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January 17, 2008

Rock-A-Hoola Water Park - On the way to Vegas

I've passed the waterpark many times on the way to Vegas. It always seemed closed... the closed waterpark stuck out and stuck in my mind. With some digging for information, I found out that the water park has not opened to the public since 2004 after an unfortunate accident and expensive lawsuit to follow. This article explains the reason why.


Lake Dolores is the original, given name of the man-made lake(s) and the surrounding site where stands a still physically-existent yet currently inoperative waterpark on Hacienda Road in the desert town of Newberry Springs, San Bernardino County, California, USA. When last open to the general public, the park itself went by the relatively recent and updated name(s) Rock-a-Hoola Waterpark for a short period of time and subsequently Discovery Water Park for an even shorter period. Despite the recent, successive name changes due to two separate transfers of ownership, the site is still far more commonly known by the general public as "Lake Dolores".
Wikipedia

Rock-a-Hoola Waterpark has been abandoned since 2004.

Rock-a-Hoola is the most popular page on the site.   Help keep it alive by sharing your thoughts and stories in the comments below.


Lake Dolores is on Facebook.  Be sure to like the page.   According to a post on the page, a lease was signed in 2009 and the family was working to bring the park back to life.  Apparently the owners lost the land to the bank in 2011 and there is no clear future.






Google Earth Images

2009 (County of San Bernardino)

2009 (USDA)

 2006
The live satellite view from Google Maps

Photos

http://mavensphotoblog.com/2011/09/19/barstow-road-trip-part-1-dried-up-oasis-in-the-desert-the-ruins-of-the-rock-a-hoola-water-park/

http://mavensphotoblog.com/2011/09/19/barstow-road-trip-part-1-dried-up-oasis-in-the-desert-the-ruins-of-the-rock-a-hoola-water-park/

http://mavensphotoblog.com/2011/09/19/barstow-road-trip-part-1-dried-up-oasis-in-the-desert-the-ruins-of-the-rock-a-hoola-water-park/

http://mavensphotoblog.com/2011/09/19/barstow-road-trip-part-1-dried-up-oasis-in-the-desert-the-ruins-of-the-rock-a-hoola-water-park/



http://www.retronaut.co/2011/08/abandoned-rock-a-hoola/ 


http://www.flickr.com/photos/pressplayphotography/5063346921/sizes/o/in/photostream/

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/pressplayphotography/5077577106/sizes/o/in/photostream/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/aquafornia/6366523431/sizes/o/in/photostream/

http://mavensphotoblog.com/2011/09/19/barstow-road-trip-part-1-dried-up-oasis-in-the-desert-the-ruins-of-the-rock-a-hoola-water-park/

Videos

 

This commercial was produced to market and advertise what has become known as America's first water park. It formerly lied in the Mojave Desert in California, just off I-15 half way between Vegas and Los Angeles.


 Video of the ruins.


Altered Route - filmed at Rock-A-Hoola

New York Graffiti Crew Redecorates an Abandoned Theme Park
(See article below.)

Be sure to check out the new photos added in September, 2012.

Articles




Links

The lawsuit that shut down Rock-a-Hoola.

Photos from 2003 on Flickr

Water slide construction photo -partway down

Virtual Globetrottling - there are a couple additional pictures from the I-5 on the right side.

View more photos here: Rock-A-Hoola - Imgur





11 comments:

  1. Rock a Hoola was one of my favorite parts of the drive to-and-from Vegas for at least 12 years. I finally stopped there about five or six years ago... I dug it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whatbezit did you take (from vegas to LA) @Anonymous

      Delete
    2. I'm guessing there was a typo in Whatbezit and you meant to ask what exit? If so, the actual address is:
      Cherokee Rd, Newberry Springs, CA 92365, USA

      I believe the exit was Harvard Road and then you take Hacienda Road to the site. There is a link to Google Maps just above the comments section. Look for Labels then Location.

      Delete
  2. Ah, I used to see this all the time when my family drove to Vegas. I always wondered what is was.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So my dad actually managed this water park under both of the owners, and it is a major part of my childhood. Luckily both times he found a new job before they ever closed but I still loved Lake Dolores/Rock-a-hula. It makes me sad to see it in ruins every time I drive from Utah to Southern California, I'm glad someone has decided to honor it here on this website, it's awesome! Just some obscure facts about this place: Rock-a-hula actually had the largest family raft ride in the USA, but no one every really knew that so it was cool. It was meant to become this ginormous resort but neither of the owners ever saved up enough money to build a hotel on the property.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Also, I'm in the commercial at some point! I had forgotten about that...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just added a couple news article links and a video to the post...

    There's no such thing as bad development, only delayed success and ghosts

    New York Graffiti Crew Redecorates an Abandoned Theme Park

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear All,

    I am Chiara Carpenter, collaborator of Humboldt Books (www.humboldtbooks.com).
    Humboldt is a publishing house focused on travel narratives. We would like to take some pictures of the former Lake Dolores Water Park, but I don't know if it is possible to enter the area without incurring in any legal issue. Could you help us out? Can you give us some information? Is the area closed with a fence, is it possible to enter anyway? When was it the last time you were there?
    Thank you for your help


    Chiara

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Chiara, I am not sure if you still need this info, but I was at this park during recently. Here you can find the location details (https://www.facebook.com/justfeltlikemovingtocalifornia) as well as some more recent photos. Amazing how much worse this place looks now in 2014.

      Delete
  7. Rock-A-Hoola Water Park Article...
    http://azdailysun.com/travel/national/decrepit-desert-water-park-may-find-new-life/article_2257da62-3a2d-52f2-83bc-776863762d55.html

    ReplyDelete

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