Depending one’s age and frame of reference, Sound View beach conjures up various images – sidewalks bustling, whole neighborhoods across Connecticut flocking to the beach for the summer, the arcades, the El Morocco, or even a lady named Busty Heart.
These days, the Old Lyme shore community is a cleaned up dichotomy of sunbathers, mostly teens and 20-somethings, particularly on the weekends, and plenty of families, especially on weeknights, as kids and parents flock to the perennial favorite, the carousel.
Regardless of age, almost everyone is from somewhere else in Connecticut: Colchester, Newington, Waterbury, and Whethersfield. Celeste Mattingly, West Hartford, a baby boomer, came to Sound View Beach as a kid. She remembered how Hartford Avenue was like an extension of the South End of Hartford, which contributed to the high propensity of Italian water ice stands.
Alyssa Miano celebrated her 11th birthday on Monday, August 4, by coming to the carousel, a vintage model that is known for its brass ring that riders on the outside rows can grab for. Her extended family has been coming down from Rocky Hill for about 35 years, said her mother, Susan, to enjoy the beach and celebrate multiple August birthdays.
“It’s the tradition,” explained Miano. “My older sister, Diane, always came down here to grab for the gold ring on her birthday.”
Although Diane wasn’t there yet that night, her daughter, Erica, was, along with siblings Owen, 9 and Celia, 6. Grandmother Ersilia Kindl, Whethersfield, also was there, celebrating her birthday in a matter of days.
“We must have come here when I was first married, 50 years or so,” she said. “We used to stay at Miami Beach. My oldest daughter, even though she’s 60 year’s old and married, she still has to get the gold ring. It’s a nice tradition.”
Kindl remembers three generations of the family sticking it out through a hurricane one year, staying in a house up on stilts, while her mother insisted on making waffles for her granddaughter.
While the Surf’s Up and the Cool Moose liquors and convenience store cater more to adults, The Carousel Shop aims to have something for every member of the family, including younger kids with pocket change.
Dee Vowels, who recently retired from being a speech therapist, and her husband, Jerry, have been running the carousel and the shop for 20 years. They are marking the anniversary this summer with Carousel tee-shirts that read “What’s the Scoop?” on the front and “20 years and still scooping” on the back. A brand new Carousel Shop sign went up the first weekend of August.
“There has been a merry-go-round on this spot since 1948,” said Dee. The current one is a 1925 Allan Herschell Carousel that the previous owner brought up from Florida in the 1960s. The Vowels acquired the seasonal shop and carousel in 1987 and have been running both ever since. Running a carousel is serious business, she said, even if it is seasonal. There are safety inspections, seat belts and insurance.
The carousel is an evening-only treat, Dee explained, because sand, sun and pony rides just don’t mix well. Kids have to wear shoes on the ride. Besides, it is more magical in the evening when the lights come on.
Back when people came down for the summer, with fathers commuting back in to Hartford for work and mothers and kids staying at the beach house, the shop provided local access to groceries and convenience items, plus beach paraphernalia, swim suits and everything people forgot to pack. Today, it specializes in ice cream, cold drinks, tee-shirts, inflatables, candy and snacks.
“It’s been good,” said Dee. “When I think back to 20 years ago, just starting out with my daughter on my hips, I wonder how we did it.”
Jennifer, her daughter, has scooped her share of ice cream in the store since then. Their son Jay, who also used to work there, is completing his PhD in southern California. The shop also provides summer employment for some Old Lyme kids.
“We get nice families here,” said Dee, who grew up on the Jersey shore. “The candy is a big thing with the little kids, especially when they have movies on the beach.”
Two years ago, they bought the building next door, expanding The Carousel Too to be a clothing and gift shop. Dee and Jerry have renovated the upstairs, ending their commute from West Hartford and making Sound View Beach their warm weather home. They plan to spend winters in Florida.
This is the place to buy “name drop” clothing: the hats and teeshirts with the names of the local Old Lyme beaches, as well as ones with the signature carousel.
While the official beach season is Memorial Day to Labor Day, and shops will try to stay open on sunny weekends in September, she said The Carousel usually opens up on Mothers Day weekend.
“We like for people to know we are here while they get their cottages ready for summer; we get ice cream delivered to they can come and get one,” she said. Once school activities starts in the fall, though, the beach traffic really drops off.
It’s a twelve-month investment to maximize a ten-week season. One year, she counted 17 rainy weekend days out of 20.
New Eats
There’s a new eatery on Hartford Avenue. Bobby’s Place II opened for Memorial Day weekend on a corner that old-timers may remember as the home of Palmer’s, which sold a sloppy Joe hamburger concoction 24 hours a day back in the 1980s.
The place is owned by Carole and Michael Dufour, Colchester, and her parents, Bob and Ruth Breau, East Lyme. The Breaus opened up the first Bobby’s Place in 2000 in the Colonial Market parking lot in Niantic, serving up lobster rolls, clam chowder and chili, kielbasa and *** and hot dogs with all sorts of concoctions.
“I asked my dad if he’d be interested in going into business together,” said Carole. “He called me one day and said ‘I found the perfect spot.’”
All of the soups are homemade by Breau. Bobby’s II features an expanded version of the menu, adding pulled pork sandwiches, meatball sandwiches and cheese pizza.
“Hartford Avenue needs to be rebuilt again,” said Dufour. “People are redoing the houses down there. It really looks nice, and it’s picking up. When it’s hot and the place is hoppin’, it should be a great place to have a restaurant.”
June was pretty rough with all of the rain, she admitted, but the family’s plans are long-term. The shop is open seven days a week through August and Dufour said they plan to be open on the weekends in September and October, as long as the weather is fair.
“Everyone in town has been so welcoming. That’s been great,” she said. “It’s a nice, warm feeling.”
When they started cleaning up the shop in March, she said, all the locals were very helpful. Her husband, Michael, is operations manager for National Signs, Berlin, which made the new sign for The Carousel Shops down the street.
The Sound View Beach Association, a community based charitable organization that sponsors services and events for the entire the Sound View Beach community and surrounding area and sponsor of the Shoreline Community Center on Hartford Avenue, just completed a successful summer of kids krafts. For two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays in July and early August, children age 12 and under could make a craft and have a snack at the center for a nominal fee.
“We had children from Hawk’s Next, Point o’ Woods, White Sands Beach, and even from in town,” said Debbie Schreier, Rocky Hill. She and Shirley Grande, West Hartford, an associate member of the beach association, volunteered last summer to run the crafts sessions and expanded it this year.
Grande, a grandmother, came up with the idea. Granddaughters Samantha, 9 and Brianna, 10, enjoyed helping out, as did Shreier’s neice, Lilly, 12, who visits each year from Atlanta, and a friend, Courtney Fox, 13, Wolcott.
“One day we had 47 children,” said Grande, adding that adults were requested to accompany children under seven. Proceeds from this year will fund next summer’s program. The women hope to involve area school students who are looking for community projects next year.
Membership in the community association is based on property ownership, but anyone can be an associate member and get involved, said Grande. The air-conditioned and heated hall, renovated over past months, can be rented out year round for parties by contacting the association at www.soundviewbeach.com. Future plans include completing a conference center and finishing off the upstairs, she said.
Fans of the “original” Beach Donuts can still buy them on weekends and holidays, 7 to 10 a.m. at the community center through Labor Day weekend, with all profits going to benefit the center’s ongoing renovations. Really serious donut eaters are encouraged to stop by the center for an advance order form, either Wednesday nights when it is open for bingo, or on Saturday or Sunday morning for next day delivery. Wednesday night bingo continues at the center through the third weekend in September.