WILKES-BARRE — It’s time to fire up the Way Back Machine and travel back to those good old days when the music was loud, the dance floor was packed — and we danced.
Those were the halcyon days of Sandy Beach and Hanson’s and Sans Souci dances that always conjure up great memories when we gather for events or dinners. The stories never get old and they seem to become even funnier the older we get.
For the kids in Plymouth, on Friday or Saturday evenings, we would meet in front of C. Matus News on West Main Street, to hold up the parking meters and watch the world go by, passing the time until we headed out to one of those dance halls.
We would jump in the car and head over the mountain. We would arrive at “the Beach” as hundreds of other kids just like us were arriving and walking up the steps to the second-floor dance hall, where Eddie Day & TNT or the Nightimers were already playing.
As we walked up those steps, we could hear the music — Eddie Day was wailing away and the dance floor was packed. “Gimmee Some Lovin’,” “Louie Louie,” and “I Got a Line On You” were our favorites.
We would work up quite a sweat, so at intermission, we would run down the steps, onto the beach and into the cool waters of Harveys Lake. We would still be pretty damp when we returned to the dance floor, but it didn’t matter.
This was fun, fun, fun til my daddy took the GTO away.
A drive around Harveys Lake reveals Hanson’s and Sandy Beach are no longer there. The public Sand Beach, which used to have white sand and hundreds of teenagers on blankets with transistor radios tuned to WARM, the Mighty 590 are all memories now.
We were learning and growing socially. It was awkward, for sure. We found many answers to many questions we were afraid to ask about. We were wandering through this post-puberty era and it wasn’t pretty.
But even though we didn’t have much back then, compared to today, we had it all where it counts most — in school, at home, in church, in the neighborhood. Whether it was on the street corner, in the pool hall, in the school yard, or at the dinner table, we learned about life in the best of ways.
For kids just out of high school and still trying to figure out what the world had to offer, these really were the best of times. We didn’t have the internet. We couldn’t Google how to get to second base. We just lived it all.
And we really did have fun back in the day — we were just trying to figure out the world. We were most always well-behaved, and we always had fun.
And we all turned out pretty darn good. We all went on to live full lives, and we have enjoyed the ride.
So as we oldtimers get ready to boogie oogie oogie on Saturday, Aug. 1, for the annual Summer Reunion Dance at Irem Temple pavilion with Eddie Day & TNT and Which Doctor, my thoughts turn to Sans Souci Park and Hanson’s and Sandy Beach. I’m sure many of the folks I bumped on those dance floors will be there. Sure, we have slowed down a bit, but we still have a common love of the music and the dances. Although the Twist might result in a few days of post-dance therapy.
But on Saturday, Aug. 1, for four hours, attendees will hear their favorite songs, and they will forget about those aches and pains. They will cut the rug through the pain. And they will renew friendships. They will tell those stories. And they will laugh, and at times, they will cry.
“We absolutely feel blessed that at this time in our lives, we’re still together, making music and seeing people we haven’t seen in decades,” Pashinski once told me. “We’re all reliving our youth — and that’s what this is all about.”
My friend Joe Nardone once pointed out a thought-provoking question.
“Do you know how many people met their wives or husbands at these dances?” Nardone said. “Thousands.”
He is correct. The dances of the 1960s brought people together for fun, and many couples met and stayed together through life, getting married, having children and grandchildren.
The Irem dance will draw 500-plus people for a trip down Memory Lane. They will arrive happy, they will laugh all night, and they will leave happy.
These youngsters of yesterday will seize the opportunity to remember. They will swing and sway the way they used to at those local amusement parks and other dance venues.
Some of the attendees might be carrying a few extra pounds. Some may have less hair. But someone once told me that the easiest way to recognize someone from your past is through their smile.
Well, there will be plenty of smiles on Aug. 2, for sure.