Thursday, July 31, 2014

Update on Sound View Beach, Old Lyme, CT

Took  a ride to the shore yesterday for a beach fix. On the way to the state beach I drove by Sound View to snap a few photos. I never got out of the car, so the photos are a bit blurry or badly composed.

Hartford Avenue is practically deserted. Just the residents and a few day trippers use the beach.
Hartford Avenue
I think it was the town of Old Lyme along with the fuddy-duddy shore-line residents who were tired of the motorcycles, the drunks, the noise that forced out the businesses. Rather than clean things up, I think they just made it more and more difficult to do business there.Those postcards with cars lining the street are a thing of the past. There is no free street parking - spaces are rented at a kiosk and parking lots charge $7.50 to $15 a day for parking - but for what?

The El Morocco - Long Closed and Abandoned 
The Italian Bakery (forgive the blurr)
This Used to be an Arcade
The arcades were very popular with the teenage crowd. Kids played pinball games and skeeball, and ice cream and snacks were sold there.
How Sorry is This
The Carousel is Still Clean and Operating
Lemon Ice - Closed?
This Photo Says It All
The Club - With The Mandatory Imported Palm Tree
The Catholic Church used to be filled for Sunday Mass thirty years ago. Where have all the Catholics gone?
Even the Catholic Church Sold Out
To Some Generic Variety Christian Family Church

8 comments:

Russ Manley said...

No matter north or south, you can't go home again . . . . Sad.

Russ Manley said...

Also just to say thanks for adding the modern pics, always interesting to see how places change over time.

Moving with Mitchell said...

Too bad no one could find a better solution. My special connection with Old Lyme, that's where my Lyme Disease was produced and distrbuted!

Marty said...

Interesting pictures. I vacationed here many years ago and the arcade , that Mexican restaurant and other businesses were open and now are closed. But believe it or not it is still a great place to go, even better without all the craziness. The biker bar had a lot of violence and noise and there was even a strip club years ago. Nothing against this stuff but now you can actually enjoy the beach without barfights and I was just there for half the month of September which was absolutely beautiful weather this year. Up the street is Teddys? The pizza place with wifi and a cell phone booster to help out and the Niantic drive is loaded with shops and book stores, food etc.

Anonymous said...

Place was hopping in the '70's! Maybe not in the very best way...my Dad would take me down there for the arcades (he knew one of the owners) and some fried dough...good times. My mother, on the other hand, would not have been seen dead on Hartford Avenue, and was probably happy enough for a few hours to herself.

Frank said...

Also see the post with old Post Cards:
http://reluctantrebel.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-beach-makes-me-happy-way-i-remember.html

Anonymous said...

I was trying to figure out where it was we vacationed several summers in the 1960s. I only knew it as "the beach in Connecticut" and eventually I figured out it was Old Lyme. The cottages with lumpy beds, the doughnuts, lemon ice, arcade, carousel....yep. My father was Italian, so of course we ended up there. Anyone remember the burger shack that blasted popular hits of the day? I can still hear "Light My Fire" and "If You're Going to San Francisco" wafting down the beach. And every now and then there would be a net full of minnows and sometimes a jellyfish! To me it will always be The Beach.

Anonymous said...

I was trying to figure out where it was we vacationed several summers in the 1960s. I only knew it as "the beach in Connecticut" and eventually I figured out it was Old Lyme. The cottages with lumpy beds, the doughnuts, lemon ice, arcade, carousel....yep. My father was Italian, so of course we ended up there. Anyone remember the burger shack that blasted popular hits of the day? I can still hear "Light My Fire" and "If You're Going to San Francisco" wafting down the beach. And every now and then there would be a net full of minnows and sometimes a jellyfish! To me it will always be The Beach.

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