Sunday, December 14, 2008

memories of Capri Beach Club



In the late 50s, my family shared a cabana at Capri with the Lowensteins and the Garfunkels. For three summers, on many hot beautiful days, Arthur Garfunkel reclined on the chaise lounge next to me. I think the girl in the next cabana, Ina, had a crush on Arthur. My mother would sit for hours playing Mah Jong. The men sat playing gin rummy and smoking cigars. Toddlers played in the sand with pails and shovels. And my sister stood in the cabana for hours swinging a hula hoop around her hips. The cabana boys flirted with the teenage girls and the newest Frankie Avalon song could be heard coming from the teen club. Memories of those lazy glorious days return every June. I think Capri was torn down and in that location are now condos. What I would give for a nice dip in the cold water of the middle pool followed by a walk to the snack bar for a delicious ice cream sandwich.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

My family went to the Capri Beach Club as well. It was in the 60's. It is among the best memories of my childhood. I went to their day camp and we were in row C. It had sand. I remember they had alternate sand/concrete rows. Our cabana was C-4. My dad fished on the "rocks" in the ocean and once caught a huge striped bass. The best memories of all were on the weekends. We would get there so early on a Sunday morning. My mom would make us breakfast and it was so peaceful and comfortable having breakfast in the sand. I loved going into the ocean and then on the way coming back to our cabana, I jumped into the first large pool. The game room near the snack bar was another favorite place. Games were only ten cents. I can remember the game room and snackbar so clearly. It is as though I am there again. What a great memory that is. I don't know how I ended up on this blog, but reading about your experiences at Capri made me want to write this short note. Thanks for the memories.

Marjorie said...

Thanks for the comment, Gary.

Marjorie said...

Gary, I have incredible memories of Capri as well. Those were great days.

Unknown said...

i spent all of my childhood and young adult years at capri. my parents had a cabana behind the camp. there was sand and the cabanas looked just like the ones in your photo. they were very happy years for me. i met many young people and loved the game room and had a lot of penny candy at the concession. my friends and i used to hang out at the picnic tables. i enjoyed swimming and tried to avoid going to camp! i played hooky from camp so many times, my mom had to deregister me! i am looking to find the benrubi's and the mandels also. they were childhood friends of mine who lived in far rockaway. i spent many summers with them!

Marjorie said...

Thanks for the comment, Sherry. The "Capri years" were happy years for me as well. Those years motivate great nostalgia.