Back in April I stopped as I was going by Eaton's Beach. Because of the
pandemic the restaurant was closed except for take out and all access to the
beach had been closed off. Jay Eaton who founded Eaton's Beach was a champion
cyclist in the 1890's a Master of the Boards.
It was a kinda dead day – no breeze.
The guy that started it all, World Champion Cyclist, Jay Eaton is on one of
the walls in the restaurant. In the early 1920s, he purchased the tract on Lake
Weir, and with his sons and cleared it of beach foliage. He wanted to create
another Coney Island with boardwalks like his native New Jersey. It opened in
1924. In addition to the beach and dock, there was a two-story facility built
into the bluff that contained a bowling alley, billiards and pinball machines.
Little of this remains.
Jay Eaton broke the world mile record twice in one week unpaced from a
standing start on an 8 laps to the mile board track.His time 2 minutes 7
seconds. The ad is from the San Francisco Call 12 February 1899 the admission
for the 6 day race was 50 cents.
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