Sundance for Sale again.

[Shlbyntro]

Given to me by Cofooter.
Not the greatest photo, but a cool image from back in the day.
I’m guessing post 1968 because Buckskin was listed.
Had a trailer at Big Bend
We daycamped there that year and I think they had just built the museum at the downriver end.
No cabanas or camping then.
Could be wrong, I was only 8!
View attachment 974232 View attachment 974233

I'm thinking its gotta be pre 80s, maybe even early 70s too. Moonridge ain't listed

 

[cofooter]

I think Sundance replaced Rum Runner in '72 - so before that!

 

[old rigger]

My moms husband in his previous marriage had a place in the late 60s in Bluffside which is just below MC's market below the dam. He later moved to Willow Valley.

great map @cofooter, I have one that's almost mint that I keep wanting to frame and hang in the river place.

 

[old rigger]

I think Sundance replaced Rum Runner in '72 - so before that!

I'd guess late 60s to 1970. Marina Village is listed, it was the first place on the river where you could own your own place and was developed in the 50s, and Marine View is not listed yet which is where our friends bought in the early early 70s. My folks bought there in '72 too.

Little Marina Village trivia. When the neighborhood was developed they gave a riverfront lot to actor Stuart Whitman who was I guess pretty big back then, and they used him in their advertising. Story goes he was a nudist and was always laying on the roof of his trailer, (all trailers back then) walking around the street and so on naked. Some of the others that were the first to buy in the park complained and I guess ol Stu sold and moved on. He just died this last year in his 90s. Would have been cool to hear his side of the story.

 

[Parker Dreamin]

Anyone ever enter the topless bar that was across the street from Circle K? I believe around mid 90’s.


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[old rigger]

Don't remember where I found these but I kept them to show my kids after they found my picture on the wall in Sundance.

 

[SoCalDave]

On the quiz regarding #2 (alcohol served after 12pm on Sun) it was because most church services were over at 12pm. That was pretty much nation wide law back in the day.

 

[Marko]

Shubin with the infamous " Peter Meter".

 

[mobldj]

remember when the beers were cheap and they opened them like a old oil spout upside down .lol

 

[cofooter]

remember when the beers were cheap and they opened them like a old oil spout upside down .lol

3 for 1!!! That's how they could tell if you were bringing your own beers in!.

 

[Havasu Catman]

The map has to be pre 65. Jerry Osteen opened Riverfront resort in 1965 and it is not on the map.

 

[EarpRider]

PDF here if anyone wants a piece of River History!

Does anyone know what The Broaster was? Just south of River Shore on the CA side?

 

[CarolynandBob]

Here you go. Someone posted this pic not to long ago of the shirt.

New RDP shirt. I would buy and wear one.

 

[coz]

Here’s a story for you.....

When I was in high school, you only had to be 19 to drink in AZ. They checked the front door for ID real good, but the dock was a completely different story, as mentioned in a previous post.

. was that the good old days!

This one took me back, the first bar I ever went in and could legally order a drink was the Winners Circle up by the dam, Lynchburg lemonades were the drink of the day. That place became a couple more restaurants after that and when it opened as Chasens I was part of the opening crew back in the 80's. The sundance story about the 1000 hp flatty is spot on for me in a way, I actually taped my flashlight to the bow of the 19' Hallett with a 427 we had to guide me back home up river.

 

[Taboma]

hahaha...I've heard stories of Jim's monkey. My good friend was a friend of Jim Shubin, he was a bouncer at the Sundance in the 70's. He met Jim when Jim owned a bar in I believe Whitter , called Gigi's...or something to that nature...Anyway I guess Jim owned a Pantera, and him and my friend were either at Riverside Speedway or Elsinore, with the Pantera and the monkey, and the monkey got loose and they couldn't find it. They go to leave and they feel this bump, like they ran something over. Turns out it was the monkey, that was hiding in the wheel well of the Pantera the whole time...

OMG you just made this old man's Friday I swear that prick monkey had it in for me and if I could, I'd have for sure run him over.

 

[boatnam2]

I could swear I still see Shubin down in seal beach sometimes, or its his twin.

 

[old rigger]

OMG you just made this old man's Friday I swear that prick monkey had it in for me and if I could, I'd have for sure run him over.

