By Jill Passmore, Visitor Experience Coordinator
In the early years of the twentieth century, a man named Jack O’Leary owned the New Lunch/O’Leary’s Restaurant at 37 King Street West in Oshawa – between the Commercial Hotel and the coal yards at Centre Street.
Behind this small restaurant, a semi-permanent, Trabant/wipeout style of carnival ride existed, a ride which Oshawa residents fondly remember as the Ocean Wave. The Ocean Wave has a mysterious past. There is little to no information about Jack O’Leary. Census records from 1911 do not show anyone named Jack or John O’Leary living in Oshawa, Cedardale or East Whitby, and there are no related families living in Oshawa. There is also no information available about the building and manufacturing of the ride itself…
This post was originally written for our Lakeview Park 100 online exhibit.
To keep reading, please visit the exhibit: https://lakeviewparkoshawa.wordpress.com/2020/06/17/the-ocean-wave/
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