SUNLAND, CA: Lancaster Lake is a name that conjures up fond memories in the minds of many old-time Sunland-Tujunga residents. My own boyhood memories of the lake are no exception.
Carved out of a swampy area in the lower Foothills just below Sunland Park by Edgar “Grandpa” Lancaster, the lake opened to the public for swimming, fishing and boating in 1925.
It didn’t take long for this bucolic, almost tropical, retreat to catch on as the place to go to cool off on a hot summer day. Grandpa initially managed nearly all the operations himself, but as time wore on– and with his increasing age– these responsibilities were gradually shifted to his daughter, Marie Murray, and her two sons, Harold and Marshall, who lived next to Grandpa at the lake.
Summer weekends during World War II were Lancaster Lake’s real heydays. No doubt this was largely due to wartime gas rationing, which required local residents to find their recreation close to home. During these years, my brother Dick and I were in grammar school, and at that age, particularly during the summer, we found the lake to be an almost irresistible magnet on a daily basis. If we couldn’t be found somewhere in Sunland Park, we were horsing around at the lake and, in the process, probably annoying one or another members of the Lancaster family. Indeed, we hung around there so much that eventually we became unwelcome little pests– so much so that seventy-odd years later I can still hear one of the Lancasters or Murrays saying something on the order of: “Boys, I think I hear your mother calling,” or “Don’t you boys have some place else you can play?” Eventually though, when the family finally reconciled itself to our constant presence, they did the next best thing to getting rid of us– they put us to work.
Our job was to help keep the small fleet of Lancaster Lake’s wooden rowboats as dry as possible. This was no easy task, since all the boats leaked! Even though Grandpa Lancaster frequently had his boats out of the water and up on sawhorses for re-caulking, he never quite succeeded in plugging all the leaks. As a result, when a boat came in after an hour or so of rental on the lake, it usually had enough water sloshing around on the floorboards to discourage new customers. That’s when Dick and I would swing into action. Armed with empty coffee cans, we’d jump right in and bail away until we had things reasonably dry. On busy days, as the boats kept coming in, we repeated this same process over and over and over again.
We were never paid money for the work. Instead, we got something we considered much better– free use of one of the boats for about an hour or so when it wasn’t likely to be wanted by a paying customer. Although during the summer this might mean we could only use a boat early on a weekday morning, we didn’t mind at all. In fact, we thought we had a pretty darn good deal going for us.
Another attraction that kept us around the lake a lot was Grandpa Lancaster’s Bible classes. As the founder of the Sunland First Baptist Church on Oro Vista Street (now the New Hope Community Church), he used these lakeside classes to recruit new members into the fold. As kids we all liked to go because he’d let us fish for free as a reward for attending the class. By one means or another, he always managed to weave fishing into his Bible stories to make our fishing experience relevant to what he was telling us. I’m not so sure we always got the connection, but we sure liked the fishing part. And my-oh-my, how well I still remember those big wads of stale bread we’d squish onto those oversized hooks to catch those big, ugly catfish!
One time after Bible lessons were over, I fell out of one of the boats into Lancaster Lake. It wasn’t all that deep, but still well over the head of a seven-or-eight-year-old boy. It was before I had learned to swim, and I nearly drowned before being rescued. Rather than fishing like we were supposed to be doing, we had been racing another boat. I was rowing as fast as I could when, in rushing a backstroke, I completely missed the water with the oar and tumbled over backwards into the lake, taking the oar with me. Left with only one oar in the boat, the other boys had a hard time reaching me. I think I was going down for the third time when they finally pulled me out. About the only physical consequence was how sick I got from swallowing all the muddy lake water. Psychologically though, the impact was much worse. Almost drowning is something you never forget, and I think the experience got me a lot closer to becoming a church member than Grandpa’s Bible classes ever did. In fact, as I think back on it now, I think Grandpa would have had more recruiting success if he had just thrown a few kids in the lake and forgotten about the Bible lessons.
[Coming soon – Part 2: There was more to Sunland’s Lancaster Lake Than Muddy Waters]
Tom Gilfoy
This is so wonderful! I live in the Sherman Grove Trailer Park now and there’s still an underwater stream that must have fed the lake running through our little park. I love learning about the history of my now-home!
So cool to hear that the stream is still there! Glad you enjoyed this little bit of local history!
What a wonderful collection of local history! It made this cloudy afternoon delightful, imagining all that happened at Lake Lancaster those many years ago.
Thank you for the lovely comments, Pamela. I am finally catching up after these disorienting months of the Covid pandemic, so apologies for the late reply. 😉
Lovely story, I live down on Le Berthon, drive by the site every day, so interesting that it is so different now. Thanks for writing out this story.
Wow, a real trip down memory lane. I remember going there however the water was murky looking probably due to all the low hanging trees. Was it really built where the Sherman Grove Trailer Park was or was the Sunland Pool built on the site of Lancaster’s Lake? There was an outdoor stage in the park, in the late 1940’s or very early 1950’s with live music & I remember Ernest Tubbs performing there (for country/western music fans). The good old days for sure.
Fabulous memories – thanks for the reply and apologies for the belated reply . . . yes, there was an outdoor stage in Sunland Park – it was a such a lively gathering place years ago.
Hey Tom! Great history of Lancaster’s Lake. I glanced at this before, but just noticed you were the author! Very interesting, thanks. Always enjoy Sunland Tujunga history. I hope you and the family are all well. Take care, tell Chuck hello for me. Brian Galien.
Hi My name is Lorrie Murray Grandpa Lancaster was my real Great Grand Father. Marie Murray was my Grandmother My dad Harold Murray mother.
Where is part two of your story?
I would love to have a copies of your four part article about Lancaster Lake that was located on Sherman Grove Ave. in Sunland CA.
My parents and extended family moved to the Sunland/Tujunga area in early 1943. I can remember going with my parents and grandparents to the lake. Even being in a row boat!! There were several church activities
held there in the park. My aunt was married to Harold Murray, Marie’s son. Uncle Harold passed away in June 1999. I went to Plainview and graduated from Verdugo Hills High School in 1957.
Hi Tom: My name is Dan Lancaster, great grandson of Edgar Fremont. I too, can remember the lake and crawling all over the carved animals that grandpa had created around the park. Thank you so much for putting up this website and remembering the heritage that many created so long ago…..and are now only memories to us, but can live on thru your efforts to let young people know what life was like back then. I do have some interesting articles and more pictures of Lancaster Lake if they have an interest to you. Thanks again! Dan
Harold murray is my Father and Marie Murray landcaster is
my grandmother. I still have the Key to the Museum the lock was from a bank in the motherload.