CRYSTAL LAKE-VACATION PARADISE

CRYSTAL LAKE - VACATION PARADISE

              Dad worked at the United States Envelope Co. in Rockville for many years. As a seasoned employee in the office, he received two weeks a year vacation and from the earliest I remember, those two-week vacations were spent at Crystal Lake.

             Those early vacations weren't easy. We  didn't own a car, so early every year, Dad would reserve two weeks at one of the cottages for rent around the lake. I remember one just a stone's throw from Sandy beach that wasn't on the water and then later a cottage along the north shore with a private dock. My Aunt Mabel had a car, so on the first day, we would pile groceries, clothes and all the goodies in her Chevy (she always owned a Chevy), and she would drop us at the cottage for a two-week stay.

            Crystal lake was a busy place in those days. Sandy Beach was owned and operated by the George Bokis family. It consisted of a beachfront, picnic tables, boat rentals, bath houses for changing, a game room, a food concession with great hot dogs, burgers and grinders, and a roller-skating rink. An additional building at the opposite end housed Red's Tavern, a very popular spot for adults with a good restaurant menu. The parking lot was tarred and on sunny days, a tough place to walk bare-footed. On most good-weather days it was full and on weekends, the lot, Sandy beach road and adjoining roads were packed bumper-to-bumper with cars of beach-goers.

            Admission for swimmers was a dime. Mildred Bokis would then staple a colored ribbon to your bathing suit and you would be good for the day. Ribbon colors changed daily so there was no cheating. I think rental rowboats cost $2.00 a day. Hot dogs were a dime and burgers 15 cents. I don't remember how much skating was, but for a small fee, you could rent a pair of roller skates and circle the rink for hours. The Bokis family were great people and knew all of us kids by name. If you forgot your dime or dropped it, they would staple the ribbon and let you pay the next time you came swimming.

           In addition to the Sandy Beach and crystal clear water, the swimming area had a couple of floats and a "wheel"as added attractions.

My daughter Lori on the Wheel about 40 years back. 

       

 I think we usually rented a cottage from the Johnson family. In addition to owning some cottages, they ran a small food concession just down the road and across the street from Sandy Beach and Mrs. Johnson made the greatest fried dough with tomato sauce.

            Another very popular food concession stand was Jimmy's, a couple of blocks up the road and across the street from Sandy Beach. They made the greatest grinders to be found anywhere in the area. The little stand is still there but abandoned.
           

Jimmys Hot Dog Stand is still standing.

 At the far end of the lake, there was another large beach concession, I first knew as Rau's. The building is still there. It's been renovated a couple of times and changed names more than once, but it was the spot where my Mom and Dad used to go on dates before they married. Uncle Jake was dating Aunt Isabel Bjorkman and Dad was dating her sister Viola Bjorkman. Dad and Jake were good buddies and Mom and Isabel would take a bus or trolley out to Rau's on weekends for dancing dates.- As I was growing up, the place became Jack's. It had a great diving float with an elevated diving board and after the war a big surplus rubber raft where we played "King of the Mountain", tossing each other into the water.
           My favorite activity on the Lake was fishing. It was always a good trout lake, but also supplied us with plenty of yellow perch, pickerel and bass. The Cove to the right of Sandy Beach was the spot to fish for these species. The hot spot for bullheads was a deep hole about 100 yards off the Brigham cottage. One summer I found a smelt spot and loaded up on delicious fresh water smelt for dinner.
            Over the years, Crystal Lake has continued to be a favorite go-to spot, but in those early days it was indeed a vacation paradise.