An August tide rises with memories of warm, sandy beaches, tangy salt air and clams.
As a child August meant the annual family trip to the beach at Breezy Point, an idyllic community of cottagers escaping the heat of New York City.
My mother's family had been just such "Pointers" for eons and Mom had many stories of her childhood summers spent at the beach - movie nights, clam roasts by the ocean, lifeguards and sand, lots and lots of sand.
It was the 1930's and the music was pretty much blues, jazz and swing. Have a listen.
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| August 1968 |
Oh how well I know all those tunes! Why? Because they were the ones Mom and Dad sang, whistled and hummed most often when we were at the beach some thirty years later. But by now they had three daughters in tow and it was the 60's. While the The Beatles held our hands the Beach Boys strummed up good vibrations, Chubby Checker taught us the twist and Elvis Presley wanted to know if we were lonely tonight. Then Percy Faith waltzed through all the summer places while Ferrante & Teicher hammered out an exodus. The Monkeys made believers out of us all and with The Fifth Dimension we awoke to sunshine in the age of Aquarius. And who can forget the Singing Nun.
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| August 1957 |
At the Colony Theatre Mom had seen Mutiny on the Bounty, Gone with the Wind, the Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin, The 39 Steps, Stagecoach (John Wayne), and The Wizard of Oz. Thirty years later at that same tin roofed cinema we saw The Sound of Music, The Graduate, McLintock! (John Wayne!), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, and The Endless Summer.
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| August 1961 |
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| August 1961 |
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| August 1969 |
Oh, and fear not - we had lifeguards too!
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| August 1961 |
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| August 1961 |
Those were the days... and they were full of family, laughter, fun and sand, lots and lots of sand.
Good, good, good, good vibrations!
©2015 April Hoeller
