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[cousin bubba]

In the 70's I was forced to stay in rockaway beach. (there was no room at the inn in branson.) The hotel was old. No bathroom in the room. No TV in the room. TV was in the lobby. I can't remember the name of the hotel. Can anyone help me?

[Gilligan]

Wow!  I've never heard of it. Junior will probably respond, and Rube is good at researching. One of them will surely be able to help you.

[Junior]

Hi! Junior responding:  Rockaway Beach was once just as big of a resort area for vacationers as Branson. It had its own "strip" of hotels, motels, dance halls, restaurants, arcades, even a bumper car pavilion. On the other side of the street were several boat docks, and Rockaway Beach had a handicapped area right on the lake (just like Branson) so folks with disabilities could fish and swim in a somewhat protected spot. Several hotels and motels of the era between the 1920s to 1960s could fit the description of the place you stayed. An infamous incident occurred in the 1960s. A group of Hells Angels swooped down on the town, partying and getting loud and causing trouble, and when the cops came in, a riot occurred! The town was named after Rockaway Beach, NY. I may be a little shaky on my memory, but it seems the Merriam family who developed adjacent Merriam Woods may have had something to do with naming the town. Mrs. Merriam said the town's layout on the lake reminded her somehow of the town in NY state. When my family moved to Branson in 1978, one of the houses my parents looked at renting was the old Merriam home that sits on a hill overlooking the Rockaway Beach strip. It was done in rock in an oriental fashion. It had two cabins next to the main house. My brother and I were stoked about possibly living there. We told ourselves we would each take over a cabin, and have a bit of teenage independence! However, as my mom and dad walked through the place with the real estate agent, mom said she felt as though someone was following her through the house, looking at her. Mom was a very down to earth woman, and when she said something like that, you knew she really felt it. So, we did not move into the house. In the late 70's, and early 80's when I lived in the area, there was still a big July 4th celebration, with fireworks placed on a barge in the lake, and the fireworks being shot into the air just above the bluffs on the other side of the lake. It sounded like cannon going off, with the loud echo coming off the bluff, and it was GREAT! Times were different, and many booths were set up, selling fireworks to visitors. My dad got my brother and I a big bag of rockets, and we stuck them in the ground and fired them off right in the middle of the crowd we were in. Many others were doing this, too. No thought to safety. One rocket my brother lit fell over on the ground, shot at foot level through the crowd to a boat dock, and exploded under a metal lawn chair that a great big fat man was sitting in. The explosion frightened the chap so bad, he fell out of his chair, and almost slipped off the dock and landed in the lake! After a few moments of shocked silence between my brother and me, and our dad, we all busted out laughing hard! Yes, times were different then.  In the years I worked at SDC, we called the Ribhouse at various times "Captain Bills" and it is my belief that Captain Bills was named in honor of a Captain Bill at Rockaway Beach who operated an outstanding hotel, restaurant, and dance hall.  So, after taking the long way around the barn, no, I don't know which hotel you might have stayed at way back then, but several could fit the description. Branson and the Branson area still had many mom and pop owned and operated hotels and motels back then that were left over from the 1920s through the 1960s that were still in regular operation. The old hotels would have shared bathrooms, as that was the common thing in decades past. One other thing about Rockaway Beach. When I lived in the area it had a walk up Dairy Queen. No dining area, just a window. You placed an order then walked on down the street. My family loved that place. Large cone for 25 cents back in those days. Ahhhh, memories!