The Plunge Is Back

By Evan Kramer

Thanks to Becky Malamud and Alan Mitchell some good things are happening at www.mydfzcom. Becky is working on getting all the missing years of the Port Orford Today online at mydfz.com. When Valerie died the years 2003-2012 were on the website but not the ones from 1990 to 2002.

2020 has been a year like no other in my life. The Covid-19 virus changed all of our lives. My nights going out square dancing, roller derby, plays, musical events, movies and even midget wrestling came to an abrupt stop in early March of this year. I miss going out with my friends for an evening’s entertainment and dinner out but until we are all vaccinated I’ll stay home with my three cats and Gizmo.

While the Covid virus was overwhelming New York City in March and April it seemed distant here in Curry County as our case load remained very small. But in the past couple months that changed and we now are heading towards 300 acknowledged cases with three deaths and it feels much more real.

If you’re wondering where the name The Plunge came from or for that matter the Downtown Fun Zone it has to do with my love of old amusement parks especially ones by the seaside. Plunges were large indoors swimming pools full of heated sea water and people – at least the ones located by the ocean like the one in Ocean Park-Venice.

Much has changed since the Downtown Fun Zone closed in April of 2012. The building continued being owned by me until April of 2017 when it was sold to a property investor. The only link to the DFZ days in the building is Carol Malley and her Uptown Frames shop which lasted longer than any business in the building and is still going. The building has more variety of colors now and looks great but it feels bittersweet since our lives were tied up with it so long.

Valerie got to enjoy her retirement for 3 ½ years before she died suddenly while we were returning on a trip to Milwaukie for a Czech revenue stamp convention in Mountain Home, Idaho. She tried to teach me lots of things about the computer and file management but I was a poor learner and never got it so without Becky’s help that would have been the end of any changes to mydfz.com.

My dog Honeybear who was often at the store died in 2014 and then thankfully Gizmo came into my life three years later and he’s a great little guy who loves to go for walks.