girls became people

Growing up in Chilliwack......the 50s

Cultus Lake was a big part of summer life in the our house....It was an annual thing, we stayed at the lake for 2 weeks in the summer...Mum loved it ...and was swimming every chance she had...dad wasn't much on that ..he proffered to rest and relax in any of his spare time...I remember him driving to Chilliwack to work in the morning...so I guess he usually left the fun stuff for us....Faye was a teenager, we passed at times, horsed around a little but were so into our own stuff, but I do remember a profitable little scam when those big teenage guys and girls were around...If I hung around long enough I could get paid to go away...what a deal....It worked practically every time...hey, 25c would buy a coke and cardboard dish of fries from the Pavilion...The Pavilion...I can remember what it smells like...the aroma of hot french fries, sun tan lotion, wet towels and all the other things connected with people having fun at the beach....In the early days of camping in a tent or our great RV dad made from the ice truck.......the Pavilion was a short run....a Wurlitzer in the covered outdoor area droned out music at 5 cents a pop..or 6 for a quarter......Frankie Lane was wailing "Mule Train" or "Flight of the Bumble Bee" by "Piano Roll Cook" was banging away......"I'm a Big Girl Now" seemed to be every third selection.....and " 5 Salted Peanuts".......I could hang around there for ages and watch the big teenagers....they fascinated me....There were initials with hearts and arrows carved in the posts and railings.........hundreds and hundreds of them...eventually mine were in there as well....on Saturday night there was always a dance..they could dance right out to an opened screened off area ...O man, was that entertaining ...It was hard to leave and head home ....that is usually when the action started....but I saw more as I got older and stayed out and watched later, then eventually I was one of those people and not a kid looking in from the shadows.....In the daytime, summer people...most in bathing suits...milled all through the Pavilion...it was walk through.....the stools would usually all be taken and stand up ordering was sometimes 4 deep.....they made great milkshakes served in wax cardboard containers and they were fifteen cents at that time...chips, fifteen cents......... we carried a towel with all our stuff wrapped in it... ......like shoes and pants ... we never thought to have a soft case or satchel...I don't know why...it was always so awkward...the shoes falling out..etc....hmmm..I don't know what the girls used except for the little purple seagrams whiskey bags, the gals all seemed to one of them.........girls were not on the radar yet.......we could take a chance and leave our stuff the wharf...but it was packed with people at the tower area....that just would not work well...there was about four, five cent pin ball machines ....supposed to be 16 to play them but that was never enforced....there was some rods across the rafter ceiling in the outdoor area...when would I be big enough to jump and give a swing on them?......emerging from the Pavilion to the front area was paved and a welcome space after the crowding in the Pavilion ...then there was the skating rink..with a grass boulevard in front of it........they had afternoon skating and I remember taking that in often....but as we got older and girls became people...night skating was the order...every year there was always teenage girls with bootskates and short nifty skirts.....They would always be first in the line up....most people rented skates...clamp on skates....try and get a good pair....the guys working in the shack and the skate boys were all usually teenagers who lived at Cultus lake...the skate boys fitted your skates on with a strap from back over your instep, then winched the toe clamps with a skate key then put a strap around the toe of the shoe..there ya go....next? it always amazed me how fast they were and I wondered if I could do it.....or we could watch people skate from a bench seat surrounding the rink ..........on one side, cars could park and people could watch the show....There was always a hot shot skate cop at centre stage....The skate shack pumped out the same music, probably some since it was built in 1938........... All skate, boys only...girls only, couples only, trios only (2 boys and girl or 2 girls and a boy) then sometimes skate to lights off except for a colored wheel light that blew different shades across the concrete floor.....it was wonderful. A few years later we were old enough to drive our parents cars ...some of us bought crates of our own....We went through the same short wonderful years as the teenagers before us . I am sure anyone that went through that stage has fond memories of their apprenticship to adultry. We got some of our training at Cultus Lake.