NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Park and Recreation Structures

ALTHOUGH MANY of the recreational facilities found in natural parks are with varying frequency let out as concessions, it is elected within this classification to treat only the concession which dispenses by sale rather than by rental, and purveys to the recreationist food supplies, soft drinks, candies, tobacco, toys, novelties, and prepared light lunches. After all, it is this usage that comes first to mind at mention of the word, and the curb on verbosity that this limitation insures, while it comes hard for the pen in hand, will be a source of keen satisfaction to readers. A less restrictive interpretation of the word would mean deadly and duplicating analysis of structural media in promotion of active recreation elsewhere dissected.

Thus, the concession building, as here discussed, is actually the corner store, delicatessen, or restaurant, transplanted into the park area for the convenience of the park visitors. It may be some unpedigreed cross-combination of two or more of these urban facilities, as it settles itself in adjustment to the demands of the recreation crowd and to its new environment. If small in size, the concession is very apt to seek association under the same roof with other facilities, in order that it may borrow their bulk and be where the crowd is. The crowd is as essential to its commercial success in a park as in an urban environment. Other park facilities may exist by virtue of subsidy, but the concession is called upon to pay its way.

Since it must be located at the "cross roads" of the park, and must proclaim itself to the public, it cannot be exactly the shy violet among park buildings. It must announce its commercial traffic unmistakably yet with a certain subtlety. It is the Jekyll and Hyde among park structures. It is asked to walk in the paths of quiet beauty and of commercial solvency at one and the same time, though these may lead in opposite directions. It is scarcely to be wondered at that the concession, successful both as a park structure and as a commercial venture, is not common. Perhaps the greatest fault to be found with concession buildings in some localities is their lag in attaining the standards urged for park structures generally. There is recent evidence to indicate that past tendencies to flimsy and ultracommercial appearance are being overcome.

There is a practical need in connection with concession buildings, large and small, that is too generally underestimated. This is the requirement for working space and storage of supplies. The merchandise dispensed by the park concession involves not only much garbage and rubbish, but the handling and temporary storage of containers for soft drink and milk bottles, and the like, incoming or empty, awaiting collection. All bulk to a space need seldom correctly foreseen, and eventually force the building of an addition or enclosure to screen the unsightly debris from public view. Because funds for second thoughts are grudgingly given, and because the initial shortage of space is apt to lead to an extreme of oversupply on the second try, the addition is often of inferior construction and down-at-heel appearance. Practical need is served, but the quality of the building is depreciated in the process.

It is difficult to fix the stages of development at which the concession building becomes a refectory and the latter in turn becomes a lodge, and it may be pointless to attempt it. However, it seems logical to catalog them as park counterparts of familiar urban institutions—the concession, the store, dispensing food supplies and snacks; the refectory, the restaurant, serving meals; the lodge, the hotel, adding overnight accommodations to the serving of meals. Of these, the lodge is the facility least to be "promoted" in a natural park. It can be a too "civilizing" influence where the true concept of the natural park and the basic interest of the public-at-large in natural areas safeguarded against the artificial constitute first liens.

• Plate II E—1 — Plate II E—13