room in the cage. The storage room had two external double doors we never used or opened. "the cage might still be there on the parking lot side past our private bathroom". Then I’d Grab my fishing pole and head down to the pond for my morning fishing session. I would fish multiple times a day and spent most of my time at the lake. Wolfe's pond was really good for fishing but many park visitors didn't know it or how to fish it successfully. We sold Zebco fishing kits, and sometimes bamboo pole kits at the concession. I had my favorite spots mostly down in the corner. The side toward the sea was not as productive as the inlet side, for me anyway. I would catch white perch, crappy’s, large mouth bass, bull head catfish and sunny’s aka bluegills. I loved fishing while it rained in the hot summer. Not many people would show up and the park would be real quiet. I would go down to the right corner to fish. You never knew what type of wild life you would catch a glimpse of. I sometimes used a float and would watch a fish mess with it before it would take it underwater and go off hooked. Snapping turtles and frogs would pop up out of the water, a blue Heron would land near the edge in the water across the lake. Sometimes Turkeys would appear behind me off the small hill and occasionally a water moccasin would try to come ashore near me. When the berm was washed away years later from hurricane Sandy the salt sea water mixed with fresh water and I heard the fish did not survive in the pond, not sure what it’s like presently.
Buses
Young people would come in bus loads sometimes from the city to spend the day at the park. They came from summer schools and camps, the smaller lot on the north side was for the buses to use first.
Sometimes the front of the concession would be full of those young customers looking to buy hamburgers, hot dogs, soda and candy oh and lets not forget Ice cream.
On the weekends people would fill the park to overflowing. After the main lot filled up the parkee's would direct the cars to park in the smaller lot then on the field which became a parking lot too. Once all three lots became filled they would put up barriers on both the entrance and exit to close off access. Some picnicker's would park on Cornelia Ave and walk in to avoid paying at the shanty. Yup- they would carry their coolers, grills, charcoal and bambino’s, lol. Was always a mixed ethnicity enjoying Wolfe’s Pond Park. Some times large groups of Spanish people would gather and roast whole pigs. One, two or three guys would Play conga and bongo drums for hours. Adults and kids yelling, all running around, or lounging, people getting drunk and all the barbecue and smoke would smell so good. There were no intoxication or DUI laws back then so many a folk left the park under the influence.
We sold Miller and Bud beer on tap and Rheingold in the cans. my father didn’t mind hitting the Miller tap either on occasions. (Photo). Once there was a man who was struck by lightening out in the open field during a thunder storm and one of our guys helped with the police in the resuscitation.
Parkee's
Come Monday morning the garbage cans were full and the whole place usually was trashed with litter all over the park grounds. Dozens of parkee's would walk around stabbing litter and filling their sacks. One park worker I knew would cross the inlet side and disappear to the other side of the lake to take a nap and hide for a while. Someone pointed out to me a individual who would often sleep standing up. He was a 60’s dude with long hair but was friendly and polite. Years later after the long hair fad went away I saw him clean cut on the ferryboat going to work in Manhattan and almost didn't recognize him. We talked, laughed about the Wolfe's pond years, the boat docked, and we parted ways. I was glad he turned his life around, I survived the 70's unscathed. On the corner of the concession building under the tree near the men's bathroom sat a park bench. There was always one or two female parkee's who were in charge of keeping the bathrooms clean. I would sometimes sit and play cards with them. If you look close you can see an officer standing and one of them sitting on the bench having a conversation. "Just above the maroon car on the photo to the right".
Working the Concession
I started helping out behind the counter when I became eleven (11) and would work full time summer days at the age thirteen (13) and fourteen (14). On real busy days when we had all three bays open I would work the third end bay unless I got in the way because dad had older guys working the concession counter. I would rent beach umbrella's, sell candy, ice cream, soda, chips and send the beer and grilled food buyers down the line to the older guys. My mom would bring my siblings out to the Park on the weekends but my sisters and brother did not work. I loved chasing them away from the front of the counter when they wanted stuff. What a punky kid I was, Ha ha.
One of the guys had built a food cart on a metal frame with wheels and a pull handle. It had a big freezer tub and a dry side with counter. We would fill the tub with soda and ice, stock it with cracker jacks, potato chips, sunglasses and model airplanes. Throw on a beach umbrella for when I got it set up, and a milk crate to sit on, I would roll it down to the beach (only on weekends). I’d set it up right in front of the foreman's shanty cause that's where the police post was also. They would lookout for me and there presence alone was a deterrence against crime. I wore that change maker that the ice cream man used to have, and I’d stash the bills in a cigar box underneath. There were separate men's and woman’s bath house on each side of the foreman’s shanty they had no roofs.
There were also a separate men’s and woman’s out house between them and the main parking lot. One set of stairs that led down to the beach between the men’s shower house and foreman's shanty. (See photo)
First aid had a room on the corner of the men’s shower house on the parking lot side with a separate door.
The water was clean back then and the swimming was good.
