Fond Memories

The Nickel Pitch Stand

My name is Jack Sternik and I was just looking at the web site on Palisades Amusement Park. Here is my personal memory.

Jack at the nickel pitch stand, located just opposite the salt water pool, during the summer of 1960. I can remember it well... the two years I spent as a barker in the nickel pitch stand. I would scream out "just a nickel and you win! 5 cents today will take you home a beautiful fuzzy dolly, come on in, its just a nickel!"

I was thirteen years old and working 72 hours a week from 12 noon until 12 midnight. This was my first full time job and I was living at the park more than home. The town of Palisades Park where I lived was in walking distance and I walked the three miles to and from the park every day. Six days a week and I never got tired of it. I can still remember the great sights, smells and sounds. I would watch a man with no legs dive off the high diving board in the salt water pool at six o'clock every day. Cousin Bruce Morrow would shout hello to me every time he passed by. I loved all his colorful suits and the shoes he'd wear. I would play pinball every chance I got. My aunt was the park secretary for a while and I could get a few free ride passes now and then. There was always friends to be had at the park and a lot of them were good looking girls. On my day off my time was spent at the pool and when I was working I did a lot of practicing and tossing those nickels onto plates. It came in real handy when later I was able to easily win one of those stuffed cuties for a date. The park will be in my memory for every.

Jack Sternik,
now located in Greenville, South Carolina