The Building of Crystal Beach Park's
“Laff in the Dark” Page 2

By Richard Doan

On October 7th 1935 Hall sends another note to J. Nagle asking to get pricing on the motor and asks that it be done "at once as I am in a hurry to get this settled".

Starting on October 10th 1935 quotes, drawings, specifications and blueprints start to arrive from General Electric and Westinghouse on the motors.

In a November 12th 1935 letter, from H.Hall to John Richey, a concessionaire, it asks him to take down the building he has been operating next to the Bowling Alley to make necessary improvements to the building known as the Bowling Alley.

Also on Nov12th 1935, Hall sends another letter to J.Nagle stating that a "Car"  was shipped from Beaver Falls and should arrive today. "The plans are here and as soon as the car arrives we will notify you so that you can send a truck for same" It is interesting to note here that there are 5 pages of a material list for the Crystal Beach Laff in the Dark

Too many parts to name here but some are 13 "Floor Stunts" Ceiling stunts: Balloons, cobwebs, ropes, ribbons, rubbers 1 blower and one mirror, car frame . Hub caps, rear tires, contact shoes, front and rear bumpers, wood car sides, tops and bottoms, seats , ornamental necks.

.....and on Hall being thrifty he also says to J.Nagle " Kindly keep your help down to the least possible number. I think with so much carpentry work to be done that two carpenters might take the place of three or four ordinary men. I know you will have to have several men take the bowling alleys from one building to the other, but you should be able to cut down the force after that."   

Also on November 12th 1935 Re Cambers sends Hall a letter "We are mailing under separate cover a colored sketch, showing a design which can be used for your building. The four fluted pieces shown on the corners of the towers are made of sheet iron"

"We believe that the design is about as simple as could be worked out and structurally, we believe you would have no undue trouble in building it and the cost would not be excessive We have shown the loading and unloading in the center of the front and the two lines of people would be separated by a fence. We could also work this out so that we could load near the right hand tower and unload near the left hand tower" Well we know which plan Hall choose!

On November25th 1935 Chambers writes to Hall "The laying of the track is a very important item and we believe it would be well for you to have one of our men supervise the job. If you have decided that the general structural scheme is agreeable to you, I shall be glad to have a word from you to this effect so that the architect may proceed with the detail drawings in the near future. I am glad to hear that you had no trouble in moving the bowling alleys."
 

Now I don't believe that they moved all the alleys as a former maintenance man, who now works where I'm employed, told me that there still were lanes in the building , right to the end. He actually cursed them as they were hardwood on edge and were hard to drill into. At the end of the letter Chambers writes "I have been wondering if you had the opportunity to do any figuring on any of the car material. It is possible that we may be able to get out the castings to you cheaper than you could get them done in Canada. I would like to submit the following quotations."   The list contains drive wheels, idler wheels, trolley shoes etc and pricing. "We would appreciate hearing about the castings at this time so that we could get the order placed in the foundry for this material and get the machine work done some time during the next month". I can only guess from this letter that Hall received one of the LITD cars and was going to have the parts made in Canada for the rest of them.

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