The old and the new

Last week we talked about the many very positive comments and a few negative comments we have received during eight years of writing this “The old and the new” column. Today, I received another positive comment!

The writer was pleased with the column, however, his comment was also very frustrating! It was a telephone call from Tom Cox, who serves on the Ten Mile Lake Historical Committee. Tom said he had read one of “The old and the new” columns that featured the old Ten Mile Lake Inn, and although he had asked The Pilot-Independent editor for a copy of the column, they could not find it, and Tom wanted to know if I still had a copy.

I had put together a book containing all the columns from 2016 to 2022, and there was a very detailed index of all “The old and the new” columns! However, there was not a listing for Ten Mile Lake Inn!

Over the years, the very popular eating and drinking establishment has also been called, Bromley’s Supper Club, Arthur’s, Finn’s and Headwaters, however, there was nothing in the index under those names either! This is where the search became very frustrating, as I knew the column had to be in the book somewhere! The reason we couldn’t find it was because it was indexed under Dancing!

Back in the mid-’40s, there were dance floors all over the area. Wherever we went there was music in the air! Great, never-to-be-forgotten music such as Glen Miller’s, “Tuxedo Junction,” Artie Shaw’s “Frenesi,” Jimmy Dorsey’s “Greem Eyes,” Jimmy’s brother, Tommy Dorsey’s “Stardust,” Sammy Kaye’s “The Old Lamplighter,” Les Brown’s “Sentimental Journey” and my favorite song from the movie Casablanca, “As Time Goes By.”

We danced to those old favorites on the jukeboxes of Babe McMurrin’s Teen Age Canteen in the basement of her Home Cafe on Walker’s Main Street. We danced to those big band sounds on the huge, ballroom floors of Kaiser Savard’s Silver Dollar and Fisher’s Barn next door. We danced to those never-to-be-forgotten oldies at Kink’s Kasino on Shingobee Island, Lou-El’s Supper Club south of the Y-Junction and Mix’s Supper Club at the Longville Junction.

Perhaps the most enjoyable dance floor of all was on the sand of Stump’s Ten Mile Lake Inn! Dancing on sand gives a most intriguing, uninhibited and enchanting feeling! On a hot summer night, we kicked off our shoes, and with the cool sand sifting between our toes and fans blowing from both ends of the room, we danced to those unforgettable songs!

Dorothy and Theresa Stumpf were a couple of young, single, cigar-smoking Tennessee sisters, who walked into Birch Lake Realty in Hackensack one day, showed them a Tennessee whiskey jug full of $100 bills, and told them they wanted to buy a piece of land high on a hill overlooking Ten Mile Lake.

The girls got the land and used their empty Tennessee whiskey jug for a souvenir in their dream come true — a little one-room shack high on a hill overlooking Ten Mile Lake. At one end of the room were a couple of tables and a bar. In the back of the bar, there was an ice cooler and a warming plate. At the other end of the room, there was a sand floor with a nickelodeon in one corner. In the other corner, there was a guitar, a beach ball, and beach chairs — placed there to create an atmosphere of dancing on a beach!

The little bar brought kids — not only from Hackensack but from Walker and all over the area! Kids came from everywhere to dance and perhaps had a hot dog and a Coke after dancing!

The Nickel Skillet in Walker charged a nickel for everything, so that’s what the Stumpf Sisters charged for a Coke, and another nickel for a hot dog — covered with mustard and chopped onions! While Dorothy prepared the after-dance snack, Theresa might dance with you, and when the dance was over, with a big smile she would say, “Thanks for coming out to our little shack on the lake!”

Showing further appreciation, she might squeeze your hand before lighting up her Belle Meade Tennessee cigar! There were never any signs of drugs, foul language or any trouble out at Stumpf’s Ten Mile Lake Inn! It was just a great place for kids to go and enjoy the feeling of sifting sand between their toes while dancing to the sounds of the big bands, the smell of a good cigar, the smiles, and the words, “Thanks for coming to our little shack on Ten Mile Lake!”

It was frustrating not to be able to find these words at first Tom, however, now that we found them — thanks for the misty-colored memories! Thanks for bringing back the great sounds of those big bands! Thanks for reminding us of feeling cool sand sifting between one’s toes on a hot summer night! Thanks for the remembrance of the smell of a good Tennessee cigar, and the appreciative feeling of the Stumpf Sisters squeezing your hand, as they said with a smile, “Thanks for coming!”

By the way Tom, perhaps you may be interested in another book with all “The old and the new” columns, as two more years of the column will be added! Thanks to you Tom, the new index will be much more precise and accurate than the index of the last edition! Therefore, permit me to squeeze your hand in great appreciation and say, “Thanks for taking the time to read “The old and the new” — as time goes by. Play it again Sam!

The views and opinions expressed in the “The old and the new” column belong solely to the author, and not The Pilot-Independent or an organization, committee or individual.