Come ride the little train
That is rollin’ down the track to the Junction.
Forget about your cares,
It is time to relax at the Junction.
By Randall Grantham
Community Columnist
Other than my time in Gainesville during Law School and then 4 years in Jacksonville afterwards, I’ve lived in the Lutz/Land O’ Lakes area my entire life – Born and raised here and my whole family is local. This newspaper, The Laker/News has also been around, in one form or another, for decades. According to the masthead, The News has been around for 45 years and The Laker is no spring chicken either.
Before either of these papers was a glimmer in the eyes of their founders, we had a small weekly serving Lutz, LOL, Odessa and Keystone. It was called Party Line, which, for the youngsters out there, referenced the fact that most of us in this area didn’t have private phone lines. We had party lines, which were shared between several households.
It first published in 1960 and I had pretty much forgotten about it, until my Mom found an old issue from 1967 among her papers and saved mementos. The front page had a picture of my Dad passing the gavel as President of the Land O’ Lakes-Lutz Lion’s Club to Osler Adams at their officer installation dinner held at Seely’s Holiday Ranch in front of 56 members plus wives and visitors. The article mentions that entertainment was provided by the Accordion Quartette from Irene Adams Music Studio.
Seely’s was the hot spot for annual meetings, anniversary dinners and other special occasions out in this neck of the woods. It was west of Florida Avenue at the apex, where the east entrance to Avila is now and featured “Charcoal Broiled Aged Angus Steaks.”
The Party Line reported on local goings-on, such as Family Reunions (The Sasser clan shared the front page of this issue with Dad), Bullard Park news (That was the park that used to be where the library and Fire Station in Lutz are now and even had a Band Shell) and friendly gossip, for instance, Mr. and Mrs Fred Ebner “flew by jet” to witness the birth of their grand-daughter in California and, after waiting 3 weeks, missed it by one day, and Odell Toole and Regy were hospitalized at TGH after a car accident in Brandon that “completely demolished” their car.
It also had some real news, like the results of the Duplicate Bridge games the ladies played at the Lutz Community Center (That building is still there and barely changed!). Mom and Maura Spohr placed 1st in the East-West on July 7 and 3rd in the North-South the week of July 21, 1967, whatever that means.
The paper was subscription-based and ad-supported. Yearly subscriptions cost $1.50 and advertisers included Seely’s, Donovan’s Philips 66 Station, Steinke’s PURE Dixie Service Station and Westphall’s Pharmacy (That’s the subject of a whole ‘nother article).
Along with Dad’s Lion’s Club story and the Sasser family reunion, the other article on the front page of this issue was about Floyd Watson being named “Citizen of the Year” at the Lutz 4th of July Celebration. It was the “highlight” of the festivities, according to the writer, and the piece described at some length Floyd’s accomplishments, which included organizing the Fish-A-Thon, removing the old Lutz Junction RR station and the installation of warning lights at 3 RR crossings.
The author of that article was my own mother, Helen. I guess I come by this writing racket honestly, after all.
Randall C. Grantham is a lifelong resident of Lutz who practices law from his offices on Dale Mabry Highway. He can be reached at . Copyright 2010 RCG
