Comments On: Memories of "Monkey Mountain" by Vance Lauderdale

Re: Memories of "Monkey Mountain"

Vance Lauderdale — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:41:03 -0500

Thanks, Galen. Old photographs and articles from the Press-Scimitar are available to the public, thanks to the diligent efforts of the staff at the Special Collections Department, University of Memphis Libraries.
Posted by Vance Lauderdale

Re: Memories of "Monkey Mountain"

galen123 — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:08:32 -0500

Growing up on Rolling Oaks Drive in East Memphis, one Saturday afternoon around the Summer of 1972 or 1973, my friend (Alex Stagoski from the Balmoral area) and I were riding bikes on "Monkey Mountain." A photographer from the Memphis Press Scimitar (the former afternoon newspaper in Memphis) took our pictures riding bikes and got our names and ages.
Posted by galen123

Re: Memories of "Monkey Mountain"

warbirdali — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:39:30 -0500

Aha! Thanks Jeff.
Posted by warbirdali

Re: Memories of "Monkey Mountain"

Jeff — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:25:56 -0500

Sea Isle parallels Capri and Tahiti and dead-ends at Jamaica. I'd say that area was probably built at the same time, then Sea Isle expanded north and then east and, unlike most Memphis streets, kept the same name from one end to the other.

Posted by Jeff

Re: Memories of "Monkey Mountain"

Packrat — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:41:21 -0500

The school is named for the street, I'm almost positive. Ocean View Farm was named by the people who owned it b/c the wife wanted to live somewhere with an ocean view.
Posted by Packrat

Re: Memories of "Monkey Mountain"

Vance Lauderdale — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:49:53 -0500

The name "Sea Isle" for this school has never been explained (not to me, anyway). It is certainly pretty far from the sea, or any "isle" (except for Mud Island and various sandbars in the river).
Posted by Vance Lauderdale

Re: Memories of "Monkey Mountain"

warbirdali — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:01:19 -0500

As a side item to this, is it known where "Sea Isle" came from? I always thought it was a strange name for Memphis (Like "Ocean View Farm" in Germantown) but assumed the rest of the neighborhood had tropical names.
Posted by warbirdali

Re: Memories of "Monkey Mountain"

steppendackel — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:29:39 -0500

Somewhere among the "Hoarder"-worthy piles of stuff at my mother's house (just east of Estate where I grew up 1961-1973) there must be some photos showing parts of Monkey Mountains. My friends and I (Kenny Rodgers and David Bodkin to name just a few) used to fight the dirt-clod battles and have the other adventures already mentioned by others there; the place was especially interesting (i.e. dangerous) at night.
Posted by steppendackel