Some mornings there would be lots horseshoe crabs on the beach from high tide and I and others would throw them back in the sea. Jellyfish often sometimes came in with the tide. Rarely sharks would show up so the life guards would call everybody out of the water.
The Police
The cops would often come down to the concession and look in on us multiple times a day. I had the privilege of knowing most of them. They had patrol cars but mostly used the police scooters. A couple of the officers would give me rides on their scooters around the building and let me wear their police caps. (Photo) I was a little rascal and one time one of the cops hand cuffed me to the flag pole, everyone got a kick out of it. One real quite day nobody was around and one officer took my Dad and I down to the inlet side of the pond. Threw a few bottles in the water and shot at them with his 22 revolver. Him and my father took a few shots with his 38 service revolver and I begged him to let me shoot it too. (Ok I practically cried Lol.) He allowed me to have one shot out of it to shut me up (it worked). He showed me how to hold my left hand up against the tree, rest my right hand in it with the gun, cock the hammer and squeeze the trigger. I shot the bottle and sunk it. They both sighed, he laughed and said to my father “The kids a better shot than both of us”. That was some funny stuff and I walked away all proud.
So things were different back then, not like it is today. There wasn't as many people on the Island and folks had respect for one another and respected the badge.
Gambardella Picnic’s
During our ownership of the food concession we would have Gambardella family gatherings on my dad’s side of the family twice a year. In the summer it would be held one day at Wolfe's pond park and in the winter a rented hall for a Christmas time gathering.
My uncle Vinny who was a NY fire fighter would organize the gathering from A to Z and communicate with all the cousins. At one time there were 150 Gambardella cousins. There not all in the photo's as some were down at the beach, horse shoe courts or lake. We would take a large area in front of the food concession for our set up and picnic gathering. We ate, played games and turned up the fun. (See photo taken at the flag pole in front of the food concession and article).
Ending
In 1973 they started having concerts out off in the field and that was the last season we would own the food concession.
Sum
There are so many stories I could share but to sum it up, Wolfe's pond was a great time in my life from the late 1960’s into the mid 1970’s.
I was fortunate to spend my years there from the weekends after memorial day, when school got out for all the summer days and the week ends after labor day till we closed for the winter months.
The things that entertained us during those years were:
Playing Wiffle ball, flying kites, throwing Frisbee's, model airplanes, fishing, skipping rocks, playing horseshoes, bad mitten, Swimming, Hop scotch, jump rope, spaldins, marbles, hula hoops, fli back paddle and balls, rollerskating. Spinning tops:
We played with Yo Yo’s, Click Clacks, BB guns, cap guns, snuck cigars and an occasional sip of beer, ate lots of hot dogs, junk candy and drank soda. Who could ask for anything more as a young punk who grew up on Staten Island……….not me.
Vinnyg
[Photo Below] Jimmy’s Superette meat market store in Saint George on Daniel Low Terrace right across the street from Curtis High School.
[Photo Below] Jimmy’s Superette "My Dad on the left"
[Photo Below] Joseph LaRocca - Left / Richmond County Jail Key - Right
[Photo Below] Old Richmond County Jail Key size comparison.
[Photo Below] Copy of my Receipt from Village Music, the address was 5484 Amboy Road Staten Island New York 10312 in Prince's Bay. I purchased drums from my hard earned summer pay of $15 dollars a day but 1973 would be the last year for the Wolfe's Pond concession.
[Photo Below] US Mercury Pro Drum Set from the 1960's / 1970's. featuring my niece Rebecca Lynn
[Photo Below] Rear View of the Food Concession a later map photo.
[Photo Above] The two Black X's were my favorite fishing spots. White X was Park Dept old boat house and storage. Red X was Horseshoe court. A = Men's Bath House. B = Woman's bath house. C= Men's out house. D = Woman's Out House and E = Foreman's Shanty.
[Photo Above] Wolfe's Pond Food Concession My Sisters, Brother and I, (reverse order) The other gentleman holding the BB rifle was a good friend of the family and worked for my parents, but I do not have his permission to show his photo. my other three sisters are not in the photo.
[Above Photo] Wolfe's Pond Park Food Concession counter. My Dad wiping the counter, I was sneaking into the photo. notice the tap beer handles in front of me, the walk-in box cooler was right behind them. liqueur licence above that. Grill and deep fryer was to the left.
[Above Photo] I'm wearing one of the police officers hat and I'm sure my cap gun is loaded.
[Above Photo] I guess it was my older sisters turn to wear the hat.
[Above Photo] Standing at the Foreman's Shanty. The men's bath house behind my Sister. The only stairs to the beach on the left is the path right behind her. That little kid in the blue shorts is coming up from the Beach.
[Above Photo] A Busy Day winding down, Dad hit the Miller Tap a little and my Mom stashing a few big bills in her pocket from the register.
[Above Photo] One of the Police officers patrolling by the Concession in his cruiser. But often times they would utilize scooters. Note: The Officer in this Photo is NOT the police officer who took Dad and I shooting.
[Above Photo] One of the years we had the Gambardella Picnic. Photo was taken at the flag pole in front of the food concession. At one time there was 150 cousins.