Thank you very little for this antiquated POS. For very little cost, the least you could have done for these priceless videos of Ozark history, you could have transferred them to a digital filter to clean them up, or at the very least, played them on an auto-correcting VCR that would put the tracking in line so we could view it without the lines and blips.
Its ashame when he says people treat each other better than anywhere. Now it's a big money lake full of a holes. They don't care about the normal family. They want the money. Its ruining the lake at a rapid pace.
Wow. I'd hate to see the heads on that VTR after playing that tape. The tape must look like used toilet paper. Glad you got it digitized when you did. I grew up weekending at the lake with my family in the 60s and 70s, and my parents moved there in 1978. We kept mostly around the Linn Creek-Niangua area and didn't get up to The Strip much. I never knew much of anything about Lee Mace.
I remember with the strip was the big draw. When I was a kid in the 70's we stayed at Osage House by the grand glaze bridge a lot in the summers. Every time we would visit we would go there. The drive down US54 east was slow back then as it was only two lane. It was great when a center left turn lane was added. Lots of restaurants and mini golf and arcades and shopping areas as you drove down 54 toward the strip. This all became bigger and more built up over time. I remember to find a grocery store that was of any quality you were driving to Eldon or Camdenton about 30 miles in either direction away from the dam. Now there are 4 or 5 in the lake area and they are open all year. From Memorial Day to Labor Day the lake was a happening place. I remember the water slide era. Any hill side that you could install a plastic trough and a pumping system, water slides sprung up. They are all pretty much gone now. The 80's and 90's was the era of the big cigarette boats and the clubs. The condo units and the time share and the housing exploded and the Lake went from a summer only location to a year round place to live and work. You look at it now and cannot believe that a week before Memorial Day and week after Labor Day the place was dead. No Walmart or Lowes or any big box stores. No fast food franchises. Mom and Pop places that where open during the summer only. We would drive to the Lake on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend to shop the local stores because they would all have end of the season sales. 50-75% off everything because two days later the place would be like a ghost town and they would be closed until next summer. The next Monday all the kids would be back in school and normal life would resume. The strip is not dead but it is not anything like it used to be. There was so much that came in the late 70's the 80's and 90's that drew you away from it and with that the money moved away. I could see that in the early 90's as the outlet mall came in and so much more and the Strip did not upgrade or change to cause you to want to go there. The Strip became a been there done that seen that place. Rebel Arcade shown in the video was a place I would go to and take my kids to let them see what arcades used to be like. Also to play the old pinball machines. About 4 years ago it closed.
I sure enjoyed finding this video!! I am the girl playing the piano at the very end.. I was on the Ozark Opry in 81..82...and in 85 when this footage was shot...
Been going to the Lake since I wad 6 back in 1988, it's definitely different now but I still love it down there. It's always fun for me to share stories with my kids about spending summers down there with my grandparents. Still a fun place today IMO
What I wouldn't give for a time machine to go back and have a burger & shake at the Burger Barn, then head over to Ezard's to pick up the latest Mad magazine while my parents got a few groceries before heading back to Point Breeze.
I talked my parents into going to Fantasy Caverns back in the '70s. When we left, Dad backed the car into a tree that he didn't know was there. Put a nice dent in the 1972 AMC Ambassador's bumper and trunk.
Was just at the strip and it's bustling. Lotsvof restaurants, some live music, and the traditional Go-Karts miniature golf. Not as many tourist shops nut some.
wow wish I had the chance to visit the strip in the glory days. Last time we went down there a few years ago there was almost nothing left of it. Really, it seems since the new highway has been finished it looks like alot of businesses are dying out. they should have left it alone, driving by all the attractions was half the fun.
I grew up in the 1970s... and my church group would go to the Lake of the Ozarks every year,,, I saw the show every year from about 1976 till about 1986... They were truly talented people,,,, and I miss them,
This is fresh, i go to the Ozarks every year and me and my family are going in 4 days. But in all the years iv been down there i never knew about all these old attractions that arnt around anymore. I wish they were still around.