Just about the time you think you've heard all the great stories from the river, a monkey jumps in the mix!

Our neighbors when I was growing up had a monkey. They had this big cage built on the side of their garage, a corner lot so the cage was right off the sidewalk. That little fucker would take a handful of his steaming hot shit and throw it at you, hitting the chicken wire and slicing into dozens of pieces of flying warm turdlets.

A disgusting pet.

 

[Taboma]

Just about the time you think you've heard all the great stories from the river, a monkey jumps in the mix!

Our neighbors when I was growing up had a monkey. They had this big cage built on the side of their garage, a corner lot so the cage was right off the sidewalk. That little fucker would take a handful of his steaming hot shit and throw it at you, hitting the chicken wire and slicing into dozens of pieces of flying warm turdlets.

A disgusting pet.

After my best childhood buddy I'd grown up with at Lake Arrowhead moved with his family to Del Ray Beach FL I paid him a visit in the late 60's. When I got there, he was in the process of ferrying a customer's boat from Long Island to FL and hadn't arrived yet. I spent three days sharing a room with his pet monkey who had run of the house.

Disgusting vile creature to put it mildly. Sure at times he was a hoot, like watching him pester their cat or play time --- but when he was sitting on my shoulder, trying to find bugs in my hair or eating dead skin, then you'd feel the hot piss run down your chest --- ARGHHHHH.

So yeah, staying in a house that was essentially a large monkey cage had me gagging at times for sure. At least when my buddy and I finally pulled out to sea headed for the Bahamas on their boat, the monkey was left behind --- THANK GOD !!


There's so many fond and or funny memories reading stories on RDP remind me of --- very cool !!!!!!!!!!

 

[rivermobster]

Just about the time you think you've heard all the great stories from the river, a monkey jumps in the mix!

Our neighbors when I was growing up had a monkey. They had this big cage built on the side of their garage, a corner lot so the cage was right off the sidewalk. That little fucker would take a handful of his steaming hot shit and throw it at you, hitting the chicken wire and slicing into dozens of pieces of flying warm turdlets.

A disgusting pet.

Who needs an alarm and cameras when you have a pet monkey!

 

[boatnam2]

what's up with the little rooms on up river side of Sundance? Do people stay in them?

 

[Rondog4405]

what's up with the little rooms on up river side of Sundance? Do people stay in them?

Always wondered about that myself.. there are a bunch of unfinished rooms also up there. Just framed.

 

[RiverDave]

[emoji23][emoji23] That is Dave. When first watched the video I thought it was Marc (SFV2RVR). LOL

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That is Marc not me. Lol

 

[Clank123]

Coming into where Buckskin would be built. Year is 1968. Note the upper end of Echo was not built/inhabited yet.

 

[cofooter]

Coming into where Buckskin would be built. Year is 1968. Note the upper end of Echo was not built/inhabited yet.
View attachment 974570

Nice!!!!

 

[Bad Bob]

Anybody know what happened to Donny?

 

[boatnam2]

Anybody know what happened to Donny?

Donny at echo?

 

[C-Ya]

Donny the Bartender? I last saw him in approx 2003. He was bartending at the Casino at that time. I think he had just gotten engaged to a girl who lived in the I.E. He had bartended at Sundance, Fox’s, Sports Valley, and Road Runner over the years. He worked at Sundance when I was in High School.

 

[Bad Bob]

Donny Worsak. We helped re-build Sundance after it burned down. They had the bar in a circus tent that year. He did the Hot Legs and Wet T Shirt contests when Jim's brother Nick wasn't available.

 

[rivermobster]

Donny Worsak. We helped re-build Sundance after it burned down. They had the bar in a circus tent that year. He did the Hot Legs and Wet T Shirt contests when Jim's brother Nick wasn't available.

Those were good days.

 

[Bad Bob]

Donny at echo?

Not sure if he ever worked Echo? We worked Sundance the first year after it was rebuilt. Last I saw him was at the new PI with Big Nick.

 

[Bad Bob]

Donny the Bartender? I last saw him in approx 2003. He was bartending at the Casino at that time. I think he had just gotten engaged to a girl who lived in the I.E. He had bartended at Sundance, Fox’s, Sports Valley, and Road Runner over the years. He worked at Sundance when I was in High School.

I'd be real surprised if that relationship lasted!

