Astroworld - Photos

Name		David Laseter
Nickname
Address		Tobyhanna, PA
Phone		N/A
Email		N/A
Birthday		7/24/????
Gender		Male

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Start Date	End Date	Department	Position	Full / Part Time
4/1/1975	9/29/1983	Rides/Shows	You Name It!	Part Time

What I did at Astroworld

Hired into grounds in 75 I quickly transfered into rides. By the end of the season I had worked nearly every ride (mostly River and Bamboo), ending my first year as fall Foreman of The Wacky Shack. In 76 I was the Horizons projectionist. In 77, Stage Manager of the Marvel McFey show and that fall ran lights in Judge Roy's Crystal Palace. 1978 ran spotlight in the Showcase (THE BUBBLE) Theater with THAT fall joining the cast of Happy Trails in the Palace. Returned in 83 (my little brother's first season) back in rides on Thunder River (Thunder Blunder) in the spring and that summer as day Foreman of the new ride that year, SkyScreamer. A few weeks later my brother moved from Bamboo to join my crew and we had the best summer getting to know each other better (9 year age gap). Fall of 83 found me as the very last Foreman of The River Of No Return (the last season for the River, it was removed the next winter to make way for XLR-8. The other great thing about that last year was that all of the rides supervisors were people that had in earlier years been my fellow crew and foreman, so there wasen't that old terror of the approaching mob of sups.

What I want to share with you.

So many special memories over the years! The great flood of '75 I think it was, where the entire employee parking lot was trashed and for the first time in history the park closed during operating hours and issued vouchers for a return visit. I worked the race cars that day (what later became the Le Taxi track near the Cyclone) and before the decision was made to close the park, we were running around soaked as dogs and rescuing guests from the race cars from under the bridge that had flooded -the cars flooding also-(that bridge later became the walkway for Cony Island) and we were working, but HAVING THE BEST TIMES OF OUR LIVES!). I think we had a not so bad flood in '76?, but bad enough to close the park again? Good friends that I have to this day, first loves and crushes. One of the earliest slogans for the park was "We Make People Happy", and I enjoyed every minute of every day doing so! From my very first visit I made up my mind that one day I was going to work there, but as I was only 10 at the time I had to wait a few years. During those years waiting, I spent many a summer day enjoying those rides and shows that I knew one day I would be a part of. As I write this in 2007 I am remembering so many friends, sadly some who are no longer with us mostly due to AIDS and taken at such an early age. I think of them often and with fondness, as I do of everyone I met over the years. It's taken me two years to even start looking at websites and my old yearbooks/photo albums, the closing of the park really hit me hard. I hope there are still some of you out there that might remember me and want to reconnect. Especially one former River Foreman (J.N.S.) who I remember working with one night, and standing quietly on the dock waiting for one of the last boats to return and just enjoying the warm night and the lights and distant sound effects of The River. I have a really funny moment that I didn't personally witness but think that you'll enjoy. One of the old Ops Managers, Bob Logan, was walking the park one day. One of the girls working in Operations picked up what she thought was the radio mike to call Bob. She had accidently picked up the park page mike instead and the radio call went out to the entire park, "Base to 19, Base to 19". Bob, holding his radio and looking toward the sky as if answering a call from Heaven, replied in a somewhat shaky voice....... 19?