Old photo sparks interest in first hand accounts by residents

Originally published in Live.Work.Play. featuring photo/photos of trailer park at Ski Beach circa 1960

Written by Richard Miner for LIVE.WORK.PLAY

One of the most interesting things about living here in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the shores of Lake Tahoe comes from the fact that we who are fortunate enough to reside or even visit here can literally walk in the almost still quivering footsteps of some of the most interesting characters this part of the world has known. And to add physical presence to legend, some of the artifacts left by these characters are still visible around us to this day. In saying this I mean no disrespect to the Native Americans who called this area their home for centuries before our forefathers first set sights on Tahoe, but when I was asked to contribute articles about the history of our community I envisioned a period of time that began much more recently than the Washoe elders would have imagined.

That said, with so many subjects to consider, I’ve tried to focus attention on sights which are still in evidence and people who are still among us or only recently departed in the historical sense. After several years of offering perspective on these subjects, I am constantly reminded that still living among us are some of the earliest “modern” residents of this area, and that we are still surrounded by the physical presence of their recent but rapidly vanishing artifacts—buildings, structures, trees still bearing the scars of human activity and the like.

So in this issue of L.W.P. I pay brief homage to a slice of our history that spans the end of George Whittell’s ownership of the shoreline at what is now Incline’s Ski Beach and the early days of it’s possession by The Crystal Bay Development Company. I want to use this as an opportunity for any of our readers or their friends to contact me via my editor Kathy Slocum’s website to add to our history by suggesting topics for future articles and/or to offer to contribute their own recollections of life here during their lifetimes. As spice for this offer, one subject about which I know very little is the old trailer park which once stood at the foot of where Village Blvd. meets the beach at Lakeshore Drive. Do any of our readers have any memory of this once vibrant little community and/or the people who lived or vacationed there? And do any of you have other subjects or memories of early Incline or Crystal Bay you would like to help me explore in future issues of L.W.P.? If so, please email kathy@justimaginemktg.com
Photo Caps:

View of the Incline Trailer Park circa 1960 from Lake Tahoe showing the caretaker’s house and some of the residents period “mobile homes.”

Believe it or not, the caretaker’s home was moved when the park closed to 940 Village Drive where it exists to this day.