PLEASURE ISLAND STORIES & MEMORIES

• Number 1 memory for me was that I was the "King" of Pleasure Island. Many mornings, the early employees who arrived at 6 a.m. would hold drag races in the vacant parking lot. I used to drive my mother's 1954 Olds, being a car that no other employee could beat. Thus, among the early crew, I was known as the King because of my mother's speedy Olds.
• Number 2 memory for me was the hugh fires that we would have there in the morning, burning the previous day's trash. I doubt that this would be allowed today, because of all the soot and ash that we created. Although the fires were in an incinerator, we created monstrous amounts of smoke that darkened the sky for an hour or so.
• Number 3 memory would be about our boss during the 2nd half of the summer, a man known to the employees as Oab, which stood for One Armed Bandit. Oab was a terrible boss, hired only because of his disability, that being that he had only one arm. He was universally disliked by everyone who knew him. I recall one time very well when I was on a step ladder in the saloon doing some cleaning when I accidentally put my head in the way of the electric ceiling fan. The fan hit my head, knocked me off the ladder onto the floor. Oab was watching the whole thing, and promptly instructed me to resume my cleaning. There was not a single thought of any potential injury that I might have suffered either as a result of: (1) being hit on the head with the fan, or (2) falling off the ladder onto the floor.
• Number 4 memory was that of sweeping up money. As a member of the ground crew, after the park had opened, we changed into uniforms, and went around the park with a long-handled broom and long-handled dust pan. During those times when there were lots of visitors, I kept a REAL sharp eye to the ground, because there was many a dollar bill that fell out of people's pockets, just waiting to be swept into my dust pan. In all honesty, I'd look to see if I could find who had lost the money, but the people were usually so focused on the attractions that they almost never had any awareness of any lost money. Thus, the money was usually lost in the crowd, but found in my little sweeper.