 

[RiverDave]

Donny the Bartender? I last saw him in approx 2003. He was bartending at the Casino at that time. I think he had just gotten engaged to a girl who lived in the I.E. He had bartended at Sundance, Fox’s, Sports Valley, and Road Runner over the years. He worked at Sundance when I was in High School.

I remember him from fox’s.. i haven’t seen him in a few years but he hung around my neighbor in the keys Jeff along with 1 leg Timmy and there cast of characters and women. Lol.

 

[boatnam2]

Yea I remember Donnie the bartender, big mustache..

 

[BoatCop]

I think Sundance replaced Rum Runner in '72 - so before that!

I just stumbled on this thread. Don't see how I missed it.

My Brother and I were staying at the River, Summer 1971. He had just graduated HS and was going in the Marines in the fall. I was 16. My parents put him in our little trailer at Jolly Knight. Just a 20' travel trailer. He stayed all summer, I'd come out for a week or so at a time. He helped lay blocks for the 25 cent car wash where Strokes is now, and any other odd jobs he could get. His buddy lived in a back room at the original River Rags, right at the entrance to the Park.

One of those jobs he had was a busser at Rum Runner. They were doing good, but for some reason, the employees and vendors weren't getting paid. Some hadn't been paid since Memorial Day. The owner wrote everyone checks to bring everything current on Friday, right before the July 4th weekend. The weekend kicked ass, crowded, wall to wall people. Busy for 4 days straight. He then took the weekend receipts and split. Just locked the place up and never looked back.

All those checks bounced. In the end, he'd owed $300,000+ and was estimated to have taken off with nearly 1/2 million cash. He'd planned his exit since the start of the summer. Lot of money, especially in 1971.

The employees got wind of it, before the vendors and before the Sheriff was called. Supposed to open Tuesday, but the owner never showed up. My brother would go in early to stock ice, load beer in the coolers, etc. so had the combination to the back, river-side door. So he and and his buddy who also worked there (and "another guy") took the boat up there late Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning and got "paid" in whatever stock they could fit in the jet boat. Damn near sank the boat. (or so I "heard") That "paycheck" was stored under our trailer. The Sheriff locked up and secured the place on Wednesday. But we didn't have to buy beer or booze for the rest of the summer. Rum Runner never opened up again, and became Sundance the next spring. (1972)

50 years is past the statute of limitations, right?

 

[boatnam2]

Awesome story BC, 50 years later and guys wont work for $25 an hour and whiskey is $50 a bottle.

 

[BoatCop]

The original Rum Runner and the first version of Sundance wasn't much more that a couple of tin trailers slapped together on pilings on the shore. Shubin took over after Rum Runner was abandoned expanded and reinforced it, primarily with lumber, but it was still pretty much tin cans on pilings, covered by a wooden shell.

Mid '70s, I think around 1977, Sundance, being 75% raw wood, burned (suspiciously from both ends) to the ground. I don't know for exact dates, I was in New Jersey or bouncing between the Polar regions. That started the Circus-tent era, after which the current structure was built. It remained open until about 2000, by various "owners" who, like their predecessors, were in it all for the money, buying the business from Jim (who still owned the sticks and bricks), and defaulting once they made bank.

In 1998, Jim sold it again but it closed in 2000. New owners wanted to build condos, but changing the zoning use would trigger the ban on new septic, and the sewer was still 15 years out. Plus the housing bubble in 2009 made the new owners walk away, and back to Shubin it went.

Jim opened it again in 2014, but damn, the dude's gotta be close to 80. He's sold it maybe 4 or 5 times. He's past ready to wash his hands of it, once and for all.

 

[boatnam2]

I could swear i see the other shubin brother, the one that hopped around like a little horny rabbit during wet t-shirt contests in seal beach a few times.

 

[RiverDave]

Yea I remember Donnie the bartender, big mustache..

I am thinking I might be talking about a different Donnie

 

[coz]

On that incident...... I actually had to swim across the river at night, near the Dam. I was staying at my friend Toms house. You guys might know him too, he owned the Paradise Cafe. I had to go way past his house on the Ca side, so that I could compensate for the current. I literally swam to his dock without a swim stroke to spare. My friend, swimming with me, made land at moonridge. I don’t even want to tell you what happened to the Kona! Lol

I was on the opening crew when Tommy opened Chasens back in the 80s where paradise is. Those were good times.

 

[boatnam2]

I am thinking I might be talking about a different Donnie

Dude that always wore the Hawaiian shirt at foxes?

 

[boatnam2]

I actually have a pic of him while a girl next to me is flashing her tits somewhere, i will have to find it.

 

[2Driver]

My claim to fame is 2nd place Macho man winner in 1985 prior to the wet tshirt contest. LOL

If I die tomorrow those days are how I want to remember the river,

 

[boatnam2]

My claim to fame is 2nd place Macho man winner in 1985 prior to the wet tshirt contest. LOL

If I die tomorrow those days are how I want to remember the river,

Hopefully that was pre-peter meter.

 

[2Driver]

Hopefully that was pre-peter meter.

He did have a decibel meter that measured crowd response that about it, no one was measuring anything but that

 

[mobldj]

My claim to fame is 2nd place Macho man winner in 1985 prior to the wet tshirt contest. LOL

If I die tomorrow those days are how I want to remember the river,

guess i kicked your ass,i won 1st and 50 bucks.lol.jk.mine was much later....

 

[franky]

I just stumbled on this thread. Don't see how I missed it.

My Brother and I were staying at the River, Summer 1971. He had just graduated HS and was going in the Marines in the fall. I was 16. My parents put him in our little trailer at Jolly Knight. Just a 20' travel trailer. He stayed all summer, I'd come out for a week or so at a time. He helped lay blocks for the 25 cent car wash where Strokes is now, and any other odd jobs he could get. His buddy lived in a back room at the original River Rags, right at the entrance to the Park.

One of those jobs he had was a busser at Rum Runner. They were doing good, but for some reason, the employees and vendors weren't getting paid. Some hadn't been paid since Memorial Day. The owner wrote everyone checks to bring everything current on Friday, right before the July 4th weekend. The weekend kicked ass, crowded, wall to wall people. Busy for 4 days straight. He then took the weekend receipts and split. Just locked the place up and never looked back.

All those checks bounced. In the end, he'd owed $300,000+ and was estimated to have taken off with nearly 1/2 million cash. He'd planned his exit since the start of the summer. Lot of money, especially in 1971.

The employees got wind of it, before the vendors and before the Sheriff was called. Supposed to open Tuesday, but the owner never showed up. My brother would go in early to stock ice, load beer in the coolers, etc. so had the combination to the back, river-side door. So he and and his buddy who also worked there (and "another guy") took the boat up there late Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning and got "paid" in whatever stock they could fit in the jet boat. Damn near sank the boat. (or so I "heard") That "paycheck" was stored under our trailer. The Sheriff locked up and secured the place on Wednesday. But we didn't have to buy beer or booze for the rest of the summer. Rum Runner never opened up again, and became Sundance the next spring. (1972)

50 years is past the statute of limitations, right?

thats a great story boatcop....really great

 

[franky]

The original Rum Runner and the first version of Sundance wasn't much more that a couple of tin trailers slapped together on pilings on the shore. Shubin took over after Rum Runner was abandoned expanded and reinforced it, primarily with lumber, but it was still pretty much tin cans on pilings, covered by a wooden shell.

Mid '70s, I think around 1977, Sundance, being 75% raw wood, burned (suspiciously from both ends) to the ground. I don't know for exact dates, I was in New Jersey or bouncing between the Polar regions. That started the Circus-tent era, after which the current structure was built. It remained open until about 2000, by various "owners" who, like their predecessors, were in it all for the money, buying the business from Jim (who still owned the sticks and bricks), and defaulting once they made bank.

In 1998, Jim sold it again but it closed in 2000. New owners wanted to build condos, but changing the zoning use would trigger the ban on new septic, and the sewer was still 15 years out. Plus the housing bubble in 2009 made the new owners walk away, and back to Shubin it went.

Jim opened it again in 2014, but damn, the dude's gotta be close to 80. He's sold it maybe 4 or 5 times. He's past ready to wash his hands of it, once and for all.

View attachment 1025103

View attachment 1025104

and yet another......thanks

 

[coolchange]

 

[oldschool]

What I’d give for a time machine.

 

[LuauLounge]

What I’d give for a time machine.

We would never survive it again.